Oister is a way to format a list of items using XML.  In Oister, these items are called “features.” The features can be anything that you might want to list such as news articles, blog posts, real estate listings, product descriptions and more. Once an Oister feed is created, an application designed to interpret Oister formatted documents can display the information according to the rules set in the Oister feed.  There is no limit to the type or amount of features that can be in an Oister document.

In some ways Oister is similar to other XML formats such as RSS and Atom, but there are a few things that set Oister apart.  The first is that the Oister format has built-in support for displaying images with features.  Second, links to media files (including embeds) can easily be attached to any feature.  The applications that display Oister feeds have to handle how to interpret things like video and audio, which makes things easier for owners of the Oister feed. Another aspect that separates Oister from other XML-based formats is the use of the “priority level.”  Authors of Oister documents can give each feature one of five priority levels: Highest, High, Normal, Low, Lowest.  Oister reader applications should then display features with greater priority levels more prominently than features that have a lesser priority level.

These are just a few examples of what can be done using the Oister format.  The Oister XML Schema contains the XML rules that make Oister possible. The Documentation page explains what each of those rules means.  You don’t have to know anything about XML Schema to create an Oister file, but some knowledge of XML might help.  You can find much more information about how to display or create an Oister file on the Documentation page. Since Oister feeds are meant to be available online, you’ll also need access to a website that allows you to upload your Oister feed so that people can download it later.