The document provides an introduction to integrating RSS feeds into websites. It discusses what RSS is, the history and versions of RSS, how RSS works, different types of RSS aggregators for reading feeds, how to create RSS feeds from blogs and other content sources, and methods for republishing and manipulating RSS feeds.

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

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

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.

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.

7. How does RSS work? Information Provider Information Receiver

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.

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.

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…

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

12. <?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;utf-8&quot;?> <rss version=&quot;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=&quot;http://http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ docs/nefed.asp&quot;>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=&quot;http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category&quot;>Information Resources</category> <pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 07:28:43 -0600</pubDate> </item> </channel> </rss> What does RSS look like?

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

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”.

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

16. Podcasts in iTunes

17. 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

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

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.

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

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

22. RSS file in IE6

23. Atom file w/ associated style sheet

24. Firefox 2.0

25. Internet Explorer 7

26. Types of Aggregators Client Add-on Built-in Server-based Web-based service

27. FeedReader (client)

28. Pluck (add-on for IE)

29. Firefox 2

30. IE7

31. Feed on Feeds (server)

32. Bloglines (Web-based service)

33. Subscribing to a feed

34. Integrating Bloglines w/ Firefox 2.0

35. The Bloglines Bookmarklet

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

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.

38. FeedSpring

39. FeedSpring

40. FeedSpring

41. FeedSpring

42. FeedSpring

43. FeedSpring

44. FeedSpring

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?)

46. ListGarden

47. ListGarden

48. ListGarden

49. ListGarden

50. ListGarden

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

52. RSSxl

53. RSSxl

54. RSSxl

55. RSSxl

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’”

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

58. Twitter

59. Twitter

60. Twitter

61. Twitter Limitations 140 characters per post

62. Google Calendar

63. Google Calendar

64. Google Calendar

65. Google Calendar

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

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

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

69. RSS2HTML

70. RSS2HTML

71. RSS2HTML

72. RSS2HTML

73. RSS2HTML

74. RSS2HTML

75. RSS2HTML

76. RSS2HTML

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 .

78. Feed2JS

79. Feed2JS

80. Feed2JS

81. Feed2JS

82. Feed2JS

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

84. FeedDigest

85. FeedDigest

86. FeedDigest

87. FeedDigest

88. FeedDigest

89. FeedDigest

90. FeedDigest

91. FeedDigest

92. FeedDigest

93. FeedDigest

94. FeedDigest

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

96. Scrolling RSS News Ticker

97. Scrolling RSS News Ticker

98. Scrolling RSS News Ticker

99. Scrolling RSS News Ticker

100. Scrolling RSS News Ticker Limitations Third party Shows small advertisement

101. RSS Scrollbox Widget

102. RSS Scrollbox Widget

103. RSS Scrollbox Widget

104. RSS Scrollbox Widget

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

106. Grazr

107. Grazr

108. Grazr

109. Grazr

110. Grazr

111. Grazr Limitations Third party

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

113. FeedBlendr

114. FeedBlendr

115. FeedBlendr

116. FeedBlendr

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.”

118. FeedBurner

119. FeedBurner

120. FeedBurner

121. FeedBurner

122. FeedBurner

123. FeedBurner

124. FeedBurner

125. FeedBurner

126. FeedBurner

127. FeedBurner

128. FeedBurner

129. FeedBurner

130. FeedBurner

131. FeedBurner

132. FeedBurner

133. FeedBurner

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.

135. Feed Crier

136. Feed Crier

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

138. Pingie

139. Pingie

140. Pingie

141. Pingie

142. Pingie

143. Pingie

144. Pingie Limitations Doesn’t like feedburner feeds

145. ZapTXT

146. ZapTXT

147. ZapTXT

148. ZapTXT

149. ZapTXT

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.

151. Mail2RSS

152. Mail2RSS

153. Mail2RSS

154. Mail2RSS

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)

156. Mail2RSS

157. RssFwd

158. RssFwd

159. RssFwd

160. RssFwd

161. RssFwd

162. RssFwd

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

164. Feed2Podcast

165. Feed2Podcast

166. Feed2Podcast

167. Feed2Podcast

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

169. FeedJournal

171. FeedJournal

172. FeedJournal

173. FeedJournal

174. FeedJournal

175. FeedJournal

177. FeedJournal Limitations Must manually regenerate each issue

178. Contact information Michael Sauers [email_address] http://travelinlibrarian.info/ http://del.icio.us/travelinlibrarian/cil2008/rss