[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #25639: Implement a JSON feed using rssjs.org spec

[WordPress Trac]

#25639: Implement a JSON feed using rssjs.org spec
------------------------------------+-----------------------
 Reporter:  nacin                   |       Owner:  pento
     Type:  feature request         |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                  |   Milestone:  3.8
Component:  Feeds                   |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  dev-feedback has-patch  |
------------------------------------+-----------------------

Comment (by dd32):

 I'm yet to see a json "standard" that could actually be used to properly
 expose a WordPress post / archive.

 The RSS.JS spec isn't exactly a great idea to me, it bundles RSS up into a
 JSON object sure, but it doesn't actually make RSS any more useful, it's
 still a severely limited spec designed to push formatted HTML in chunks
 for a human to read, which is a huge comparison to JSON's primary use
 being machine-machine communication of data.
 (It's also worth noting that the RSS.JS implementation on this ticket
 supports less than our RSS2 feed, and doesn't expose enclosures)

 The AS1 spec is interesting, although not actually in use by many at all,
 it's verbosity and separating everything into individual fields makes it
 better than RSS.JS.
 However AS1 doesn't seem like it conveys all of WordPress's data that
 would be useful for a JSON-based front-end, leaving it severely hamstrung.

 As much as I like standards, I'm not sure either of these unadopted
 standards are the right thing for WordPress to support. If they were in
 use by other major CMS's or sites it would be much easier to say yes.

 I would much prefer to see a WordPress-specific JSON endpoint that exposes
 the WordPress public post data in such a way that it's usable by both
 aggregators, JSON front ends, future editors, and, being generic enough
 that someone else could implement it for their own application and have it
 just work.
 One potential option here is that we look at the WP-API project could
 bring and instead implement a read-only feed-like endpoint from it. It'd
 give us a heads start on integrating it with WordPress, a v0.1 some would
 say, allowing us to implement a JSON structure which is minimal and to the
 point of what data modern CMS's have.

 The other option is simply going with AS1 and adding WordPress extensions
 to it, such as tags/categories/post type/post format (which AS1 has as a
 `objectType` but is a different set than what WordPress uses), which would
 make it more usable to most.

 One of the things I fear about AS1/RSS.JS adoption is that they seem great
 from the standpoint of "Lets add a JSON format!", but when you actually
 look at the standard and think about how someone would use it, it seems
 like it'll come up just short of what someone needs for it to be useful -
 Ultimately the format being completely ignored when we too realise that
 and pull WP-API into core or build extensions to the specification so we
 can expose the data people need.

 It's one thing to say "Build it and the applications will come", but it's
 another to say "Build it, and the application developers won't run into
 shortcomings and report bugs like that they can't see what Category
 something is posted in".

 tl;dr: I'd much prefer to see someone actually try to use either of these
 formats, with a theme or stand alone application before we adopted one, it
 really seems like we'd be throwing a dart over our shoulder and hoping it
 hit the board..

--
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/25639#comment:25>
WordPress Trac <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress blogging software