Handcode your first RSS feed with this stupid simple template

a pre-built template by ArimaMary

Code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Reference: https://www.w3schools.com/XML/xml_rss.asp-->
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">

    <channel>
        <!--Basic information of RSS feed-->
        <title>{{Feed Title}}</title>
        <link>https://example.com</link>
        <description>{{description of feed}}</description>
        <category>{{tags}}</category>
        <language>en</language>
        <lastBuildDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:10:30 -0500</lastBuildDate>
        <atom:link href="https://example.com/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
        <docs>https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification</docs>

        <!--Each item tag encloses an article-->
        <item>
            <title>2026.02.23</title>
            <link>https://example.com</link>
            <description>second feed item</description>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">2026.02.23</guid>
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:10:30 -0500</pubDate>
        </item>

        <item>
            <title>2026.02.08</title>
            <link>https://example.com</link>
            <description>first feed item</description>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">2026.02.08</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 19:56:00 -0500</pubDate>
        </item>

    </channel>

    <!-- Item template
        <item>
            <title>{{date:YYYY.MM.DD}}</title>
            <link>{{link}}</link>
            <description>{{description}}</description>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">{{date:YYYY.MM.DD}}</guid>
            <pubDate>{{RFC date:Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:10:30 -0500}}</pubDate>
        </item>-->

</rss>

How To Use

Disclaimer: There are many ways to write an RSS feed. This is the template I use to make my own feeds.

Step 1: Drop the above code on your editor of choice.

Step 2: Basic Information section

Highlight {{Feed Title}} in between the </title> tags and add the name of your feed.
Highlight https://example.com in between the </link> and add the link to your site. If you don't have a link or it might change, feel free to wait on this.
Highlight {{description of feed}} in between the </description> and explain what the feed is about, a simple "My site's/Your name 's feed" works.
Optional: highlight {{tags}} in between the </category> tags and add some topics that describe your feed. Perhaps it's a journal, or an art showcase, or you write review or blog posts. Feel free to delete this.
Atom:link: The URL to your feed. The path and filename must match.

Step 3: Items section

Title: In this example, the title of each feed item is the date of the update written in Year. Month. Day format. There are no restrictions so you can also write it as Month. Day. Year or however it's commonplace in your corner of the world.
Link: The link to the website the feed originates from.
Description: The news! Write what you share with others. Maybe you wrote a new blog post or added a new page to your site. Think of it as the box where you write your social media post or blog post.
Guid: The unique identifier of the feed item. In this example, the identifier is the same as the title, assuming your aren't updating your site multiple times a day.
pubDate: Kay, this one's a bit complicated because it has many parts. Date and times must follow the RFC-822 format described in the the document with the same name. Here's a blog post about formatting dates. After writing this date, copy and paste it in the Basic Information section between the <lastBuildDate> tags.
- First three letters of the day (eg. Mon)
- Date number (eg. 23)
- First three letters of the month (eg. Feb)
- Full year (eg. 2026)
- Time (hours-minutes.seconds) in 24-hour format (eg. 17:10:30)
- Timezone in three letter format or offset (eg. 'EST' for the former or '-0500' is the latter)

Troubleshooting

Can't recommend W3C's Feed Validation Service enough. If you have a feed on the internet, you can drop the link on 'validate by URI' and click 'Check'. If not, you can drop the code on the 'Validate by Direct Input' and click 'Validate'. If the feed words, it will give the message, 'Congratulations, this is a valid RSS feed' and a button with a checkmark that says 'valid RSS.' that you can add to your site. Otherwise, it will display a list of things per line to fix plus links resources to double check per error right next to it.

Try it out for yourself! Copy the code template, drop it on 'Direct Input' tab, remove the Item template, and click the button. The feed should be valid.

Credits

Written by ArimaMary (they/them)
Website: https://arimamary.neocities.org
Email: sns@arimamary.net

This work is marked CC0 1.0 Universal. To view a copy of this mark, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/