Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
If it’s really so simple why does it seem so complex to implement?
Feeds are starting to make their way from blogs, technology sites, and large news sites, such as ABC news to more conventional websites.
Often clients ask us to put an RSS feed on their website. “Great.” I respond. “What feeds would you like published to your website? Or, would you like to make some of your web pages available as an RSS feed?” This question is usually met with a furrowed brow and is the reason for this article.
Feeds can be used in three main ways:
1. You can receive feeds and view them using a feedreader (also known as an aggregator) such as bloglines.com;
2. your site can display feeds from other sources for your web visitors; and
3. pages on your website (including images, video, and audio) can be converted into an RSS feed (also known as syndication) for others to enjoy.
Viewing Feeds
If you’ve ever clicked on a little orange feed icon without opening it up in a feedreader you’ve seen a lot of XML. No worries. Next time, just open up a feedreader first, such as bloglines and copy the page URL into the feedreader.
Most feedreaders list all feeds on the left then when clicked, display a list of headlines with a little copy on the right side of the page. They only display the updated content since the last time you viewed the feed unless you specifically request that previously viewed material stays visible. Clicking on a feed’s headline will open up a web page with the entire article or web page. Feeds are a great way to scan the latest news or technology headlines without having to go to a number of different websites.
Collecting feeds from your favorite websites and blogs is a great way to save time and still stay current on the latest news or industry trends.
Creating a Feed to Publish
From the programmer’s perspective, the XML programming that creates a feed is fairly simple. There are three main elements: title, description and a link. In fact, I just created a tiny feed for our website. The nice thing is that your programmer can make feeds very selective from individual web pages to elements on a particular page, such as a video. The downside is that you need a little programming savvy to create the XML file and upload it to your server and finally to create a link to it from your website.
Displaying Feeds on Your Website
Now, you’re ready to read feeds as well as syndicate most of your website, right? But, how do you get feeds to display on your website? Hmmm. It’s time to go back to your programmer. This time for a little JavaScript that will update the feed and display it on your website. There are a number of sites that create the JavaScript needed to display feeds and give you some control over the look (just headlines vs. headlines and a little copy), such as feedroll.com. A word of caution, pick your feeds carefully as you’re giving them real estate on your website to post whatever they want, so make sure the topic represents your site well.
Benefits of Feeds
Feeds offer two main benefits. First, like me, you probably have quite a few great sites bookmarked that you don’t get back to that often. If your favorite sites, blogs, podcasts or videocasts have feeds you can collect them and view them all at once in one place – a feedreader. It will just display the newest updates since the last time you viewed each feed, so you only see what’s current.
Second, if you’d like to offer your web visitors current information but don’t have time to constantly update your website, you can post feeds from other sources to make your site more of a resource.
--------------
Jane Lindley is the president of Super Web Group, Inc., a web design and development firm specializing in content management systems. She can be contacted at 206-340-2519 or online at superwebgroup.com.
Feeds are starting to make their way from blogs, technology sites, and large news sites, such as ABC news to more conventional websites.
Often clients ask us to put an RSS feed on their website. “Great.” I respond. “What feeds would you like published to your website? Or, would you like to make some of your web pages available as an RSS feed?” This question is usually met with a furrowed brow and is the reason for this article.
Feeds can be used in three main ways:
1. You can receive feeds and view them using a feedreader (also known as an aggregator) such as bloglines.com;
2. your site can display feeds from other sources for your web visitors; and
3. pages on your website (including images, video, and audio) can be converted into an RSS feed (also known as syndication) for others to enjoy.
Viewing Feeds
If you’ve ever clicked on a little orange feed icon without opening it up in a feedreader you’ve seen a lot of XML. No worries. Next time, just open up a feedreader first, such as bloglines and copy the page URL into the feedreader.
Most feedreaders list all feeds on the left then when clicked, display a list of headlines with a little copy on the right side of the page. They only display the updated content since the last time you viewed the feed unless you specifically request that previously viewed material stays visible. Clicking on a feed’s headline will open up a web page with the entire article or web page. Feeds are a great way to scan the latest news or technology headlines without having to go to a number of different websites.
Collecting feeds from your favorite websites and blogs is a great way to save time and still stay current on the latest news or industry trends.
Creating a Feed to Publish
From the programmer’s perspective, the XML programming that creates a feed is fairly simple. There are three main elements: title, description and a link. In fact, I just created a tiny feed for our website. The nice thing is that your programmer can make feeds very selective from individual web pages to elements on a particular page, such as a video. The downside is that you need a little programming savvy to create the XML file and upload it to your server and finally to create a link to it from your website.
Displaying Feeds on Your Website
Now, you’re ready to read feeds as well as syndicate most of your website, right? But, how do you get feeds to display on your website? Hmmm. It’s time to go back to your programmer. This time for a little JavaScript that will update the feed and display it on your website. There are a number of sites that create the JavaScript needed to display feeds and give you some control over the look (just headlines vs. headlines and a little copy), such as feedroll.com. A word of caution, pick your feeds carefully as you’re giving them real estate on your website to post whatever they want, so make sure the topic represents your site well.
Benefits of Feeds
Feeds offer two main benefits. First, like me, you probably have quite a few great sites bookmarked that you don’t get back to that often. If your favorite sites, blogs, podcasts or videocasts have feeds you can collect them and view them all at once in one place – a feedreader. It will just display the newest updates since the last time you viewed each feed, so you only see what’s current.
Second, if you’d like to offer your web visitors current information but don’t have time to constantly update your website, you can post feeds from other sources to make your site more of a resource.
--------------
Jane Lindley is the president of Super Web Group, Inc., a web design and development firm specializing in content management systems. She can be contacted at 206-340-2519 or online at superwebgroup.com.
posted by super webgirl at
10:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home