Netscape discontinued accepting RSS channels for its My Netscape portal in April 2001 and removed the document, http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/mnn20/quickstart.html. This is a copy of the document made from Google's cache of the original, in May 2001.

My Netscape Network

Quick Start Guide

My Netscape Network (MNN) is a free Netcenter service that lets you create your own My Netscape channel.

To create a channel, follow the steps described in this document.
 
In This Document
What's New in This Release?
Step 1: Design Your Channel
Step 2: Create Your Rich Site Summary File
Step 3: Register Your RSS File with Netscape
Step 4: Place the "Add this Site" Button on Your Web Site

Step 1:  Design Your Channel

First, decide what kind of content you will include in your channel and how you will organize it, based on the template for channels shown in Figure 1. You can create these types of content for your channel:

  • A channel title (required). The channel title is displayed at the top of the channel window and lets users identify your channel. You can link the title to any http:// or ftp:// URL.
     
  • A channel description (required). You can supply text that describes your channel for the benefit of people who are considering adding it to their Netscape pages. A well-written description can help interest others in adding your channel to their pages. The description is displayed when users preview your channel, as shown in Figure 1, below.
Tips:
My Netscape Network includes these new features:
  • Support for international languages and encodings
  • Support for image height and width definitions
  • Support for image captions
  • Support for description text for headlines
  • Channel items and item descriptions. Channel items are the actual headlines that appear in your channel window. You can link each channel item to to any http:// or ftp:// URL, and you can include an item description that explains or summarizes the item. In My Netscape, users can set a preference to show or hide item descriptions in channels.
     
  • An image and description. You can create an image for your channel and link the image to any http:// or ftp:// URL. You can also specify an image description that can serve as a caption for the image.
     
  • A text input field. You can place a text input field in your channel window, then supply the URL of the .cgi or other program that handles the form data submitted. You can also include a text input description that can serve as a label for the text input.
Figure 1

(Please note the above is not the original image.)

Figure 1. Content elements of a channel, shown as users would see them when adding the channel to their Netscape pages.

In addition to the content types illustrated above, you can set options for your channel that affect its appearance and function:
  • Channel language (required). My Netscape Network lets you specify the language in which your content is written.
     
  • Channel encoding. You can optionally specify a character encoding for your channel. If you don't specify an encoding for your channel, the encoding setting of your channel defaults to UTF-8.
     
  • PICS rating of content. You can include a PICS content rating in your channel.
     
  • Image height and image width. You can define the height and width of the custom image in your channel window, so that My Netscape renders it properly. The maximum allowed image size is 144 pixels (width) x 400 pixels (height).
     
  • Link URLs. You can link most content types -- including channel title, channel image, and channel items -- to any http:// or ftp:// URL.
     
  • Text input URL. If you are using a text input field in your channel window, you can supply the URL of the .cgi or other program that handles the form data submitted.
Note that the actual appearance of your content in your channel is determined by the channel template used by My Netscape. This means that you cannot change basic formatting attributes such as the font size of titles or items, the color of the channel background, the placement of your image, and so on.

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Step 2:  Create Your Rich Site Summary File


In this section:
Tips:
If you created a channel based on RSS 0.9, the previous version of RSS, your channel will continue to work as normal in My Netscape Network. However, Netscape recommends upgrading your RSS 0.9 channels to RSS 0.91, to take advantage of its new features.

In particular, the international language and encoding support in RSS 0.91 enables My Netscape users to view channel content in their native languages.
Once you've decided on the content that you want to provide in your channel, the next step is to create an Rich Site Summary (RSS) file that describes your content and its format in a way that can be understood by My Netscape Network. When you've finished writing your RSS 0.91 file, Netscape recommends that you name your file using the .xml suffix, unless you are generating your file dynamically using a .cgi or other program. However, you can name your file using any suffix you choose.

