The Atom syndication format

Just as the Atom API can be used to publish data to either Movable Type or TypePad (as well as many other publishing tools for weblogs, wikis and journals), an Atom syndication feed can be used to export your weblog's information in a consistent, well-specified format.

Right now, the Atom format is fairly similar to the RSS format in the range of things that are possible, but for many developers, one of the positive traits about Atom support is the documentation for the format.

In addition to an IETF Internet Draft, there's a test suite for clients which support auto-discovery and a feed validator to verify that your feed is correctly formed.

For most people using Movable Type and TypePad, though, you can just use the built-in support for Atom feeds and things will work right out of the box. The default Atom template is available on the Movable Type website as well.

People who are interested in participating in the Atom community, which helps define and give feedback on both the feed format and the API, might want to follow the excellent Finally Atom blog, or just check in on the Atom wiki for links to the rest of the conversation.

Next up, we'll start to cover how you can use the Atom support in Movable Type and TypePad for your own applications.