Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Voices That Matter

Creating RSS Feeds

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Creating RSS Feeds Online

There are many online tools you can use to create RSS feeds; this section examines some of the more popular ones. They all have the advantage of being free, and that's hard to beat!

UKOLN

One of the most venerable tools for creating feeds is UK's Office for Library Networking, usually called UKOLN RSS-xpress (Figure 3.3). This RSS channel editor, which you can find at http://rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk, creates RSS 1.0 feeds.

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.3 Use UKOLN's RSS-xpress channel editor to create, modify, and register your RSS feeds.

To create a new RSS feed, just click the New button to open the new page (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4

Figure 3.4 Entering channel information in the RSS-xpress channel editor is just a matter of filling in the blanks.

Here's what to enter in the blanks provided in UKOLN's RSS-xpress editor (see Figure 3.4):

  • Channel Title: The name of your channel, which will appear in the titles window an RSS reader.
  • Channel Link: A URL for people to get more information on your channel—for example, your home page.
  • Description: A description of your RSS feed, as you want it to appear in the Feed Properties window in an RSS reader.
  • Copyright: The copyright date you want to add to your feed.
  • Webmaster: The name and/or email address of the person who maintains the feed.
  • Language: The language of your RSS feed.
  • Image Title: Text that will be displayed if the image for your channel can't be displayed.
  • Image URL: The image file URL, where the RSS reader goes to fetch the image.
  • Image Link: A URL you want users to navigate to if they click the image for your channel.

After you've set up your new channel's information, scroll down to the section labeled Item 1 in RSS-xpress (Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5

Figure 3.5 Fill out the title, link, and description for each item after you set up your new channel.

You can enter text for the various items in your feed. When you're using RSS 1.0, as in this case, you're only allowed 15 items. Here's what to enter for each item:

  • Title: The title of the current item you want to appear in the titles window in an RSS reader.
  • Link: The URL that the RSS reader should open if the user requests more information on the item.
  • Description: The text for the item that you want to appear in an RSS reader's description window when the user clicks the item's title in the titles window.

You can keep adding more items, up to 15, as you please. Then go back to the top of the page and click the Save button. The browser opens a dialog box where you download and save the XML document, which is stored as an RSS file named rss.xml.

This document is based on RSS version 1.0 and is derived from the XML RDF language (for more on RSS version 1.0, see Chapter 4). Here's what the document looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<rdf:RDF
 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
 xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
 xmlns:syn="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
 xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"

 xmlns:taxo="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/taxonomy/"

>

<channel rdf:about="www.rssmaniac.com">
<title>Steve's News</title>
<link>http://www.rssmaniac.com</link>
<description>This feed contains news from Steve!&#13;
</description>
<dc:language>en-us</dc:language>
<dc:rights>(c) 2006</dc:rights>
<dc:date>2005-12-08</dc:date>
<dc:creator>Steve</dc:creator>
<items>
 <rdf:Seq>
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="www.rssmaniac.com/steve" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
  <rdf:li rdf:resource="" />
 </rdf:Seq>
</items>
<image rdf:resource="http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve/Image.jpg" />
</channel>

<image rdf:about="http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve/Image.jpg">
<title>Steve's News</title>
<url>http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve/Image.jpg</url>

<link>http://www.rssmaniac.com</link>
</image>

<item rdf:about="www.rssmaniac.com/steve">
<title>Steve shovels the snow</title>
<link>www.rssmaniac.com/steve</link>
<description>It snowed once again. Time to shovel!&#13;
</description>
</item>

</rdf:RDF>

Now that you've seen how to create feeds based on RSS 2.0 and 1.0, how about some RSS 0.91, the simplest of the three versions? Coming up next, we look at more online RSS editors.

WebReference

WebReference (www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/perl/rssedit.pl) is an online RSS editor that you can use to create RSS 0.91 documents. You already know what these elements mean, so all you have to do to set up your new feed is fill in the blanks on the Channel Summary page (Figure 3.6).

Figure 3.6

Figure 3.6 Use WebReference to create RSS 0.91 feeds.

