Integrating RSS into Your Web site

Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 1: Introduction Michael Sauers, BCR Internet Librarian 2006 22 October 2006

Introductions

Name

Library

Position

Does your library use RSS? If so, how?

Why are you here?

Survey Questions

Were you aware of the IL2006 Wiki

Did you read it?

Did you edit it?

Did you subscribe to the wiki’s RSS feed?

What is RSS?

Depending on who you ask it stands for either “Really Simple Syndication”, “Rich Site Summary”, or “RDF Site Summary”.

“Really Simple Syndication” is the de facto definition today.

RSS is an XML language for syndicating news items on the Internet.

The History of RSS

RSS 1.1 (update to RSS 1.0), RSS 3.0 (a new, independent project), and “Simple Sharing Extensions” (an update to RSS 2.0 by Microsoft) have all been proposed but have had no impact yet.

How does RSS work?

The information provider creates an RSS file.

Users subscribe to the file via an aggregator.

When the author updates the RSS file, the user is automatically notified of the new items and may read them on their schedule.

Implications of RSS

Information received in a single location

Information received in quickly

Reduced need to visit the originating Web site

Are there different versions of RSS?

Yes. In fact, there are currently eight different versions: RSS 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 0.93, 0.94, 1.0, 2.0, & Atom Feeds

Each has different features from the author’s point of view.

Today’s aggregators support all of the versions transparently.

RSS 2.0 & Atom are the most common.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<rss version="2.0">

<channel>

<title>BCR: The Third Indicator</title>

<link>http://www.bcr.org/publications/thirdind/</link>

<description>The Third Indicator, published monthly, is a technical memo focusing on OCLC products and services. It includes general OCLC news as well as detailed technical information on cataloging, reference and resource sharing. Announcements of new OCLC developments are also included.</description>

<lastBuildDate>Tue, 21 Sep 2004 21:37:39 GMT</lastBuildDate>

<generator>ListGarden Program 1.01</generator>

<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>

<item>

<title>WorldCat Resource Sharing Training</title>

<link>http://www.bcr.org/publications/thirdind/2004/august/augsharetrain04.html</link>

<description>If you'd like to see what WorldCat Resource Sharing looks like and learn more about it, visit the OCLC Web site at www.oclc.org/ill/migration/ or view the WorldCat Resource Sharing tutorial at www5.oclc.org/downloads/tutorials/firstsearch/sv/rsbasics/intro/index.html/.</description>

<pubDate>Tue, 21 Sep 2004 19:29:47 GMT</pubDate>

<guid isPermaLink="false">thirdind-2004-08-21-19-29-47</guid>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>

What does RSS look like?

How can I find feeds?

Feedster

Bloglines

Blogrolls A list of blogs/feeds read by another blogger

Look for the orange icon…

How do I subscribe to a feed?

Look for an orange icon:

Depending on your aggregator, the subscription procedure may range from copying and pasting the link to right-clicking and selecting “subscribe”.

More RSS icons

“ Support the Common Feed Icon” by Rogers Cadenhead http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2872/support-common-feed-icon

A standard icon?

The move is to establish this icon, originally proposed by the Firefox, folks as the syndication icon.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 will use this icon.

http://www.feedicons.com/

Podcasts

Uses RSS to syndicate audio content

RSS 2.0 <enclosure>

Like adding an attachment to an e-mail

Audio Formats

MP3 (Open Source)

AAC (Apple Proprietary)

iPod not necessary

Podcasts in iTunes

Notable Feeds

Librarian.net www.librarian.net

LISNews www.lisnews.com

The Shifted Librarian theshiftedlibrarian.com

The Travelin’ Librarian travelinlibrarian.info

Tame the Web tametheweb.com/ttwblog

Unshelved www.overduemedia.com

PaperCuts papercuts.tscpl.org

Gizmodo www.gizmodo.com

Security Now! www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

Inside The Net & This Week in Tech (TWiT) thisweekintech.com

Boing Boing boingboing.net

Google News

isbn.nu

del.icio.us

flickr

Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 2: Reading Feeds Michael Sauers, BCR Internet Librarian 2006 22 October 2006

What is an Aggregator?

An aggregator is a type of software that retrieves syndicated Web content that is supplied in the form of a web feed (RSS, Atom and other XML formats), and that are published by weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites. -Wikipedia

It’s what you need to retrieve and read RSS feeds.

What are the different types of aggregators?

Standalone Clients

FeedReader , Radio UserLand

PIM add-ins

Pluck, NewsGator, intraVnews

Browser add-ins

Firefox , Sage

Web-based

Bloglines , NewsIsFree

A list is available @ http://www.lights.com/weblogs/rss.html

RSS file in Firefox

RSS file in IE6

RSS file in IE7b3

RSS file w/ associated style sheet

Why do I need an aggregator?

