TechLifeBlogged

There's been a LOT of buzz lately about OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language). TechCrunch did their awesome experiment using Dave Winer's OPML editor and that has fanned the flames as well. There's been lots of talk about the standard etc. etc. I haven't really done much with it except move feeds between RSS readers so I can't really weigh in on all the arguments yet.

I did find a VERY cool tool over on KBCafe called OPML Surfer. In short:
If you open an OPML file on the way, say, http://davenet.opml.org/index.opml you'll see it look like:

Ak! What the hell is all that? Don't Panic! Enter KBCafe's OPML Surfer. Copy the URL and go to http://www.kbcafe.com/rss/opmlsurfer.aspx where you can paste in the URL and click 'Surf'. You'll then see the OPML file magically open up below (similar to the way search results open up) and you can click through the links. Awesome!

Now, to take it to another level, I hacked up my Google Search Bookmarklet and changed the code to work with OPML Surfer. It helps stop all that messy copy and pasting. When you have an OPML page open in your browser you just click the 'Surf this OPML' link and a new window will open up containing the OPML in browsable form. Magical!

First, you need to drag this link to your browser's tool bar:
Surf this OPML

Now go to an OPML file like: http://hosting.opml.org/techcrunch.opml.org/techcrunch.opml and then click your new 'Surf this OPML' bookmarklet.
Technorati Tags : kbcafe, opml, techcrunch