RSS 0.91 - skips & optional stuff

[Gary Teter <bigdog@bulldogbeach.com>]

This seems as good a forum as any to discuss Dave Winer's proposal for RSS
posted at <http://backend.userland.com/rss091>, so here goes....

Overall I think it looks fine. I'm not concerned about the lack of a DTD, or
a formal W3 spec, or whatever, because in my weird world I just have to make
things work, and it does me no good to say "they're not following the spec."
:-)

I would like a little clarification on a couple things, though.

a) Optional versus mandatory items -- If an RSS supplier includes an
<textInput> or <image> element, am I as an agreggator "required" to render
those items when I render the channel?

a1) On a sideways-related topic, is the "implied contract" between supplier
& aggregator that the aggregator will always render the supplied items
grouped into a channel as they were provided? Or can I provide users with a
search capability that allows extraction of individual syndicated items from
a channel without rendering the whole thing?

b) skipDays and skipHours -- I have to admit, I've been religiously ignoring
these! Mostly it's due to confusion about how they should work. Does the
skipHours element narrow the scope of the skipDays element? Or is it a
completely separate thing, ie, even on days not listed in the skipDays
element you shouldn't access the channel if it's a skipHour? Oh, and also,
which time zone do these elements refer to?

In addition, I think the spec as given on the URL above is either wrong or I
just need another cup of coffee this morning... why does the skipDays
explanation mention skipHours (but not skipDays) and the skipHours
explanation mention skipDays (but not skipHours)?

> <skipDays> -- An XML element that contains up to seven <day> sub-elements
> whose value is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or
> Sunday. Aggregators may not read the channel during hours listed in the
> skipHours element. (Most aggregators seem to ignore this element.)

> <skipHours> -- An XML element that contains up to 24 <hour> sub-elements whose
> value is a number between 1 and 24. Aggregators may not read the channel on
> days listed in the skipDays element. (Most aggregators seem to ignore this
> element.)

Me, I'm just glad people are providing leadership in these areas -- I barely
have time to rev my code to deal with new formats, let alone participate
substantially in creating them. :-)

-- 
Gary Teter, Big Dog
Bulldog Beach Interactive http://www.bulldogbeach.com
"Fun will now commence." -- Seven of Nine