RSS 0.91 Tags and Syntax

This section describes the tags and syntax of RSS 0.91, the most current version of the RSS format.

RSS 0.91 is a simple markup language that is based on the W3C standard Extensible Markup Language (XML). To create your RSS file, you mark up your channel content using RSS tags -- in much the same way as you would mark up web-page content with HTML tags.

Your RSS file must use the RSS tags properly and also have the correct structure -- Figure 2 illustrates the header tags required in an RSS file and the proper nesting sequence of tags. When registered with My Netscape Network, the RSS 0.91 file shown in Figure 2 produces the channel that is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2.  Sample RSS file that produces the channel shown in Figure 1.
 
<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN"
"http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">

<rss version="0.91">

  <channel>

    <title>MozillaZine</title>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org</link>
    <description>Your source for Mozilla news, advocacy, interviews, builds,
    and more!</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <rating>(PICS-1.1 "http://www.rsac.org/ratingsv01.html" l gen true
    comment "RSACi North America Server" for "http://www.rsac.org" on
    "1996.04.16T08:15-0500" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0))</rating>

  <image>
    <title>MozillaZine</title>
    <url>http://www.mozillazine.org/image/mycontentcouriersmall8.gif</url>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org</link>
    <width>88</width>
    <height>31</height>
    <description>Articles, discussions, builds, and more...</description>
  </image>

  <item>
    <title>Java2 in Navigator 5?</title>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=607</link>
    <description>Will Java2 be an integrated part of Navigator 5? Read more
    about it in this discussion...</description>
  </item>

  <item>
    <title>Communicator 4.61 Out</title>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=606</link>
    <description>The latest version of Communicator is now available. It
    includes security enhancements and various bug fixes.</description>
  </item>

  <item>
    <title>Mozilla Dispenses with Old, Proprietary DOM</title>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=604</link>
  </item>

  <item>
    <title>The Animation Contest is Now Closed!</title>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=603</link>
  </item>

  <textinput>
    <title>Send</title>
    <description>Comments about MozillaZine?</description>
    <name>responseText</name>
    <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/cgi-bin/sampleonly.cgi</link>
  </textinput>

  </channel>

</rss>

To prepare a valid RSS 0.91 file such as that shown in Figure 1, you must use the tags and syntax described Table 1, below.

Table 1.  RSS 0.91 tags and syntax.
 