In WebReference's Channel Image section, you can also add an image to your RSS feed (Figure 3.7). You fill in the usual suspects: the image's title, URL, link, width and height, and description.

Figure 3.7

Figure 3.7 It's easy to add an image to your RSS feed in WebReference.

WebReference has space for up to 15 news items, so you scroll down the items page and add the news items you want in your feed (Figure 3.8).

Figure 3.8

Figure 3.8 After you've added the information for your news item, click the Build RSS button.

When you're finished with each item, click the Build RSS button next to your final news item, and WebReference will build your RSS 0.91 file—and display it in the browser (Figure 3.9).

Figure 3.9

Figure 3.9 Here's the RSS 0.91 created by WebReference for the news item.

You can copy the XML displayed in the browser and paste it into your new XML file.

Here's the RSS 0.91 file generated by WebReference (see Figure 3.9):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE rss (View Source for full doctype...)>
<rss version="0.91">
<channel>
  <title>Steve's News</title>
  <link>http://www.rssmaniac.com</link>
  <description>This feed contains news from Steve!</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>(c) 2006</copyright>
  <pubDate>8/1/2006</pubDate>
  <lastBuildDate>7/1/2006</lastBuildDate>
  <managingEditor>Steve</managingEditor>
  <webMaster>steve@rssmaniac.com</webMaster>
 <image>
  <title>Steve's News</title>
  <url>http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve/Image.jpg</url>
  <link>http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve</link>
  <description>Steve's News</description>
 </image>
 <item>
  <title>Steve shovels the snow</title>
  <link>http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve</link>
  <description>It snowed once again. Time to shovel!</description>
 </item>
</channel>
</rss>

RSS Headliner

Another RSS 0.91 online RSS generator is RSS Headliner from WebDevTips (www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/codegen/rss.shtml). So far, you've seen two methods of generating an RSS feed in XML—as a downloaded XML file and as raw XML displayed in the browser. RSS Headliner uses a third way: It displays the generated XML in an HTML text area control (which is like a multiline HTML text field control), and then you can simply copy it.

First, you have to indicate how many items you want in your feed (for some reason, RSS Headliner restricts you to 10), using the drop-down select control (Figure 3.10). When you select a number from 1 to 10, the controls you see in the figure appear (that is, the text fields, text areas, and drop-down list control).

Figure 3.10

Figure 3.10 RSS Headliner restricts you to 10 items.

All you do next is enter your data, select the Make the Code button and your RSS (version 0.91) will appear in a text area control (Figure 3.11). Then, just select the generated code, and copy and paste it into a new document to save your new RSS feed.

Figure 3.11

Figure 3.11 Copy and paste the code to a new document to save your RSS feed.

IceRocket

The online RSS editors you've seen so far create XML for you, and it's up to you to host that XML on your Web site. IceRocket is different: It lets you host your RSS 2.0 feed on its Web site (http://rss.icerocket.com).

To register to use the IceRocket site, click the Register link in the toolbar, then provide your email address and a password. After registering, click the Sign In button in the toolbar on the main page (Figure 3.12).

Figure 3.12

Figure 3.12 There are three clearly defined steps in IceRocket to create a channel.

To create a new feed that will be hosted on the IceRocket site, click the Create Channel button to access the Edit Channel Configuration page (Figure 3.13).

Figure 3.13

Figure 3.13 After you create your new channel, IceRocket hosts your feed.

You enter the information for your new channel, or feed, which is automatically hosted on the IceRocket site. After you save the data for your new channel (feed), you'll see a page that keeps track of the feeds you've created (Figure 3.14).

Figure 3.14

Figure 3.14 You can have as many channels as you need in IceRocket.

It's easy to add a news item—usually called an entry in IceRocket to your new feed. Click the Add Entry link to open a new page where you can create a new item for your feed (Figure 3.15).

Figure 3.15

Figure 3.15 IceRocket makes it easy to create a new item.

You add the item's title, link, and description (called a summary in IceRocket) using the Edit Entry page. You can also add the author's email address and a link for comments.

After you save your channel, IceRocket displays the new item in your feed (Figure 3.16).

Figure 3.16

Figure 3.16 The new item has been added to your RSS feed.

