View Full Version : RSS - confused
Tubby
08-02-2007, 07:33 PM
I have a new site under construction. It has an rss feed, that I would like to display on my old site.
How do I create code that will display the feed how I want it.
Has anyone seen a good "Idiots guide to publishing rss code on a web page"
I have searched around and read several articles. but I can not make sense of them, the articles I think all presume I know something that I do not Know, and I am left sitting here bewildered. .
Hey Tubby:
I just answered the same question on the SitePoint forum (http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494736).
As explained there:
Click the last link in my signature and scroll down to the heading:
"Syndication and importing content to your site." Myself I have used Gecko Tribe. Done in a few minutes.
I have an "Idiot's guide" in Norwegian on two .No site's where I syndicate content from one to the other.That is simple coding (http://ashvinisharma.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!19E8D7874FC2D33C!119.entry) or even easier, cut and pasting and sometimes reuse.
"But there was nothing on programmers, who you would imagine are the driving force behind the success of the software firms. Perhaps you imagined wrong. “It is an explosive truth that local software companies won’t accept. Most IT professionals in India are not programmers, they are mere coders,” says a senior executive from a global consultancy firm, who has helped Nasscom in researching its industry reports.
In industry parlance, coders are akin to smart assembly line workers as opposed to programmers who are plant engineers. Programmers are the brains, the glorious visionaries who create things. Large software programmes that often run into billions of lines are designed and developed by a handful of programmers. Coders follow instructions to write, evaluate and test small components of the large program. As a computer science student in IIT Mumbai puts it — if programming requires a post graduate level of knowledge of complex algorithms and programming methods, coding requires only high school knowledge of the subject. Coding is also the grime job. It is repetitive and monotonous. Coders know that. They feel stuck in their jobs. They have fallen into the trap of the software hype and now realise that though their status is glorified in the society, intellectually they are stranded. Companies do not offer them stock options anymore and their salaries are not growing at the spectacular rates at which they did a few years ago".
I am not even a coder, but a cut and paster and reuser of code, reuser in a very complex manner though.
More importantly, in my view, the content providers are the most important persons in a company, aside from the customers and the share holders. Content in a wide meaning of the word, product and services. Syndicating and sharing content is very important and is already used in Ad, as RSS SEO (http://www.rssfeedguide.com/)etc. by a lot of companies.
Live Earth. (http://liveearth.no.msn.com/) Net(t)Sponsor "Chevrolet."
speed
08-03-2007, 04:12 PM
If you have PHP on your server then the way I normally import feeds to pages is to use Magpie RSS (http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/).
There's usage examples at the end of the page, you can just embed their example between <?php and ?> tags within your page to get started, changing the feed URL to yours obviously.
There are some JavaScript versions but I've never used those so can't point you to one.
leftinc
08-03-2007, 04:36 PM
I have been working with using a RSS feed as a way to display a list of videos on my site and found this information helpful:
So What is "Feed to JavaScript"? (http://feed2js.org/)
Another vote for Magpie. It's pretty much the simplest.
okparrothead
08-03-2007, 04:56 PM
Hey Tubby,
There's a service out at rss-to-javascript.com that will let you plug in an rss feed address and get a javascript that will format it to display on your site. The front page of the service has been strange lately, so I don't know what's up, but the scripts seem to work once they're installed.
Peace
Tubby
08-03-2007, 07:47 PM
Kgun - geronimo171 wrote,
"Please don't get me wrong...i went to quite a few of those links in your list but just could find anything specific to what i want to do.
I think maybe this is perhaps more involved than i thought and i do need to go back a few steps in order to understand how the whole thing works in the first place.
Thank you for the pointers...I'll take a look."
Kgun wrote
"I just answered the same question on the SitePoint forum. "
NO Kgun, You did not answer the question. The fellow is probably in the same boat that I am in. Your answer missed the target
Kgun. I struggle hard, I have an IQ of 140 plus, but I simply am not 'intuitive' when it comes to any sort of program. The answer is simply not there. There are questions that pop up everywhere. heaps of little sentences like "If your server is PHP enabled"
What server?, the one sending - or the one that supplies the results. Is this a program that can be installed by me, or is my server supposed to be php enabled already. If it isn't? . .