Tag Description Required? Length or Value Example Usage
XML Version Identifier Required, exact. Optional encoding attribute (default is UTF-8).   <?xml version="1.0"?> or
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="[ encoding code here ]"?>
Document Type Identifier Required, exact 500 char. <!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN"
"http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">
RSS Version Identifier Required, exact 500 char. <rss version="0.91">
Start Channel Data Required. Maximum 1 per RSS file.   <channel>
Channel Title Required 1-100 char. <title>MozillaZine</title>
Channel Description Required 1-500 char. <description>Your source for Mozilla news, advocacy, interviews, and more!</description>
Channel Title Link (URL) Required 1-500 char. <link>http://www.mozillazine.org</link>
Channel Language Required 2-5 char. <language>[ language code here ]</language>
(Denoted as Language:Language Code)
Channel Rating Optional. Maximum 1 per channel. 20-500 char. <rating>[ PICS rating here ]</rating>
(See information in Using PICS Ratings)
Copyright Identifier* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-100 char. <copyright>Copyright 1999, Mozillazine.</copyright>
Publication Date* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-100 char. <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 1999 07:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
Last Build Date* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-100 char. <lastBuildDate>Thu, 08 Jul 1999 16:20:26 GMT
</lastBuildDate>
External Channel Description File (URL)* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-500 char. <docs>http://my.userland.com/stories/storyReader$11
</docs>
Managing Editor* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-100 char. <managingEditor>sylv@thisdomain.com</managingEditor>
Webmaster* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel. 1-100 char. <webMaster>sylv@thisdomain.com</webMaster>
Start Image Data Optional. Maximum 1 per channel.   <image>
Image ALT Text Required, if <image> 1-100 char. <title>MozillaZine</title>
Image Location (URL) Required, if <image> 1-500 char. <url>http://www.mozillazine.org/image/mynetscape88.gif
</url>
Image Link (URL) Optional, if <image> 1-500 char. <link>http://www.mozillazine.org</link>
Image Width Optional, if <image> Numeric Value: 1-144 (Default is 88) <width>[ numeric value here ]</width>
Image Height Optional, if <image> Numeric Value: 1-400 (Default is 31) <height>[ numeric value here ]</height>
Image Description Optional, if <image> 1-100 char. <description>Articles, discussions, builds, and more...</description>
End Image Data Required, if <image>   </image>
Start Item Data Optional. 0-15 items allowed per channel   <item>
Item Title Required, if <item> 1-100 char. <title>Java2 in Navigator 5?</title>
Item Link (URL) Required, if <item> 1-500 char. <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=607</link>
Item Description Optional, if <item> 1-500 char. <description>Will Java2 be an integrated part of Navigator 5? Read more about it in this discussion...</description>
End Item Data Required, if <item>   </item>
Start Text Input Data** Optional. Maximum 1 per channel.   <textinput>
Text Input Title (Label of Submit Button) Required, if <textinput> 1-100 char. <title>Send</title>
Text Input Description Required, if <textinput> 1-500 char. <description>Comments about MozillaZine?</description>
Text Input Name Required, if <textinput> 1-20 char. <name>[ value of name= attribute of input tag here ]</name>
Text Input Link Required, if <textinput> 1-500 char. <link>http://www.mozillazine.org/cgi-bin/sampleonly.cgi</link>
End Text Input Data Required, if <textinput>   </textinput>
Start Skip Hours* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel.   <skipHours>
Hour Required, if <skipHours>. Maximum 24 per <skipHours>. element. Numeric Value: 0 - 23. <hour>7</hour>
End Skip Hours Required, if <skipHours>   </skipHours>
Start Skip Days* Optional, Ignored by Netcenter. Maximum 1 per channel.   <skipDays>
Day Required, if <skipDays>. Maximum 7 per <skipDays>. element. 1-10 char. <day>Monday</day>
End Skip Days Required, if <skipDays>   </skipDays>
End Channel Data Required   </channel>
End RSS Required   </rss>

* Tag is allowed in an RSS 0.91 file, but Netcenter does not actually use this tag or its data. The RSS 0.91 format supports this tag for the benefit of other sites that might make use of the tag and its data.
** Note: In this release, MNN supports only <form method=get>. Your .cgi program that is to receive data from the text input must use method=get. Only one (1) of each of the tags listed in Table 1 is allowed in an RSS 0.91 file, with the exception of <item></item>, <hour></hour> and <day></day>. A channel in an RSS 0.91 file can contain as many as 15 <item></item> tags (headlines), as many as 24 <hour></hour> tags, and as many as 7 <day></day> tags.

RSS 0.91 also places restrictions on the first non-whitespace characters of the data in <link> and <url> tags. The data in these tags must begin with http:// or ftp://. Among others, https:, file:, mailto:, news:, and javascript: are not permitted in <link> and <url>tags.

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Validating Your RSS 0.91 File

After you've created an RSS 0.91 file, you must validate the file -- that is, ensure that it uses the proper tags, syntax and document structure, and that your tags enclose the appropriate type of data.

To help you do this, Netscape provides the RSS File Validator Tool, a tool that scans your file and alerts you to any errors it finds. To use the validator tool, follow these steps:
  1. Place your RSS 0.91 file on an HTTP or FTP server that is accessible from the Internet.
     
  2. Load the validator tool into your browser window. The tool can be accessed at this URL:
    http://my.netscape.com/publish/help/validate.tmpl
  3. In the validator, enter the location (URL) of your RSS 0.91 file. You must enter a fully-qualified, absolute URL.
     
