Why XML/Atom for feeds

[Omar Polo]

gemproj@suckless.anonaddy.com writes:

> Hello geminauts
>
> Yesterday I decided to add a feed to my gemlog and when I checked other
> logs, most seem to feed XML or Atom. While I get that it's popular and
> useful in existing clients, I am wondering why it's the de facto standard
> in a protocol that favors a reduced markdown. XML always felt worse than
> HTML to me, yet to do anything feed related in geminispace, I still need to
> XML. Is it just me?
>
> Best
> ~m

There's no need to serve atom feeds, you can just stick to the gemini
subscriptions companion specification:

=> gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/companion/subscription.gmi

Fundamentally, a "subscribe"-able page is a page that contains some
links in the form "YYYY-MM-DD - title"; then the various aggregators and
clients can easily subscribe to that page.  The linked page has some
examples too.  It seems more widespread than atom feeds in the gemini
space, at least in my experience.

I believe that some of us still serve atom/rss feeds just because we set
up our capsules before that spec was a thing, or because we're already
generating feeds for HTTP consumption.

HTH