Creating RSS feeds

Creating RSS feeds Creating the file 1. By hand 2. Using an RSS editor 3. Exporting from Excel  4.  From a blog 5. From a database / CMS  Validating the file File content and more good practice tips Further reading

Creating the file

1. By hand

 

Just as you can create an HTML page using only Notepad , you can also create an RSS feed this way.  The problem with this method is that you need to be very careful or you will end up making a mess of the structure and breaking the standard.

 

• Right-click on this simple text template 
• Save the file to the desktop, with the filename chillrsstest-xx.xml - where "xx" are your initials
• Open it with Notepad
• Edit the various fields - channel title and description, item title, description and URL. 
• You can copy the item tags if you want to create an additional item.  
• If you have registered with the lis-chill website then you should be able to upload this file to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lis-chill/files/training/ . 
• Alternatively you can try to upload it to the Gmail account that has been created for you for today. 
• You can then try viewing it using Bloglines. If it is on the lis-chill website then it will have the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lis-chill/files/training/chillrsstest-xx.xml - where "xx" is your initials.

 

2. Using an RSS editor

There are many good RSS editors - again both web-based and standalone.   One advantage of these is that you are more certain that your feed will be properly formed.  It also automatically puts in the date and GUID.  (GUID stands for globally unique identifier. It's a string that uniquely identifies the item. When present, an aggregator may choose to use this string to determine if an item is new).

 

Standalone

Feedforall is a good package, though it does have a few quirks.  There are many others but I will just briefly demonstrate feedforall.

 

Web-based

These usually limit you to a maximum of 15 items.  They can be a good way to get started or to play around a bit, but too limited for long-term use. . 

 

UKOLN's RSS-Express channel editor has been around a long time.  See the help page.  It allows you to input details about your feed, and to create a new feed from scratch.  You save it onto your hard disk and then need to upload the file to your webserver.  (It says that it can also load an existing feed and allow you to re-edit it and save it again - but I couldn't get that to work).

 

RSSHeadliner is another.

 

If you use Firefox there is an add-on you can get that will let you create RSS feeds - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/344.  (Not tested)

 

3. Exporting from Excel 

I wouldn't particularly recommend this method, but if you are unable to use other routes it may prove useful.  Right-click on this Excel template for creating RSS files and save the file to the desktop.  Then open the file with Excel.  You can type in the channel details into the top part, and the item details are the rows below.  There is a button to add extra rows, and when you have finished, another button to create the RSS feed.  It will save the rss feed as a file called rss.xml in the same directory where the Excel file is stored.   It saves as RSS 2.0.  Some further instructions are available from the creator of the file.

 

4.  From a blog

A blog is a series of entries that can be converted into an RSS/Atom structured file.  If you create a blog on one of the major platforms then it can automatically create an RSS feed of your entries.

 

5. From a database / CMS 

If your website runs a content management system (CMS) then it probably has a built-in RSS capability.  You can also get RSS output from various database products (e.g. mySQL or similar), if you have a tame IT department.

 

Validating the file

To help you ensure that your RSS feed is valid, there are some validation services you can use.

 

• W3C - the godfather of the Web - have a feed validation service, a free service that checks the syntax of Atom or RSS feeds.  You can either paste text in to be checked, or point the validator at your feed's URL.    Try pasting in the text from the feed you created in (1) above. 

 

• Feed Validator will validate Atom or RSS feeds, but doesn't seem to let you paste in text.

 

File content and more good practice tips

 

What will you put in your RSS feed?   Think about audience needs when selecting items.  Also remember that the items may appear in different places on the web once your feed is live, so always give informative titles.  Try to stay focused - remember what the feed description says (or maybe update the description if it is no longer accurate).

 

Promoting your feeds - an overview.  You may want to consider registering your feed at UKOLN's RSS channel directory and/or the NHS RSS Directory

An RSS  primer (slightly old)

A checklist of good practice

 

You should consider what is the optimum number of items to leave in the feed - some say 15 items. Will it keep on growing?  Will you delete anything older than one week?  Will you have an archive of old items?

 

Further reading

 

A tutorial