Your answer creates lots of questions Kgun.. Yes I feel a little silly for asking it.
But the truth is, I am Tubby. I have limitations on what I understand, because I have missed out on the basics. Nobody prints the basics it is presumed we all know them and we wander along stumbling across them until we achieve 'programmers Enlightenment'
The other day I was asked a question about carburetors by a girl who is restoring an early Nash.
My response was nine questions. To answer her question I needed to know what sort of fuel she was feeding it. etc, etc, maybe the correct response to any question, is a barrage of responding questions?
my feeling is the same as Geronimo"s
"I think maybe this is perhaps more involved than i thought and i do need to go back a few steps in order to understand how the whole thing works in the first place."
Unfortunately, My working days are already around the sixteen hour mark... So I shall miss out on my learning curve, , and once again resort to paying someone at Getafreelancer.com - then keeping the end result filed away for next time. (I shall never learn anything - accept how to create users) . .
O.K. I hope the above sounds friendly, it is meant to. Just putting my perspective out where it can be understood.
I really do love you all....
Tubby
08-03-2007, 07:55 PM
okparrothead, I am off to check out - rss-to-javascript.com - I will report back.
Thaks.
Tubby
08-03-2007, 08:38 PM
rss-to-javascript.com page is reporting errors
BJ. Magpie, the main pageof Magpie is just gobbledygook to me.
I did read
.When Magpie successfully fetches and parses a feed, it saves the results PHP object to a file in the "cache directory". (this is called "serializing") Next time Magpie is asked to fetch that feed, Magpie will check for a cached version first.
So presumably I install the program on my restored-classics.com sites.
I think this might be problematic as these were my original websites, five years ago I had trouble getting a data base put it on one, so I use another site to run programs.
Nowhere seems to tell me if it is possible to have a program that can re-formats the rss, before it sends it. So that I only need to create a bit of code for every page I wish to feed. Without opting into a paid service.
(not really sure what I am talking about here)
But I really do need the emitting site to do all the work, and be capable of sending a pre formatted feed.
Magpie is meant to be installed on the site you wish to pull a feed into, so if that server doesn't have php, then yes, it might be problematical. Most hosting these days has php installed, though. Is it possible to move the site?
Re the formatting of your feed, you need to do that on the site that's creating the feed, the new site. Formats are either Atom or RSS (there are a couple versions of RSS.) So whatever type tool you used to create the feed should tell you what format it's creating the feed in. That determines the syntax you use in Magpie to call the feed into your current site. Feed formats are very simple, MUCH simpler than html. Usually it's only a few terms- title, date, url of origin, and an excerpt of post content.
Truthfully though, Tubby, Wordpress (or ModX or Joomla or TextPattern or MovableType or Drupal any of a dozen other programs) does all this for me, so I've never had to either set up feed generation, or do any more than put a feed url into a plugin tool in my admin area to call a feed into a page. Wordpress, for instance, has a Magpie Plugin. You upload it into the proper directory, activate the plugin, then you have an admin page to administer it and either a widget or a template call to put it into the site.
At the risk of adding a layer of complexity, maybe you should be looking at other ways to accomplish all ths. ;)
I did a bit more poking for you. Take a look here:
Free Feeds Directory - Feed Tools Listings of Rss/Xml Feeds. (http://www.freefeedsdirectory.com/index.php?c=11)
Widget Finder - Find and Share Cool Gadgets for Desktops, Blogs, Mobiles and Social Spaces on Squidoo (http://www.squidoo.com/widgetfinder/)
RSS Feeds - a Website Owners Friend in Disguise - SEO Tutorials (http://www.webmasteredge.com/article.cfm/tutorial/3484)
Tubby
08-03-2007, 11:04 PM
BJ
' Magpie is meant to be installed on the site you wish to pull a feed into, so if that server doesn't have php, then yes, it might be problematical. Most hosting these days has php installed, though. Is it possible to move the site?'
