While I was writing the post below, I wanted to link my shared OPML page on SYO. I didn't found the linkable URL for my page instantly, but I did. Now that I did, I like the idea of linking that page, it's an evolution of a blogroll.

So I made an icon to link it.



Please, take one.

SYO is a very cool application. I enjoy browsing other people reading lists and it's a great way to find new interesting content.

As every good net citizen should do, I share my OPML file, but, at least for me, this is not a very easy task. Here's what I'm currently going trough:

1. Export my OPML file from Bloglines and save it locally on my hard disk
2. Edit it with BBEdit in order to duplicate the <title> field into the <text> field (Dear Bloglines: even if what you are producing might be valid OPML, since there's also an application named OPML Editor it would be good for your karma if you could make your OPML file usable with the OPML application, thanks).
3. Open it with my OPML editor (I use Radio) and remove a group of feeds I prefer to keep private
4. Upload it to my blog

To keep my page on SYO up to date, I should do this every time I edit my subscription list, which happens quite frequently. And this list doesn't include podcasts I subscribe to (I use iTunes for podcasts, I know I can export the OPML from iTunes, I don't want to go there).

Now, wouldn't it be nice to have a web 2.1 application to:

• maintain my OPML file on a server and edit it with a nice UI
• route subscription to new feeds instantly in my OPML file
• use different applications to subscribe to different parts of the opml directory (or maybe have different OPML files): i.e. Bloglines for news, iTunes for podcasts
• set privacy on some parts of the file (or, again, different OPML files)

Of course, the tricky part would be to get all RSS readers supporting this system. But I'm ready to move if somebody finds a way to handle this mess with a little grace.

Tags: OPML, RSS Readers, SYO