RSS 1.0 and 2.0 frustrations

[giza]

Here's a sample RSS 1.0 feed:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rdf:RDF 
 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
 xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/">
 <channel rdf:about="http://www.xml.com/xml/news.rss">
   <title>XML.com</title>
   <link>http://xml.com/pub</link>
   <description>
     XML.com features a rich mix of information and services 
     for the XML community.
   </description>
   <items>
     <rdf:Seq>
       <rdf:li rdf:resource="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/xslt/xslt.html" />
       <rdf:li rdf:resource="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/index.html" />
     </rdf:Seq>
   </items>
   <textinput rdf:resource="http://search.xml.com" />
 </channel>
 
 <item rdf:about="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/xslt/xslt.html">
 ...
 </item>

 <item rdf:about="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/index.html">
 ...
 </item>
 
</rdf:RDF>

Now, here's a sample RSS 2.0 feed:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Liftoff News</title>
    <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/</link>
    <description>Liftoff to Space Exploration.</description>
 
    <item>
    ...
    </item>

    <item>
    ...
    </item>
 
  </channel>
</rss>

Now... note the location of the <channel> tags... in the first example, they surround the table of contents, but not the individual items. In the second example, they surround the complete list individual items.

It took me over an hour to note this subtle difference yesterday, as I was trying to figure out why my program-generated RSS feeds were not being parsed properly. Argh.

Other than that, I do like the fact that RSS 2.0 is far more compact than 1.0.