How can I get started making a C# RSS Reader?

Question

I have been wanting to make a RSS reader for a while now (just for fun), but I don\'t have the slightest idea of where to start. I don\'t understand anything about RSS. Are

Answer 1

RSS itself is really simple. Just an XML description of a channel, and a list of items on that channel (possibly with files attached to each item). Keeping track of updates is a little tricky, and managing encodings and post times/dates is tricky too though. The real nightmare is all the different "interpretations" of the RSS format that different sites use. If you're really writing a feed reader, you might want to start with parsing Atom, as it's a more standardised format, and might get you further faster, with a good design to branch off into RSS from. But really, you should just use an RSS parsing library -- preferably the most compatible one available (but don't pay for an RSS library; they're common enough).