I wish . . I have two old sites. Both really should have been moved years ago. I seem to have discovered a new webmaster problem. "Site-scatter" every time I try to solve the problem. It results in a bigger one. (another site)
I have always had individual pages, and my system here is very simple. I list up to 60 ads an hour by hand, and upload every day or so. So I decided I should get myself a data base that I liked, and simply use it to feed the latest ads to the old pages.
I do not want to abandon the old pages. I will not get the same traffic to an automated site. I simply wanted to run the old and supplement with the new. This would give me the possibility of feeding some other sites. I run a free site. This can create big problems with submissions, as everyone can submit freely. I need to discriminate between the crap and the good stuff. ( I only wish to feed myself non-crap)
The technical stuff seems to have plenty of 'programmers' that would 'do it' for me. But the problem is they just do not understand the value of my old pages and always want the site to be based on the data base. But I cannot put an individual advert on say a results page for '1950 Chev' and I would certainly have more problems directing users to a 'results page ' rather than my static page.
I want my users advert available to whoever can present them sensibly. I do not want them stolen. I do not want them competing with me. Programmers simply want to build me what they have already built before.
BJ, I am starting to get a more holistic picture. I compete with eBay and sites like Craigslist for the classic car viewer. These are huge sites. I want to simply offer Classic car users something that is better refined and of more benefit, and easier to use. If I cannot do that then I will lose my traffic in the long run.
But knowing what I want, and knowing how to create it are two different things. I do not want a site where the odd 'phone Mary for a good time' advert sneaks in. and I do not want to create content for AdSense sites. Doing one without the other seems tricky.
Understanding RSS is becoming important on the web. I know about it - know how it works - know its uses, BUT - I do not yet understand it.
A few years ago I had a 'feed' from a ppc site. that I was able to simply insert the code on the page, I could re size the the area. Something like that would serve my current purpose.
I did talk to a programmer on the phone a few weeks back . . He said something like . Simple, point your rss at the code, then pull it up anywhere you need it - no problems.
But some of these people talk through their hats. They have absolutely no idea what a user will or will not click on. They always presume a 'LOGIN' ensures that people will Log in, and seem blatantly unaware of anybody that does not do what they expect them to do, and dismiss contributions from somebody who has been observing their users for years, as "not needed" . .
RSS. It has bigger possibilities that current use. (for me)
and I would realy like to get my head around how I can make it work
Probably rambles far to much. But maybe it will assist in forming a 'picture'..
Tubby
08-03-2007, 11:26 PM
Installing an RSS feed on your website is not as difficult as it sounds. You simply install a script one time-and then anywhere you want the RSS feed to appear you simply pick a feed and copy and paste some code on your page. (read that before)
The first thing you need to do is figure out which script to use.
If your website is using an Unix server and has PHP installed,
(I think I have one of them somewere - but not the site I want to display adverts)
the the easiest PHP script I've found is called CaRP. You will first want to visit the CaRP download page and download the file. CaRP has a free version that you can use on your website. They request that you link back to their website if you use it. Unzip the zip file and upload the files to your website using an FTP program. Then, run the setup file in your web browser, chmod the appropriate files, and continue with the directions given to you in the web browser. (absorbing this)
Once it's installed, the script will give you code to copy and paste wherever your want the RSS feed to be displayed on your website. (your website ?? - any website? my other website ) stopped me dead
You can even change the font, size, and color of the feed by specifying those attributes before the code. (nice)
Phew. . . I wish I was building a new site and never had a million other things to do. I am getting to old for all his study business. (but it is absorbing)
and I wish the writer of the above text, was just a little more specific, when he wrote
" wherever your want the RSS feed to be displayed on your website."
Because it rendered the whole article to me as 'Vauge'
Tubby
08-03-2007, 11:47 PM
I would love to be able to view a local car club Website.
And simply simply create some code that I can email them to show adverts in a size that fits there page and content that they want - (specific)
I would never be able to convince the lady that does the web page to install anything. I would like to do the work here and make it simple.