Most importantly it makes the content of the feed readable

Checks for updates automatically

Notifies you of new information

Displays only new items for you

May allow you to sort and save information

Types of Aggregators

Client

Add-on

Built-in

Server-based

Web-based service

FeedReader (client)

Pluck (add-on for IE)

Firefox 1.5

Netscape 8

IE7beta 2

Feed on Feeds (server)

Bloglines (Web-based service)

Subscribing to a feed

Bloglines Toolkit (for Firefox)

Subscribing via the Toolkit

The Bloglines Bookmarklet

Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 3: Creating Feeds Michael Sauers, BCR Internet Librarian 2006 22 October 2006

How do I create a feed?

Hand-rolled You type the markup and the content

Semi-automated You type the content, software generates the markup.

Fully-automated You put the content in your blog and software generates a feed based on that content.

FeedSpring

Limitations

Local installation limits mobility and posters to a single computer.

No built-in FTP. Must transfer the .xml file to the server manually.

Still in beta (but what isn’t these days?)

FeedXS

Limitations

Few options for controlling the feed

No support for enclosures

RapidFeeds: FeedManager

Limitations

Registration does not work with newer e-mail addresses. (Insisted my .info address was invalid.)

Does not allow publishing to another server so if the company disappears, your feed goes with it.

ListGarden

Limitations

Depending of type of server installed on, may not be secure. (i.e. no passwords on cgi-bin directories.)

RSSxl

Limitations

Solid knowledge of HTML required to get parsing correct.

Works better on pages with simpler layouts.

The validation code “will change each month and you will need to visit this page for the new code.” (Though I’ve found feeds continue to work without updating the code.)

“ If you are using this tool to publish an RSS feed from your website, then you must include a visible HTML link to www.wotzwot.com on your site next to the link to your feed like the following: ‘Powered by RSSxl’”

Sabifoo

Limitations

Third party service could disappear at any time.

Doesn’t always work well with Yahoo! Messenger and AIM.

Does not interpret HTML in posts.

RSS Calendar

Limitations

No importing from existing calendars

Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 4: Republishing Feeds Michael Sauers, BCR Internet Librarian 2006 22 October 2006

Integrating feed content into your Web site

Grab content from multiple RSS feeds

Reduce and/or mash it

Republish it on your site

Feedroll

Limitations

Free version works only with pre-programmed feeds

RapidFeeds: MySite

Limitations

Registration does not work with newer e-mail addresses. (Insisted my .info address was invalid)

Code supplied is longer than all others as it contains all the CSS.

RSS2HTML

Limitations

Minimal customization / limited to their templates / can’t make it look like your site.

Did not work well on some feeds and not at all on others. (No luck with GoogleNews. Mixed results with Flickr.)

Given a URL to embed with, not a script, which forces embedding via iframe .

Feed2JS http://www.feed2js.org/

Build

Preview

Style

Generate Javascript

Place the Javascript in the page

View the results

Feed2JS

Limitations

Hosted service (though you can download and install it on your own server which is recommended)

Client must have JavaScript turned on for it to work.

FeedDigest

Limitations

Limited to five feeds in free version.

Scrolling RSS News Ticker

Limitations

JavaScript required

Shows small advertisement

RSS Scrollbox Widget

Limitations

JavaScript required

Shows small advertisement

Grazr

Limitations

JavaScript required

LibraryThing Blog Widget

Limitations

Requires JavaScript

Requires LibraryThing account

Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 5: Advanced Feed Manipulation Michael Sauers, BCR Internet Librarian 2006 22 October 2006

FeedBlendr

Limitations

Could not get OPML importing to work.

“If this blend is not accessed for more than 2 weeks, it will be removed from the database and will need to be recreated.”

FeedBurner

Limitations

Since by using this you get a new feed URL, it is not recommended you use it on existing feeds.

Your feed will be relying on a third party to work. If the company goes under, your feed will disappear.

Feed Crier

Limitations

Only three feeds for free

Free version advertisement supported

Works only with AIM

ZapTXT

Limitations

Can’t handle feeds that require logins

Sometimes reports a feed as “not valid” and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Searches on multiple keywords are “OR” searches. “AND” searches don’t seem to be possible.

Mail2RSS

Limitations

Bloglines doesn’t like the RSS2.0 feeds, use the 1.0 link instead

Mail automatically deletes after seven days

Feeds are limited to 20 items

Potential security issue when using Subscribe with Bloglines bookmarklet (next slide)

Mail2RSS

RssFwd

Limitations

Some (including me) argue that converting RSS to e-mail defeats the purpose of RSS.

Feed2Podcast

Limitations

Your feeds are read by a computer generated voice.

Non-English words are not well supported.

Contact information

Michael Sauers

[email_address]

http://travelinlibrarian.info/

http://del.icio.us/travelinlibrarian/il2006/rss

Integrating RSS into Your Web site

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