Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site - CIL2008

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

Introductions

Name

Library

Position

Does your library use RSS? If so, how?

Why are you here?

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.

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? Information Provider Information Receiver

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.

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.

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…

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

<?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>

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 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”.

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

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

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

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

RSS file in IE6

Atom file w/ associated style sheet

Firefox 2.0

Internet Explorer 7

Types of Aggregators

Client

Add-on

Built-in

Server-based

Web-based service

FeedReader (client)

Pluck (add-on for IE)

Firefox 2

IE7

Feed on Feeds (server)

Bloglines (Web-based service)

Subscribing to a feed

Integrating Bloglines w/ Firefox 2.0

The Bloglines Bookmarklet

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

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?)

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’”

Twitter

What are you doing now?

Post via:

Web site

Clients

IM

SMS

Twitter

Limitations

140 characters per post

Google Calendar

Limitations

None to speak of

Benefits

Now sync-able with Outlook

Can also embed calendar into site

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

Integrating feed content into your Web site

Grab content from multiple RSS feeds

Reduce and/or mash it

Republish it on your site

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 .

Feed2JS

Limitations

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

FeedDigest

Limitations

Third party service.

Limited to five feeds in free version.

Scrolling RSS News Ticker

Limitations

Third party

Shows small advertisement

RSS Scrollbox Widget

Limitations

Third party

Shows small advertisement

Ad free, local-hosted version available for $35.

Grazr

Limitations

Third party

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

FeedBlendr