Syndicate Your Headlines
Using RSS
RSS is quickly
becoming the standard choice for delivering syndicated web content. Have
you ever wondered how some of the large content sites deliver their headlines?
Or, have you ever wanted to display news headlines, but didn't want to display
the standard "Content Provided By..." info? Or, have you ever wanted to syndicate
your own content? RSS may be the answer you've been looking for.
RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. It is an XML
format specifically designed to share content. Netscape originally developed
RSS to drive channels for their Netscape Netcenter. Formerly known as RDF,
RSS was developed in 1999 and has quickly evolved into the dominant format
for syndicating content. Well-known sites such as, CNET, ZDNet, CNN, Wired
and many more utilize this powerful means of dynamic content delivery.
Distributing your content using RSS will involve creating one file that contains
your content. This file will reside on your server to enable other web sites
to display your channel. You can update your channel simply by updating your
file.
Once you've created your file you can submit it to web sites like Netscape
to enable other web sites to subscribe.
Creating an
RSS File
Your first step
will be to identify your file. To do this, place the following code at the
top of your text file.
<?xml
version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE rss PUBLIC "-//Netscape Communications//DTD RSS 0.91//EN"
"http://my.netscape.com/publish/formats/rss-0.91.dtd">
<rss version="0.91"> |
Your next step
will be to create your channel header. The "channel" tag indicates that you
are beginning a new channel.
<channel>
<title>Web-Source.net Syndication</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net</link>
<description>Web Development article syndication
feeds!</description>
<language>en-us</language> |
The "title" tag
indicates the name of your channel. The "link" tag will contain a link to
your web site. The "description" tag describes your channel and the "language"
tag indicates that you're writing in US English.
In addition to
displaying text, you can also display a small logo. The image should be 88
pixels wide and 31 pixels high. Displaying an image is optional. If you're
not going to include an image, skip this step.
<image>
<title>Web-Source</title>
<url>http://www.web-source.net/image.gif</url>
<link>http://www.web-source.net</link>
<width>88</width>
<height>31</height>
<description>Web Design and Development</description>
</image> |
Now, you're ready
to create your headlines. Each new "item" tag represents a new topic. The
rule of thumb is to include between five and fifteen items. You can include
a description, but it isn't required.
<item>
<title>Moving Up From Classified Ads to Display
Ad</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/biz_tips_feed.htm</link>
<description>Display ads are the standard advertising tool of print
media. You can impress your carefully targeted audience with a colorful display
ad that spreads across the page of your favorite magazine, trade bulletin,
or newspaper.</description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Creating A Customized Marquee</title>
<link>http://www.web-source.net/web_tips_feed.htm</link>
<description>Learn how to create a customized marquee for your web
site</description>
</item> |
Your final step
will be to close your channel by adding the following tags:
Save your new
file with a .rss file extension and upload it to your server.
Your final step will be to validate your RSS. Visit either of the following
sites to validate your file:
http://aggregator.userland.com/
http://www.ldodds.com/rss_validator/1.0/validator.html
If you'd rather not create your own RSS file, RSS Channel Editor is a free
Web based tool that makes it easy to create and maintain RSS files. You can
find the script here:
http://www.webreference.com/perl/tools/
Now, you're ready to share your content. Visit the following web sites to
submit your new channel and enable other web sites to display your content:
http://www.bloglines.com/
http://www.syndic8.com/
http://w.moreover.com/main_site/aboutus/sourcesubmission.html
If you'd like to display RSS content on your web site, you'll need a script
to fetch the content. RSS Fetcher
(http://www.mimanet.com/scripts/rss_fetcher.html)
is a free script that will fetch content, format it as HTML and store it
in a file on your server. The content can then be displayed on your web
site.
You can locate RSS files to display on your web site at the following web
addresses:
http://www.webreference.com/services/news/
http://w.moreover.com
http://www.bloglines.com/
http://www.syndic8.com/
For further information about RSS, read Jonathan Eisenzopf's tutorial entitled,
"Using RSS News Feeds."
http://www.webreference.com/perl/tutorial/8/
If you have content that you regularly update, give RSS a try. Providing
free content is an extremely powerful method of increasing your web site
traffic.
Copyright © Shelley
Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design
Mastery.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book.
http://www.ebookstarter.com
Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips
and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing
Strategies."
http://www.web-source.net
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print,
in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author
bylines are included.
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