Category: OPML

I noticed that the OPML created for the Canada Podcasts out there has alot of easy to fix mistakes (and a few custom tags, which is fine). Maybe Bob Goyeche (listed as the author) would like to drop me a line, so we can sort it all out properly. 🙂

Try entering the URL for that OPML into an early OPML manager I created – then hit load. It all looks fine, until you realise that the OPML thinks each link to a feed is a ‘link’ to more OPML and not the type ‘RSS’ with xmlUrl to the feed, as it should be.

Here’s an audio message I made a while ago about this.

The ‘DaveSite‘ which Mr. Winer points to is not all that useful as it stands – this is because it is simply linking to the RSS xml feeds and displaying those. That upsets lots of people, who don’t know what they are looking at. Not only that, but David seems to insist on linking to OPML AND RSS with the same icon. Bad idea imho. Sure it is XML, but that orange button has meant ‘RSS’ for so many, for so long – it’s confusing to link to OPML with (even though is is just XML). I always wandered if he had promoted an orange icon saying ‘RSS’, maybe people wouldn’t be so confused about RSS and ‘feeds’ as they are now. (Almost) EVERYONE adopted the old orange button – now they use a generic ‘feed’ icon.

I will have a bash at cleaning up that Canadian OPML and trying a test import.

UPDATE: I fixed the Canada OPML to comply with the spec – though I left the custin tags in there.

You can find it here : http://podcast.com/opml/canada_fixed.opml

See the comments in the OPML for what I did.

Now it works perfectly, as people will expect. 🙂 Try entering the new URL into my OPML manager – now you can RSS feeds! Yes!! (It is also in the drop down list on that Flash app)