RSS <channel> Element

The <channel> element of RSS can describe the RSS feed.

RSS <channel> Element

Please see the following RSS document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>CodeW3C.com Home Page</title>
  <link>http://www.codew3c.com</link>
  <description>Free web building tutorials</description>
  <item>
    <title>RSS Tutorial</title>
    <link>http://www.codew3c.com/rss</link>
    <description>New RSS tutorial on CodeW3C.com</description>
  </item>
</channel>
</rss>

As mentioned earlier, the <channel> element can describe the RSS feed and has three mandatory sub-elements:

  • <title> - Defines the title of the channel. (e.g., CodeW3C Home Page)
  • <link> - Defines the hyperlink to reach the channel. (e.g., www.codew3c.com)
  • <description> - Describes this channel (e.g., free website construction tutorials)

<channel> usually contains one or more <item> elements. Each <item> element can define an article or "story" in the RSS feed.

In addition, there are several optional sub-elements of <channel>. We will explain the most important ones later.

<category> element

<category> sub-element is used to specify the type of feed.

<category> sub-element makes it possible for RSS aggregators to group websites based on categories.

The categories of the above RSS document may be:

<category>Web development</category>

<copyright> Element

The <copyright> sub-element will inform about the version information.

The version of the above RSS document may be

<copyright>2006 codew3c.com. All rights reserved.</copyright>

<image> Element

The <image> sub-element can display an image when an aggregator provides a feed.

The <image> element has three required sub-elements:

  • <url> - Defines the URL that refers to the image
  • <title> - Defines the text displayed when the image cannot be displayed
  • <link> - Defines the hyperlink to the website providing this channel

The image of the above RSS document may be like this:

<image>
  <url>http://www.codew3c.com/images/logo.gif</url>
  <title>codew3c.com</title>
  <link>http://www.codew3c.com</link>
</image>

<language> Element

The <language> sub-element is used to specify the language used to write the document.

<language> Elements make it possible for RSS aggregators to group websites based on language.

The language of the above RSS document may be:

<language>en-us</language>

RSS <channel> Reference Manual

Element Description
<category> Optional. Defines one or more categories to which the feed belongs.
<cloud> Optional. Registers a process to receive immediate notifications for feed updates.
<copyright> Optional. Informs about the copyright information.
<description> Required. Describes the channel.
<docs> Optional. Specifies the URL that points to the documentation of the format used for the current RSS file.
<generator> Optional. Specifies the program used to generate the feed.
<image> Optional. Displays an image when an aggregator presents a feed.
<language> Optional. Specifies the language used to write the feed.
<lastBuildDate> Optional. Defines the last modified date of the feed content.
<link> Required. Defines the hyperlink pointing to the channel.
<managingEditor> Optional. Defines the email address for editing the feed content.
<pubDate> Optional. Defines the last published date of the feed's content.
<rating> Optional. The PICS rating of the feed.
<skipDays> Optional. Specifies the days to ignore when updating the feed.
<skipHours> Optional. Specifies the hours to ignore when updating the feed.
<textInput> Optional. Specifies the text input field that should be displayed along with the feed.
<title> Required. Defines the title of the channel.
<ttl> Optional. Specifies the number of minutes a feed can be cached before it is updated from the feed source.
<webMaster> Optional. Defines the email address of the webmaster of this feed.