In creating an
RSS feed (also called an RSS document) Optional Channel Elements
are tags you can include in your feed, but are not required in order for the
feed to work. Optional channel elements are added in the beginning of your feed
and require an open and close tag. Examples of Optional Channel Elements, as
defined in the RSS 2.0 Specification, include the following:
- <language> The language the channel is
written in (view the RSS Language Codes here).
- <copyright> Copyright notice for content in
channel
- <managingEditor> e-mail contact for
editorial content
- <webMaster> e-mail contact for technical
issues.
- <pubDate> The publication date for the
content in the channel.
- <lastBuildDate> The last time the content
of the channel changed.
- <category> Specify one or more categories
that the channel belongs to.
- <generator> Indicate the program used to
generate the channel.
- <docs> A URL that points to the
documentation for the format used in the RSS file
- <cloud> Allows processes to register with a
cloud to be notified of updates to the channel
- <ttl> "Time To Live." Specify a number of
minutes that indicates how long a channel can be cached before refreshing.
- <image> A GIF, JPEG or PNG image that can
be displayed with the channel.
- <rating> PICS rating for the channel.
- <textInput> A text input box that can be
displayed with the channel.
- <skipHours> Tells aggregators which hours they can skip.
- <skipDays> Tells aggregators which days they can skip.
See also "How to
Create an RSS Feed" in the
Quick Reference section of Webopedia.
