Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site

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Slide 2: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 1: Introduction Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Internet Librarian 2007

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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 • Gizmodo  Librarian.net www.gizmodo.com www.librarian.net • Security Now!  LISNews www.grc.com/securitynow.htm www.lisnews.com • Inside The Net &  The Shifted Librarian This Week in Tech (TWiT) theshiftedlibrarian.com thisweekintech.com  • The Travelin’ Librarian Boing Boing travelinlibrarian.info boingboing.net • Google News  Tame the Web 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 Internet Librarian 2007

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 1.5 29

Slide 30: Netscape 8 30

Slide 31: IE7beta 2 31

Slide 32: Feed on Feeds (server) 32

Slide 33: Bloglines (Web-based service) 33

Slide 34: Subscribing to a feed 34

Slide 35: Integrating Bloglines w/ Firefox 2.0 35

Slide 36: The Bloglines Bookmarklet 36

Slide 37: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 3: Creating Feeds Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Internet Librarian 2007

Slide 38: 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

Slide 39: FeedSpring 39

Slide 46: 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

Slide 47: RapidFeeds: FeedManager 47

Slide 56: 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. 56

Slide 57: ListGarden 57

Slide 62: ListGarden  Limitations  Depending of type of server installed on, may not be secure. (i.e. no passwords on cgi-bin directories.) 62

Slide 63: RSSxl 63

Slide 67: 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’” 67

Slide 68: Sabifoo 68

Slide 73: 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. 73

Slide 74: Twitter  What are you doing now?  Post via:  Web site  Clients  IM  SMS 74

Slide 75: Twitter 75

Slide 76: Twitter 76

Slide 77: Twitter  Limitations  140 characters per post 77

Slide 78: RSS Calendar 78

Slide 85: RSS Calendar  Limitations  No importing from existing calendars 85

Slide 86: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 4: Republishing Feeds Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Internet Librarian 2007

Slide 87: RSS2GIF 87

Slide 90: RSS2GIF  Limitations  Uh, why? (Someone help me here…)  Third party service.  Reported several test feeds as “invalid”. 90

Slide 91: Integrating feed content into your Web site  Grab content from multiple RSS feeds  Reduce and/or mash it  Republish it on your site 91

Slide 92: rss viewer 92

Slide 96: rss viewer  Limitations  Third party  Has a way to combine multiple feeds (feed combiner) but only those that are pre-programmed 96

Slide 97: RapidFeeds: MySite 97

Slide 105: 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. Would want to move that to an external file. 105

Slide 106: RSS2HTML 106

Slide 114: 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. 114

Slide 115: Feed2JS 115

Slide 120: Feed2JS  Limitations  Third party (but you can download and install it on your own server which is recommended) 120

Slide 121: FeedDigest 121

Slide 132: FeedDigest  Limitations  Third party service.  Limited to five feeds in free version. 132

Slide 133: Scrolling RSS News Ticker 133

Slide 137: Scrolling RSS News Ticker  Limitations  Third party  Shows small advertisement 137

Slide 138: RSS Scrollbox Widget 138

Slide 142: RSS Scrollbox Widget  Limitations  Third party  Shows small advertisement  Ad free, local-hosted version available for $35. 142

Slide 143: Grazr 143

Slide 148: Grazr  Limitations  Third party 148

Slide 149: LibraryThing Blog Widget 149

Slide 150: LibraryThing Blog Widget 150

Slide 151: LibraryThing Blog Widget  Limitations  Requires JavaScript  Requires LibraryThing account 151

Slide 152: Integrating RSS into Your Web site Part 5: Advanced Feed Manipulation Michael Sauers Technology Innovation Librarian Nebraska Library Commission Internet Librarian 2007

Slide 153: FeedBlendr 153

Slide 157: 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.” 157

Slide 158: FeedBurner 158

Slide 174: 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. 174

Slide 175: Feed Crier 175

Slide 176: Feed Crier 176

Slide 177: Feed Crier  Limitations  Only three feeds for free  Free version advertisement supported  Works only with AIM 177

Slide 178: ZapTXT 178

Slide 183: 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”

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