Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site - CIL2008

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Slide 2: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 1: Introduction Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Computers in Libraries 2008

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Slide 4: Introductions  Name  Library  Position  Does your library use RSS? If so, how?  Why are you here? 4

Slide 5: 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 items on the Internet. 5

Slide 6: 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. 6

Slide 7: How does RSS work? Information Receiver Information Provider 7

Slide 8: 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. 8

Slide 9: 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. 9

Slide 10: Implications of RSS  Information is received in a single location  Information is received quickly  The need to visit the originating Web site is reduced  and… 10

Slide 11: 11 The possible end of this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/491666805/

Slide 12: What does RSS look like? <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <rss version="2.0“> <channel> <title>Nebraska Library Commission Blog</title> <link>http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/blogs/NLC/</link> <description>Bringing together people and information</description> <language>en</language> <copyright>Copyright 2007</copyright> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 10 May 2007 07:34:17 -0600</lastBuildDate> <generator>http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/</generator> <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs> <item> <title>New depository directories</title> <description> <![CDATA[<p>The directories of Nebraska's federal and state depository libraries got a new look recently. Contact names and emails of library staff will be updated automatically when our comprehensive library directory is updated. The depository directories are located at <a href="http://http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ docs/nefed.asp">http://http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/docs/nefed.asp</a></p>]]> </description> <link>http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/blogs/NLC/2007/05/new_depository_directories.html</link> <guid>http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/blogs/NLC/2007/05/new_depository_directories.html</guid> <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category">Information Resources</category> <pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 07:28:43 -0600</pubDate> </item> </channel> </rss> 12

Slide 13: How can I find feeds?  Feedster  Bloglines  Blogrolls A list of blogs/feeds read by another blogger  Look for the orange icon… 13

Slide 14: How do I subscribe to a feed?  Look for the orange icon http://www.feedicons.com/  Depending on your aggregator, the subscription procedure may range from copying and pasting the link to right-clicking and selecting “subscribe”. 14

Slide 15: 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 15

Slide 16: Podcasts in iTunes 16

Slide 17: Notable Feeds  Librarian.net • Gizmodo www.librarian.net www.gizmodo.com  LISNews • Security Now! www.lisnews.com www.grc.com/securitynow.htm • Inside The Net &  The Shifted Librarian This Week in Tech (TWiT) theshiftedlibrarian.com thisweekintech.com  The Travelin’ Librarian • Boing Boing travelinlibrarian.info boingboing.net  Tame the Web • Google News tametheweb.com/ttwblog • isbn.nu  Unshelved • del.icio.us www.overduemedia.com • flickr  PaperCuts papercuts.tscpl.org 17

Slide 18: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 2: Reading Feeds Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Computers in Libraries 2008

Slide 19: 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. 19

Slide 20: 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 20

Slide 21: 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 21

Slide 22: RSS file in IE6 22

Slide 23: Atom file w/ associated style sheet 23

Slide 24: Firefox 2.0 24

Slide 25: Internet Explorer 7 25

Slide 26: Types of Aggregators  Client  Add-on  Built-in  Server-based  Web-based service 26

Slide 27: FeedReader (client) 27

Slide 28: Pluck (add-on for IE) 28

Slide 29: Firefox 2 29

Slide 30: IE7 30

Slide 31: Feed on Feeds (server) 31

Slide 32: Bloglines (Web-based service) 32

Slide 33: Subscribing to a feed 33

Slide 34: Integrating Bloglines w/ Firefox 2.0 34

Slide 35: The Bloglines Bookmarklet 35

Slide 36: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 3: Creating Feeds Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Computers in Libraries 2008

Slide 37: 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. 37

Slide 38: FeedSpring 38

Slide 45: 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?) 45

Slide 46: ListGarden 46

Slide 51: ListGarden  Limitations  Depending of type of server installed on, may not be secure. (i.e. no passwords on cgi-bin directories.) 51

Slide 52: RSSxl 52

Slide 56: 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’” 56

Slide 57: Twitter  What are you doing now?  Post via:  Web site  Clients  IM  SMS 57

Slide 58: Twitter 58

Slide 61: Twitter  Limitations  140 characters per post 61

Slide 62: Google Calendar 62

Slide 66: Google Calendar  Limitations  None to speak of  Benefits  Now sync-able with Outlook  Can also embed calendar into site 66

Slide 67: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 4: Republishing Feeds Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Computers in Libraries 2008

Slide 68: Integrating feed content into your Web site  Grab content from multiple RSS feeds  Reduce and/or mash it  Republish it on your site 68

Slide 69: RSS2HTML 69

Slide 77: RSS2HTML  Limitations  Third party service.  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. 77

Slide 78: Feed2JS 78

Slide 83: Feed2JS  Limitations  Third party (but you can download and install it on your own server which is recommended) 83

Slide 84: FeedDigest 84

Slide 95: FeedDigest  Limitations  Third party service.  Limited to five feeds in free version. 95

Slide 96: Scrolling RSS News Ticker 96

Slide 100: Scrolling RSS News Ticker  Limitations  Third party  Shows small advertisement 100

Slide 101: RSS Scrollbox Widget 101

Slide 105: RSS Scrollbox Widget  Limitations  Third party  Shows small advertisement  Ad free, local-hosted version available for $35. 105

Slide 106: Grazr 106

Slide 111: Grazr  Limitations  Third party 111

Slide 112: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 5: Advanced Feed Manipulation Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Computers in Libraries 2008

Slide 113: FeedBlendr 113

Slide 117: FeedBlendr  Limitations  Could not get OPML importing to work.  Third party service could disappear at any time.  “If this blend is not accessed for more than 2 weeks, it will be removed from the database and will need to be recreated.” 117

Slide 118: FeedBurner 118

Slide 134: 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. 134

Slide 135: Feed Crier 135

Slide 136: Feed Crier 136

Slide 137: Feed Crier  Limitations  Only three feeds for free  Free version advertisement supported  Works only with AIM 137

Slide 138: Pingie 138

Slide 144: Pingie  Limitations  Doesn’t like feedburner feeds 144

Slide 145: ZapTXT 145

Slide 150: 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. 150

Slide 151: Mail2RSS 151

Slide 155: 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) 155

Slide 157: RssFwd 157

Slide 163: RssFwd  Limitations  Some (including me) argue that converting RSS to e-mail defeats the purpose of RSS. 163

Slide 164: Feed2Podcast 164

Slide 168: Feed2Podcast  Limitations  Your feeds are read by a computer generated voice.  Non-English words are not well supported. 168

Slide 169: FeedJournal 169

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Slide 177: FeedJournal  Limitations  Must manually regenerate each issue 177

Slide 178: Contact information Michael Sauers msauers@nlc.state.ne.us http://travelinlibrarian.info/ http://del.icio.us/travelinlibrarian/cil2008/rss 178

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