This is a bare-bones RSS template. Well it is a bit more than "bare-bones" however, it only contains the information at the minimum you should have in your RSS file. My next two articles will have the "medium level" and "full level" (good if you intend to Podcast).

You can easily copy and paste this into a template. If you are not a techie and dealing with XML for the first time, use a decent text only editor, unless you can use FrontPage or DreamWeaver or a dedicated XML editor. Be careful of any extra charcters that you may sneak in with your typing, and remember not to touch the opening or closing brackets. If you do not know what you are doing do NOT touch the first three lines. The line beginning with the "channel" element is where you should begin to substitute the information on your feed.

Below we have two items in this channel. You can of course add as many items as your heart desires. Just keep on adding the entire section of beginning and ending with

First a template with information and then a template without. (The editing software forces an empty line between each command however in your Feed you should not have any empty lines. Just delete the lines with no information if you copy & paste)

<channel>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>

<description>RSS Feed for The Great Perfume Products Sold At Randy's Pandy's Perfumery</description>

<copyright>"Copyright 2006 Randy Pandy's Perfumery - All Rights Reserved"</copyright>

<link>http://www.randypandy.com</link>

<language>en-us</language>

<pubdate>Mon, 5 Dec 2005 23:00:00 GMT</pubdate>

<image>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>

<width>142</width><height>99</height>

<link>http://www.randpandy.com</link>

<url>http://www.randpandy.com/images/randylogo.jpg</url>

</image>

<Item>

<title>Heaven Scent Perfume At 50% Discount</title>

<link>http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heavenscent.html</link>

<description>Heaven Scent Perfume - your lover will love. Created especially by Skunk Perfumes it is their newest and best selling perfume on the market today. Purchase a beautifully shaped skunk bottle with this incredible perfume and get a whopping 50% off! And if you purchase over $100 we will throw in Free overnight delivery as well!</description>

<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2005 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</Item>

<Item>

<title>Angel Face Cream</title>

<link>http://www.randypandy.com/cosmetics/angel.html</link>

<description>A new face cream which will get rid of all your wrinkles in 7 days or your money back! Buy the lover in your life the best present she ever had!</description>

<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2005 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</Item>

</Channel>

Now Just the Bare Bones Template.

<channel>

<title></title>

<description></description>

<copyright></copyright>

<link></link>

<language></language>

<pubdate></pubdate>

<image>

<title></title>

<width></width><height></height>

<link></link>

<url></url>

</image>

<Item>

<title></title>

<link></link>

<description></description>

<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>

<Item>

<title></title>

<link></link>

<description></description>

<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>

</Channel>

This will work and without too much trouble if you want to create a simple RSS feed this is what you need.

This Article was Part Ten of the RSS Mania - Understanding RSS series. All parts of this series are available at Ezine Articles (www.ezinearticles.com)

1. RSS Mania Addiction - An Introduction to RSS and the Terminology

2. Outline of How to Create an RSS Feed

3. The Template File

4. The Basic Elements of the Channel Element

5. How The RSS Feed Works & Some Programming Constructs

6. RSS Channel Sub-Elements Specifically Image & How To Use It

7. Understanding RSS - The Elements Within the "Item" Element

8. Understanding RSS - Podcasting, VideoCasting & The Magic of the Enclosure Sub-Element

9. Understanding RSS - Rounding Out The Multi-Media - The CDATA Command

Copyright 2005 Ted W. Gross. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)

Ted Gross

Ted Gross was born and raised in New York City and in 1978, moved to Israel, and currently resides in Jerusalem.

He began his writing career in University as the op-ed editor of the University paper and wrote a series of eight editorials during that year. While in Israel, he wrote two children's books. "The Letter & The Crown"; was published in Israel, while the second, and more successful, was published in the United States by United Synagogue entitled, "Of Rabbit's Wool & Camel's Hair". While teaching comparative religion, he also had articles on polemics and religion published in Midstream Magazine.

However, by the time the children's books were published his family was growing, and he began work and was active in high tech from 1985 until 2001. There he functioned as a CTO ? Chief Technological Officer ? in three different companies, managing to take two companies from start-up phase to a buyout and a successful IPO respectively.

After having taken the last company to a successful IPO, six children and a peaceful divorce, it was time to leave high-tech and try and develop some ideas in writing. At that point, Israel embarked on "Operation Defensive Shield", and since Ted is a reserve battlefield medic, he ended up in Jenin, and the battles that took place there became front-page news all over the world. "Three Weeks In Jenin" was written soon after, though unfortunately the contract was cancelled once the United States entered into its current war with Iraq. However, an independent movie producer, did do a documentary on Ted's experiences as a medic in Jenin.

He currently is working on the "Chronicles of the Children of Heaven" (a fantasy work), on another non-fiction book entitled "Last Times" and on a cooking book entitled "Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen", (as well as short stories and poetry from time to time). To make ends meet, Ted owns a real-estate investment firm in Jerusalem and Virgin Earth Article Submissions.

Examples of Ted's work can be found on his web site.

Usually one can find Ted either putting out fires in his kitchen, drinking coffee in a cafe musing about the great "what-ifs" of life, assistant coaching little league baseball, dealing with one of his six children, having a fight with his sister, or walking the byways of Jerusalem with Rainbow, his golden retriever, pondering the silence of the heavens.