Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: What to do about RSS

Author:Chuck Shotton
Posted:9/5/2000; 1:05:22 PM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 9/2/2000
Msg #:20882 (In response to 20781)
Prev/Next:20881 / 20883

I'm not too sure I like the idea of incorporating arbitary base-64 encoded content into RSS files.

Can't say I disagree. The point of the base64 encoding is not so much to allow giant GIFs to be incorporated. IMO, it's useful for packaging up content that would otherwise conflict with the XML syntax or to embed some small, binary object that would otherwise be unavailable.

If you want to make a point of saying that the byte count in a particular title or description field is limited to some arbitrary amount, then you need to be specific and say that. To single out base64 text over plain text just because it COULD hold large amounts of content doesn't argue for dismissing the need for base64 content.

You've got competing requirements here. Yours is for small file size. Mine is for arbitrary data payload formats. They aren't mutually exclusive. Besides, if you are concerned about content size, all you have to do is issue a HTTP HEAD request, look at the content-length field, and if it's too large, don't issue a GET request.




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