How do you actually publish your new RSS feed so that it's accessible? Just click the Publish link (see Figure 3.16) to publish your new RSS feed and display the page (Figure 3.17).

Figure 3.17

Figure 3.17 IceRocket provides customized HTML code to use on your Web page to publicize your feed.

IceRocket hosts your RSS feed, but asks you to paste an XML or RSS button into your home page, to indicate that you have an RSS feed. IceRocket provides the actual HTML code to paste into your home page. Here's what the HTML that will display an RSS button on your home page looks like:

<a href="http://rss.icerocket.com/xmlfeed.php?id=3332"><img
src="https://rss.icerocket.com/img/rss.gif" height="14" width="36"
/></a>

Note the URL of your new RSS feed: http://rss.icerocket.com/xmlfeed.php?id=3332. If someone wants to read your RSS, all they have to do is subscribe to that URL. The following is the actual XML generated by IceRocket for our sample feed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF 8" ?>
  <rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
  <title>
  <![CDATA[ Steve's News
  ]]>
  </title>
  <link>
  <![CDATA[ http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve
  ]]>
  </link>
  <description>
  <![CDATA[ This feed contains news from Steve!

  ]]>
  </description>
  <ttl>
  <![CDATA[ 60
  ]]>
  </ttl>
  <language>en us</language>
  <copyright>
  <![CDATA[ (c) 2006
  ]]>
  </copyright>
  <managingEditor>
  <![CDATA[ steve@rssmaniac.com
  ]]>
  </managingEditor>
  <generator>IceRocket RSS Builder 1.0</generator>
  <item>
  <title>
  <![CDATA[ Steve shovels the snow
  ]]>
  </title>
  <link>
  <![CDATA[ http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve   
  ]]>
  </link>
  <description>
  <![CDATA[ It snowed once again. Time to shovel!

  ]]>
  </description>
  <author>
  <![CDATA[ steve@rssmaniac.com
  ]]>
  </author>
  <comments>
  <![CDATA[ http://www.rssmaniac.com/steve
  ]]>
  </comments>
  <pubDate>
  <![CDATA[ Fri, 9 Dec 2005 11:41:40 CST
  ]]>
  </pubDate>
  </item>
  </channel>
  </rss>

Shared RSS

You can host your own feeds using Shared RSS (www.sharedrss.com). It's available for free for people who infrequently add new material or for a fee for people who want their feed on their own Web site. It also has various RSS editors that let you create your own RSS 2.0 files.

My RSS Creator

My RSS Creator is an online RSS 2.0 creator that lets you host your RSS feeds on its site (www.myrsscreator.com). After the 14-day free trial, the fee is $19.95 per month.

This is the only online service I know that supports enclosures, which means you can do podcasting from this site (for more on podcasting, see Chapter 7, "Podcasting: Adding Multimedia to Your Feeds").

Internet Search

An easy way to create your own RSS feed is from the results of a keyword search on the Web. This is a cool technique, because your feed can be based on the most current information from your search of news and blogs. You can convert the results into an RSS feed and make your own custom feed based on many sources.

You can even list these RSS feeds on your home Web site and allow others to subscribe to them as well. In this way, it's easy to create customized RSS feeds crammed full of information that people may otherwise not see.

Here's a list of sites that let you create your own custom RSS feeds, based on keyword searches:

For example, take a look at Blogdigger, a search engine for online blogs. Say, for example, you start a search of the blogs that Blogdigger tracks using the keyword snow (Figure 3.18).

Figure 3.18

Figure 3.18 You can sort your search by date or relevance at Blogdigger.

As a result of that keyword search, Blogdigger displays a number of relevant blog entries. Note in particular the Subscribe to This Search section in the results page on the right (Figure 3.19). You can use the XML and Atom buttons to subscribe to this search as you can any RSS feed.

Figure 3.19

Figure 3.19 Blogdigger found 89,928 blogs for the keyword snow.

If you can narrow down what you're searching for with a few well-chosen keywords, Blogdigger lets you watch what's going on in the many blogs with those keywords, all from the convenience of your RSS reader.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020