Atom
Description
Atom is an XML-based document format that describes lists of related information known as "feeds". Feeds are composed of a number of items, known as "entries", each with an extensible set of attached metadata. For example, each entry has a title. The primary use case that Atom addresses is the syndication of Web content such as weblogs and news headlines to Web sites as well as directly to user agents. [1]
The Atom Publishing Protocol is an application-level protocol for publishing and editing Web Resources using HTTP [RFC2616] and XML 1.0. The protocol supports the creation of Web Resources and provides facilities for: 1) Collections: Sets of Resources, which can be retrieved in whole or in part; 2) Services: Discovery and description of Collections; and 3) Editing: Creating, editing, and deleting Resources. [2]
MIME Types
Hypermedia Elements
app:accept
[11][CR]-
Notes
The content of an "app:accept" element value is a media range as defined in [RFC2616]. The media range specifies a type of representation that can be POSTed to a Collection. Example
<app:accept>image/png, image/*</app:accept>
app:collection
[10][LO]-
Notes
app:collection
has the following hypermedia attributes:- href
Example
<collection href="http://example.org/blog/main" />
atom:content
[4][LE][LO]-
Notes
atom:content
has the following hypermedia attributes:- src
Most often the
atom:content
element holds inline text, html, or xhtml data. Optionally, theatom:content
element can point to another resource using thesrc
attribute.The resource pointed to by the
src
attribute may be treated as an outbound link (LO) or rendered in place as an embed link (LE).Example
<content src="http://www.example.org/blog-posts/123" />
atom:generator
[6][LO]-
Notes
atom:generator
has the following hypermedia attributes:- uri
Example
<generator uri="http://www.example.org/generators/abc" />
atom:icon
[7][LE]-
Example
<icon>http://www.example.org/images/icon</icon>
atom:link
[5][LO][CL]-
Notes
atom:link
has the following hypermedia attributes:- href
- rel
- hreflang
The
atom:link
element is used throughout the media type as a way to link to other resources. It is the only element in the Atom format that also uses therel
attribute (CL). The initial documentation identifies the following link relation values:- alternate
- related
- self
- enclosure
- via
Additional link relation values can be found in the IANA Registry of Link Relations [9].
Example
<link href="http://www.example.org/data/q1w2e3r4" rel="related" hreflang="en" />
atom:logo
[8][LE]-
Example
<logo>http://www.example.org/images/logo</logo>
atom:uri
[3][LO]-
Example
<uri>http://www.example.com/content/doc1</uri>
Reference Links
- The Atom Syndication Format [RFC4287]
- The Atom Publishing Protocol [RFC5023]
- The "atom:uri" Element
- The "atom:content" Element
- The "atom:link" Element
- The "atom:generator" Element
- The "atom:icon" Element
- The "atom:logo" Element
- Link Relations
- The "app:collection" Element
- The "app:accept" Element
Update History
- 2010-06-18
Completed Atom spec entries - 2010-06-01
Initial post