I would like to learn how to make a RSS feed but have clueless. I only know html and very simple one liner php stuff. I have been searching online for RSS tutors but that gets me even more confused the more I read. It sounds like I can use software to make one, is this correct? And can anyone suggest software for making RSS feeds? I want to offer one for other sites to run on their web page, if that how they work.

Thank you
Kimberly

Well, simply put, a rss feed is an text file.

It's an XML file, in fact, with a pre defined structure, that you generate, with php or whatsoever.

You can find an example here, on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29#Example
And, of course, on xml.com:
http://xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

The wikipedia example is pretty well defined, as it shows you what you can alter (between bold tags), and what is fixed.

If you look at it, you can see that there is a <channel> tag at the beginning.
This is the header that will give infos about your stream.
Where it comes from, his title, how long the client should check between 2 updates...
then, you can define the items that should appears in your rss.

When creating a stream, choose first your data type, as rss1, rss2 and atom have a different layout.
But apart from that, I'd say that all the three are well supported and should be readable by nearly any rss reader.

So, if you know a bit of php, simlpy create a php page that will output a syntax like those in the rss examples above, rather than html, and that will be all.
You just may need to add an

PHP Code:

<?php
header('content-type:text/xml');
?>

at the beginning of your script, to specify to the browser that they are not viewing a php page, but an rss feed.
But appart from that, generating an rss feed wuith php is like generating html.

Hope that can lead you on the way.

Thank you very much. All the php I know is <?php include 'http://www.YourPage.html'; ?> but with your links I hope to figure this out.

Thank you again for your time
Kimberly

Be my guest, I'm happy if it helped you.

If you just know the include statement (although it's one of the most useful !), in that case it won't be much of an help to you.
I was thinking that you may had fetched articles from a database, or something like that.

In your case, try this tool, it's free and designed to create easily feeds:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rssfeedcreator/

You can have a review here:
http://www.jitbit.com/rssfeedcreator.aspx

Regards.

Right now I am looking at this software http://www.feedforall.com/feedforall.htm but I am not sure if it the right product I am looking for.

I would love your input if you have time.

Kimberly

No problem.

Ok, for what I read, it seems that feedforall is more oriented on the enhancement or converting of rss 0.9/rss1/rss2/atom in another format.
They push this possibility a lot, in any case.

Most of the critics I've found about feedforall seems good, but I don't see anything extraordinary.
At least, if you don't want to create podcast (audio streams) or videcast (video).

I'd say that before you give them 40$, you should try rssfeeedcreator.
It's open source, and free.
So, if it don't meet you needs, you could try feedforall.

I've never had any need of a rss creator program, so I'm not of a great help here, sorry about that. I'm more an open source enthusiast, if you hadn't guessed

kimberly,
could you be more specific in what your intent is. rss is an acronym for "really simple syndication" rss is parsed using an agregator that reads xml "extensible mark up language" there are many locations that provide you with either windows based or web based convertors. xml is a decent scripting language to entertain yourself with. there are a few websites, i think google or yahoo own one or two of them, where the information you want to stream across rss is posted on "mostly free" sites where you can in turn provide a link via email, stream the rss across your site, or have a few actual readers who are interested in your news. at any rate, good luck in your endeavors.

Thank you for your time. I will check out rssfeeedcreator before anything else.

Originally Posted by dosdawgs

kimberly,
could you be more specific in what your intent is. rss is an acronym for "really simple syndication" rss is parsed using an agregator that reads xml "extensible mark up language" there are many locations that provide you with either windows based or web based convertors. xml is a decent scripting language to entertain yourself with. there are a few websites, i think google or yahoo own one or two of them, where the information you want to stream across rss is posted on "mostly free" sites where you can in turn provide a link via email, stream the rss across your site, or have a few actual readers who are interested in your news. at any rate, good luck in your endeavors.

I own Moms Break http://www.MomsBreak.com and I would like to offer a feed of some kind where people can run “Free Printable of The Week” (or of the day) on their web page and/or a text list of what is new printables we offer. Some type of free content I can offer to get other sites to link to mine.

I want to offer the feed as php - <?php include 'http://www.YourPage.html'; ?>
And I use to know how to do the javascript coding but it has been years. I might try to find that so I can off that form also.

Anywho, I would also like to offer the feed ( I assume RSS) that I can add to google personalize homepage “add stuff” search and blogs. I am really clueless how to do this and trying to read all I can but honestly, I am a work at home Mom, I know html then I am lost. I own software to make google sitemaps so I figure there has to be software out there that can make me feeds I can offer to other webmaster with related sites to mine.

Any input or point in the right direction is highly appreciated.
Kimberly

????
I'm not sure I get it...

Kimberly, the software we talked sooner are doing that.
You input them infos, and they generate a file.

This file IS THE FEED.

A rss feed is nothing more than a xml file.
It ususally is generated from a database with asp, java, php or whatever else, but at the end, it's still a simple file for the browser.

Any corerctly formated stream will be readable by any rss reader, including google reader.
So, if you don't have any database enabled site (which I suppose), simply create your file in one of those programs, and upload it somewhere no your site.

Then, add this tag in your html (supposing you have named the feed file "rss.xml"), to indicate the users browser that there is a rss feed:

<link rel="alternate" title="Mom's break RSS" href="http://www.momsbreak.com/rss.xml" type="application/rss+xml" />

This should makes a little rss icon appears in the browser, at least in firefox and allow your users to subscribe to your rss.

Look at this... http://www.phpclasses.org/rsswriter

its easy to use, compact and open source !!


Regards,

Maybe you're thinking what I thought earlier today: An RSS feed includes the information.

Well, here's what I discovered today: An RSS feed is simply a file with a summary of information and links to where you can find the full information.

So, for your printables, you can just give it a name (for Item), a description, and the link to that printable.

The rest of the info in this thread was enough to get an RSS going on one of my pages.

Originally Posted by RanaD

So, for your printables, you can just give it a name (for Item), a description, and the link to that printable.

I found software I do understand and I got an XML file made. My problem now is. How do I get the XML file to run on my web page or what codes do I give another person to get it to run on their web page?

look 3 posts up.
it's in the code....

Originally Posted by tripy

look 3 posts up.
it's in the code....

I saw those codes and think I named the file wrong so that is why it did not work for me. I am going to work on it today some more.

Thanks

The code goes in your header, like so:

<head>
<link rel="alternate" title="Mom's break RSS" href="http://www.momsbreak.com/rss.xml" type="application/rss+xml" />
</head>
<body>
Body
</body>

You can also download a little RSS icon and put it somewhere on your page and link that to rss.xml (or whatever your filename is)

Oh yes, and to get it to display the feed on your site, you need an RSS reader. I use the one at Neomyz, which is very easy to put on a page.

Thanks everyone, I have the xml part figure out. It finally clicked.

Now to get the reader part going. I will look at neomyz.

Kimberly

After all your help I had to stop back and says Thanks Again. I got a feed up at http://momsbreak.com/rss.xml It is basic but it is at least up. YYYYAAAA

Just saw this in passing and figured I would pop in ... Didn't see it mentioned in a quick scan of the thread but THE simplest way to egnerate an RSS feed is to do a 2 minute super easy install of Word Press

http://www.wordpress.org

then if you install it in http://www.yourdomain.com/

http://www.yourdomain.com/feed/ will have an RSS feed setup for you, can't remember the specifics but you should be able to have it show the last 20 'posts' which can be anything you want them to be in the full form or summary form ...

Thanks, I will check out wordpress.

Kimberly