  4. Click Validate.
If the validator tool finds an error in your file, it displays an error code and message that can help you diagnose the problem. Note that the validator tool can only notify you of one error at a time -- if you fix the named error and then validate your file again, it is possible that you could get another error with a different code.

When you've successfully validated your file, you are ready to go on to Step 3: Register Your RSS File with Netscape>.

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Using Special Characters and HTML Entities

Although an RSS 0.91 file is an XML document, RSS 0.91 extends XML by supporting a full set of HTML entities. If you want to use special characters such as ampersands (&) in <url> or <link> tags, you must substitute the appropriate decimal or HTML entities for those characters.

Decimal entities have the format &#ref; where ref is a number that references the character (#ref must be between 0-255). Entity references have the format &nnn; where nnn is a text string that references the character.

XML also has reserved characters, such as angle brackets, for which you must use a decimal or entity reference.

As an example, to use the URL:
http://foo.bar.com/mycgi.py?a=1&b=2
as the value for a <link> tag, you must substitute the decimal or entity equivalent of ampersand (&) character:
<link>http://foo.bar.com/mycgi.py?a=1&amp;b=2</link>
Table 2 lists common special characters and their decimal and entity equivalents.

Table 2.  Common special characters and their decimal and HTML entity equivalents.
 
Character Decimal Entity
& &#38; &amp;
< &#60; &lt;
> &#62; &gt;

For a full list of legal HTML and decimal entities, refer to Special Symbols and Entities on DevEdge, Netscape's information resource for developers.

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Languages and Encodings Supported in RSS 0.91

RSS 0.91 supports a full range of language and character encodings. Supported languages and encodings are listed in Table 1, above. Printable tables of supported languages and encodings available in the Frequently Asked Questions document: In your RSS 0.91 file, you must specify a language code that reflects the language in which your channel content is written. You can specify only one language code per channel. The language code you specify enables Netscape to classify your channel with other channels in the same language and it enables Netscape to encode your channel properly in the browser window.

You also have the option of specifying an encoding for your channel content in your RSS 0.91 file. The default encoding is UTF-8 (Unicode). To specify an encoding, you define an attribute within the XML Version Identifier. For example, if you want to define the encoding ISO-8859-1, you would edit the XML Version Identifier in your RSS 0.91 file so that it look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
The RSS 0.91 file in Figure 3, below, shows a channel that specifies ISO-8859-1 encoding and the French (fr) language.

Figure 3.  Sample RSS file that includes french language content and ISO-8859-1 encoding.
 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN"
"http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">

<rss version="0.91">

  <channel>

    <title>Actualités Netscape</title>
    <link>http://home.netscape.com/fr/netscape</link>
    <description>Actualité Netscape - À la une</description>
    <language>fr</language>

  <image>
    <title>Netscape Netcenter</title>
    <link>http://home.netscape.com/fr</link>
    <url>http://home.netscape.com/images/nnc_lockup.gif</url>
    <width>123</width>
    <height>33</height>
  </image>

  <item>
    <title>Commerce électronique: Bull et l'Alliance renforcent leur
    partenariat.</title>
    <link>http://home.netscape.com/fr/netscape</link>
    <description>Bull devient le premier partenaire européen "Preferred
    Integrators", initiative lancée par l'Alliance Sun-Netscape pour
    accélérer le déploiement de solutions de commerce électronique. Bull a
    déjà déployé un nombre significatif de grands projets s'appuyant sur les
    technologies de Netscape Directory Server et SuiteSpot.</description>
  </item>

  </channel>

</rss>

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Using PICS Ratings

The Platform for Internet Content Selection, or PICS TM, enables users of Communicator and other Internet software to filter internet content through the use of content ratings. There are several ratings services that you can use to obtain a rating label for your channel. To rate your site through these services, you simply visit the organization's web site and describe the type of content in your channel. Here are some well-known ratings organizations:
After you rate your channel content, the ratings organization will provide you with a META tag with the appropriate rating label. To use the rating label in your channel, you extract only the content= attribute and paste it into the <rating> tag.

