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

[WordPress Trac]

#25639: Implement a JSON feed using rssjs.org spec
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 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  |
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Comment (by Otto42):

 Replying to [comment:34 rmccue]:
 > RSS has its place: in the history books. We've invented better formats
 since, and the only real argument for using RSS these days is because it's
 already supported. rss.js is not supported, and it's not particularly easy
 to just convert an existing RSS library to rss.js.

 That's not really an argument against rss.js though. That's an argument
 against RSS alone. See, the point here is that you would not use rss.js in
 the same places.

 If I need to read a bunch of posts from a bunch of different sources, then
 I already have SimplePie right now. I don't need a new format, and in fact
 I don't much care what the format is. Thanks for that, BTW.

 But if I need a quick way to implement something in a browser, then I need
 it in a javascript format. Example off the top of my head: infinite
 scrolling. It is a few lines of code to read in data from a json endpoint
 and display it in a browser, or fiddle with it, or whatever.

 And the really big thing is that right now, it actually doesn't make a
 whole heck of a lot of difference what the format of that data is, because
 *there is no standard*. You have nothing in place to even hold a
 comparison to, because every single time you need to get data from a json
 endpoint in WordPress, you have to implement that endpoint yourself, in
 PHP.

 Nothing you implement as a general starting point will have everything, or
 fit everybody's needs, or be useful in every possible case. That's
 impossible.

 But there are very few things as much of a de-facto standard on the web as
 WordPress is. RSS may be crap, but rss.js is not widespread. Whatever
 WordPress implements in this respect *is* the standard. WordPress's RSS
 implementation is not necessarily a standard, but it is a known quantity
 and a reasonable starting point. Okay, sure, I would have preferred Atom,
 but the bottom line is that either way, having a feed URL that returns
 JSON structured data, and which works with all our existing query-URL
 parameters, the same as the RSS feed does, is the game changer.

 Start with something. Iterate. Experimental and not widespread means that
 we can change it as we go along to adapt to perceived problems and gaps in
 the format. Even gaps in RSS itself. Who cares that rss.js is a badly
 defined standard? Nobody really implements it anyway. We're free to
 control it and extend it as we see fit. Having 20% of the web gives you
 considerable leverage when implementing something new.

 And if /feed/rssjs doesn't work out, we can always ditch it and switch up
 to /feed/something-else later. Experimental features can die, or revert to
 plugins.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/25639#comment:36>
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