SSD 1.0 Specification (Beta)

Contents

  1. SSD Description
  2. SSD Functionality
  3. SSD Document Format
  4. SSD Data Integrity Standards
  5. SSD Document Examples
  6. SSD Discussion
  7. SSD License

SSD Description

SSD (Simple Storefront Distribution) is a web content distribution method used by E-Commerce websites to share catalog data in a format easily interpreted by computer software.

SSD is an XML 1.0 based markup language modeled after the popular RSS 2.0 specification.

SSD Functionality

E-Commerce software applications publish an SSD formatted feed on a website containing a list of items they wish to advertise.

An SSD reader (also known as an aggregator) can query SSD enabled websites and report the results to an end user.

SSD Document Format

* Denotes required content.
name Denotes an XML 1.0 element.
@name Denotes an XML 1.0 attribute.
∞ Denotes the acceptance of multiple entries.

* ssd - Identifies the begin and end of storefront content.
*@version="1.0"
* storefront - Identifies a storefront.
* title - Contains the name of the storefront.
* description - Contains a description of the storefront.
* link - Contains a URL that "links" to the store's website.
language - Specifies the language used by the storefront.
currency - Specifies the currency used in the storefront.
copyright - Contains the copyright notice for the storefront.
pubdate - Contains the date when the storefront was published.
pubfreq - Contains the frequency that the storefront publishes its content (in days). A value of "0" indicates a live feed.
contact - Contains a URL that "links" to a website with contact information for the storefront.
generator - Contains identifying information about the application used to create the feed.
image - Identifies an image for the storefront.
* url - Contains the location of the image file (GIF, JPG, PNG).
title - Contains the name of the image. Can be thought of as an HTML ALT tag.
link - Contains a URL that "links" to the storefront website.
width - Contains the width of the image (in pixels).
height - Contains the height of the image (in pixels).
taxonomy - Identifies the category taxonomy of the storefront
∞ category - Identifies a category in the taxonomy of the storefront.
@type - Contains the category type. Possible values are "parent" and "child". A blank or missing value defines the current category.
* title - A forward slash separated string "/" that describes the category taxonomy.
url - Contains the location of the category SSD feed.
∞ * item - Identifies an item in the storefront.
* title - Contains the name of the item.
* link - Contains a URL that "links" to the item.
* description - Contains a description of the item.
* price - Contains the price of the item.
itemguid - Contains a global unique identifier for the item. Can be anything used to identify the item such as a URL or an item number.
@islink - A "true" or "false" value indicating whether or not the itemguid is a URL. Defaults to "true"
productguid - Contains a global unique identifier for the product. Can be anything used to identify the product such as a URL, a part number, or an ISBM.
@islink - A "true" or "false" value indicating whether or not the productguid is a URL. Defaults to "true"
image - Identifies an image for the item.
* url - Contains the location of the image file (GIF, JPG, PNG).
title - Contains the name of the image. Can be thought of as an HTML ALT tag.
link - Contains a URL that "links" to the item's website.
width - Contains the width of the image (in pixels).
height - Contains the height of the image (in pixels).

SSD Data Integrity Standards

URL or "Link" values found in SSD 1.0 must begin with a value present in the IANA Registry of URI Schemes.

Examples:
http://
https://
ftp://

Date and Time values found in SSD 1.0 must adhere to the Date Time Specification in RFC 2822.

Examples:
Sat, 21 Sep 2002 19:49:39 +0100
21 Sep 2002 19:49:39 +0100
21 Sep 2002 19:49 +0100

Language identifying values in SSD 1.0 must adhere to the guidelines stated in RFC 1766.

Examples:
en-us
es-es
fr-fr

Currency identifying values in SSD 1.0 must adhere to the ISO 4217 standard.

Examples:
EUR
USD
GBP

SSD Document Examples

SSD Example - SSD 1.0 Example Document.

SSD Discussion

Please feel free to make suggestions and post general comments on our discussion group. For now, please post any feeds you create here.

Atom Feed

SSD License

This specification is authored by Miguel Gonzalez and is offered under the terms of the Attribution/Share Alike Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons

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Last update: Monday, June 14, 2004 at 4:58:00 PM.

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