For example, if your received this META tag from a ratings organization:
<META http-equiv="PICS-Label" content='(PICS-1.1 "http://www.classify.org/safesurf/" 1 r (SS~~000 1))'>
you would paste only the content= attribute into the <rating> tag, so that it would look like this:
<rating>(PICS-1.1 "http://www.classify.org/safesurf/" 1 r (SS~~000 1))</rating>
Note that My Netscape does not currently use PICS ratings, although other sites might. If you use Communicator and would like to filter content based on PICS ratings, refer to the Netscape's Netwatch page.

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Additional Reference Documents

For more technical information about the RSS format and My Netscape Network, refer to the documents listed below.

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Step 3:  Register Your RSS File

When you are finished creating your RSS 0.91 file, place it on an HTTP or FTP server. The file must be publicly accessible so that Netscape can retrieve and validate the file. Make sure that the server on which you are storing your file is up and running.

To register your RSS file with My Netscape Network, follow these steps:

  • Next, go to My Netscape Network at http://my.netscape.com/publish/.
     
  • Click Next and, in the next screen, read and agree to the Terms of Use (if you haven't done so already). The Create A Channel Window screen is displayed.
Tips:
  • You can register only one channel per Netcenter account.
     
  • Your Rich Site Summary (RSS) 0.91 file must be 8 kilobytes or less in size.

  • In the Rich Site Summary File Location text box, enter the full URL of your RSS 0.91 file (or the .cgi that generates it).
  • Select an update frequency for your channel (the interval at which you would like Netscape to retrieve your RSS file).
  • Before you submit the URL of your file, note that you must have a valid email address associated with your Netcenter account. The email address associated with your account is listed on the screen. Netscape will send important correspondence about the status of your channel to that address. If the address isn't valid or correct, click the Change Email button to correct the problem.
  • If the URL of your RSS 0.91 file and your email address are both correct, click the Submit button.
When you submit the URL of your file, Netscape attempts to validate the file. If your file is not valid, MNN displays an error message on the screen that you can use to diagnose the problem. Consult the Troubleshooting document for more information.

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Step 4:  Place the "Add this Site" Button on Your Web Site

When Netscape successfully retrieves your RSS 0.91 file, you will receive an email message that lets you know that your channel is available. You should receive this email within a few hours of submitting the URL of your RSS 0.91 file.

Save this email message -- it contains important items, such as
  • The raw HTML for an "Add this Site" button, which you can copy and paste onto your web page or site to enable your users to subscribe to your channel. Figure 4, below, provides an example of what the "Add this Site" button looks like.
     
  • The raw HTML for a link that serves the same function as the "Add this Site" button.
     
  • A record of your channel name, which is a unique numerical identifier that you will to refer to your channel when you contact Netscape.
     
  • Instructions on how to add your channel listing to the Netscape Open Directory.
Add Channel button

Figure 4. A sample of the type of "Add this Site" button that you receive from Netscape.

To view your channel, copy and paste the raw HTML of the "Add this Site" button onto your web page or site. Then load the page in your browser and click the "Add this Site" button.

To help make your channel a success, place the "Add this Site" button in a prominent location on your site. By making the button more visible, you ensure that a maximum number of people know about your channel and are able to quickly subscribe to it.

Also note that you should place the "Add this Site" button on your site before you can list your channel with other channels in the Netscape Open Directory.

After your channel is up and running, continue to monitor your email account for status messages from Netscape. If at some point Netscape is unable to retrieve your RSS 0.91 file, you will receive an email message stating the error code of the problem.

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© 1999 Netscape, All Rights Reserved.
This document has been modified.