RSS2HTML Web Template Directory Launched; Templates Make Displaying RSS ::
PR: A new rss2html template directory has been announced by RSS2HTML Web Template Directory Launched; Templates Make Displaying RSS Feeds as HTML Easier
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What Is RSS?
How does RSS syndication work? Say you publish a new web page about a particular topic. You want others interested in that topic to know about it. By listing the page as an item in your RSS file, you can have the page appear in front of those who read information using RSS readers or news aggregators (explained more in my sidebar article, RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content). RSS also allows people to easily add links to your content within their own web pages. Bloggers are a huge core audience that especially does this.
What does RSS stand for? Theres a can of worms. RSS as introduced by Netscape in 1999 then later abandoned in 2001 stood for Rich Site Summary. Another version of RSS pioneered by UserLand Software stands for Really Simple Syndication. In yet another version, RSS stands for RDF Site Summary.
History buffs might be interested that theres been some rivalry over who invented RSS. This is why we have both different names and indeed different flavors or versions of RSS. Mark Pilgrims written an excellent article, What Is RSS, that charts the different versions with recommendations on which to use. Ill also revisit the version choice youll need to make. But first, lets look more closely at some basics of what goes into any RSS file.
Making and promoting your RSS feeds::
for you to add RSS feeds to your web site and make it easy for your customers This article explains how to create an RSS feed for your site.
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Free Glass Style RSS/Feed Icons | BittBox::
I wanted to make my own RSS/Feed icon, so I did, and I made some Great icons, using them for a school project where we are making a rss feed ;) Thank you!
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How Easy Is RSS?
Ive been exploring RSS because it was time that Search Engine Watch offered its own stories in this manner. Ive read several tutorials about making a feed, and they generally suggest that it is easy. They often offer code that you can cut-and-paste and link over to specifications that I actually dont find that clear.
For example, the RSS 2.0 specification has an cloud element thats optional but which a lay person might still wonder if they should use it. Meanwhile, heaven help the person who stumbles into the RSS 1.0 specification and its complicated RDF syntax.
Sure, making an RSS file IS easy for many. If you understand HTML, youll probably understand enough to do a cut-and-paste from someone elses RSS file to make your own file. Dont know HTML? Start a blog, because several blogging tools automatically generates RSS files.
As for those non-technical people using WYSIWYG page building tools or personal home page building systems, have faith. Even you can build an RSS file from scratch, as long as you dispense with some of the extra features you probably dont need. Well go through how to do this below. Later, Ill also mention some tools that will even do some or all of the work for you.
The RSS File
At the heart of an RSS file are items. No matter what version of RSS you settle on, your file will have to include at least one item. Items are generally web pages that youd like others to link to. For example, lets say you just created a web page reviewing a new cell phone thats being released. Information about that page would form an item.
To enter your item into the RSS file, youll need three bits of information:
* Title
* Description
* Link
The title and description of your item need not match exactly the HTML title tag of the web page that the item refers to, nor the meta description tag, assuming you use these (dont know what they are? See my How To Use HTML Tags article). You can write any title and description that you think will describe the page. However, using your pages title and meta description tag certainly makes it easy to copy and paste to build your RSS feed.
In the case of our example page, lets say this is the information we settle on to define it as an item:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
Ive been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Now we have to surround that information with XML tags. These are similar to HTML tags, with the exception that unlike with HTML, theres no set definition of XML tags. Anyone can make up a particular XML tag. Whether it is useful depends on the program that reads the resulting XML file. In the case of RSS feeds, they have their own unique set of XML tags that are defined. Use these correctly, and then anything that reads RSS will understand your information.
Did that make your head spin? If so, dont reread -- just carry on to see how simple it is. First, open a text editor like Notepad. Were going to build our RSS file using it.
For your title, you need to start it with the tag, then follow this with the text of the title, then end with the tag. It looks like this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
For your description, you do the same, starting out with the opening tag, then following with the actual description, then closing with the tag. Now you have this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
Ive been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
Next, we add the link information, beginning with , following with the actual hyperlink, then closing with . That gives us this:
Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos
Ive been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!
http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html
Now theres one more thing we need to do. We actually have to define all this information as forming a particular item, which we do using a special item tag.
You place the opening item tag, a
 Who do you all think McCain will have in his cabinet?
 I'm looking for a nice camera for high quality photography, under $300..?
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Making an RSS Feed