getting RSS feed for website?

webdev · #1 (**permalink**) 08-28-2007, 08:59 PM

Okay so, i want to incorporate RSS feed to my website. I was hoping to use feedburner, but i don't quite understand how it works. They talk about providing rss feed for blogs but never mention websites.

I can write the rss feed using xml but where do i go from there. XML is not so easy to read for humans. How do i create the normal looking RSS page (like the one you see on this forum) from my RSS's xml file?

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 09:02 AM

Hey Webdev,

The forum generates this for me automatically so it is the default style. I used to use http://www.feedforall.com/ for 2create but the feeds they produced were the "ugly" XML.

But since you are writing the XML yourself, can't you just take the source from my page and update it with your own content?

TechieGuy · #3 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 10:45 AM

Hi Webdev,

Web feeds (RSS and Atom) are just XML files with the content from your web site. When someone subscribes to your feed, they use a reader that parses the XML into a readable presentation. When you update the feed, your subscribers will then receive the updated content.

When I use IE and click on the RSS feed for this forum I see the raw XML, because I don't have a reader.

My take on FeedBurner, which I use, is that it allows you to do more with your feed. Things such as e-mail subscriptions, pinging directories and displaying only the headlines of your feeds are just some offerings of FeedBurner.

RSS and Atom are two separate feed formats (both XML). I have quick post on my blog that provides a quick overview on Web feeds.

webdev · #4 (**permalink**) 08-29-2007, 06:00 PM

Ahh i see it now. Its just a plane XML file but firefox has a built in rss reader which displays rss differently than IE where IE just shows the raw XML.

I was under the impression that to get your RSS page to look like how you see it in firefox, you have to do something special but its just a plan XML file. That makes things simpler

In the next few days I'm gonna write a small script which creates and updates the rss xml file with new content on my website. Later I'll try to expand the script functionality so that others can use it to put RSS on their website as well.

webdev · #5 (**permalink**) 09-02-2007, 09:44 PM

I added RSS 2.0 to my site (check out the orange rss button on top). I wrote the script just now. RSS works fine in firefox but IE it doesn't work at all. IE won't even execute it. I checked my RSS XML syntax and its looks fine to me. Now sure what it is. Can you let me know if it works for you guys in whatever browser you use?

TechieGuy · #6 (**permalink**) 09-03-2007, 07:56 AM

I can see your feed with no problem in IE7, but IE7 seems to have a built-in RSS reader. When I get a chance I'll try it on IE6.

webdev · #7 (**permalink**) 09-03-2007, 08:20 AM

thanks techieguy,

I tested it under IE6 last night. IE7 looks fine. I made a post about testing your site under multiple browsers. Thought it be helpful to everyone.

http://www.websitebabble.com/web-des....html#post3099

TechieGuy · #8 (**permalink**) 09-04-2007, 06:29 AM

I tried viewing in IE6 just now, but it looks like you are having database issues. I'll try again later.

webdev · #9 (**permalink**) 09-04-2007, 08:02 AM

i intergrated my feeds with feedburner. It should take you to the feedburner rss reader page. I just tried IE6. It looks okay.

Did you get a databse/mysql error? That's wierd. Must be my host.

TechieGuy · #10 (**permalink**) 09-04-2007, 09:50 AM

The error is gone. I now get the FeedBurner RSS reader.

webdev · #11 (**permalink**) 09-04-2007, 07:47 PM

thanks for testing TE.

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