I belong to a small car Club. I like small car Clubs, I like people. My competition does not do this. My Classified advertisers would love to be able to direct specific ads to specific Clubs. .
I want a system that will do this. . On a 'Free site' budget!
Tubby start here:
RSS Software & Services: CaRP (Caching RSS Parser), RSS to JavaScript, Grouper (News search to RSS) (http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/)
http://www.geckotribe.com/img/logos/jawfish_favicon.gif Display RSS feeds on your website:
CaRP : RSS to HTML converter : Free RSS PHP parser script download (http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/) Scroll down to the bottom, sign up and download the free version. You have to read some instructions on how to do it, and you need PHP on your webserver.
Create RSS feeds. I did not use Gt's. May be that is good enough. There are tons of feed burners. (See below for one of the best known).
That is easier. RSS is XML, so if you find one you like, you can copy and modify the code to your needs.
Here
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>DinITSide RSS feed</title>
<description>Bruk RSS til &#229; fortelle surfere og s&#248;kemotorer at det er
nyheter p&#229; siden din.</description>
<link>http://www.dinitside.no</link>
<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
<lastBuildDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:09:59 +0100</lastBuildDate>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:09:09 +0100</pubDate>
<generator>FeedForAll v1.0 (1.0.2.0) unlicensed version</generator>
<item>
<title>DinITside.no, et nytt nettsted under MultiFinansIT.no og DigitalPunkt.no er opprettet med viktige nyheter om RSS. legger ut viktig informasjon om RSS.</title>
<description>Bruk RSS til &#229; orientere kunder og surfere om nyheter og nye
produkter p&#229; siden din. Bruk ogs&#229; RSS for &#229; f&#229;
s&#248;kemotorene til &#229; like siden din og bes&#248;ke den oftere. Du
kan syndikere ut alt fra tekst til bilder, tale, video samt
"Podcasts."</description>
<link>http://www.dinitside.no</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:09:09 +0100</pubDate>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
is an example with Norwegian text. Brutal force, skip that and use the XML tags if that simple stupid format is OK. Save that file like an HTML file on the disk and upload it to your server. The the feed is there. The next step is to import it to the other site using the installed and hopefully functional Gecko PHP scripts.
There are also tools like FeedBurner FeedBurner (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home) that should be easy to use (like an office desktop tool). I have never used it. I think that burner is one of the best and most professional.
Neither have I tried Gecko Triebe's feed burner. Can not remember which I used, but it was very easy.
If you want to become a Syndication professionl (knowing different stadards, using web services etc.) you find more than enough information on my site that I pointed you to in my first post.
If you have msn, have signed up and downloaded the tool, I can help you when we are online at the same time.
Note: It is not sure that the tool will function on the Web Server. It depends on how it is configured. I have installed it on three different webservers. On one it functioned at once. On the other two, I had to contact the web hoster so that they could install the script that was needed. (This is an example of a more advanced and elegant using SOAP and object oriented programming (http://www.skupot.com/sitepoint.php). It is the SitePoint - Australian site - news feed imported to my site).
I have not tried Magpie RSS. May be it would be easier if one of those who know that tool could guide you through the set up.
End Note:
Web 2.0 ready browsers, will show the XML file like (similar to) an HTML file.
Let us call your two sites AMcar1.com and AMcar2.com.
You make the RSS feed (XML file on AMcar1.com).
Then it should be possible to consume :mrgreen: that feed (file) and present the content directly on AMcar2.com using XSL (and perhaps XLink) without using a PHP parser at all. But that is another story. I have not tried. The correct place to ask is W3Schools Forum (Powered by Invision Power Board) (http://w3schools.invisionzone.com/) in the XML forums.
Are you developing for Web 1.0 (satisfying people with older browsers) my best proposal is described above.
Okay, Tubby, if you don't have php installed on the old site(s) you can use an iframe to display info on one site from any other webpage anywhere. To give an example, if you put google adsense on your site, it's displayed in an iframe on your site but the content is actually on Google's server. So if you don't have php on the server the old site's on, then use the php parser script on your new site, pull your feed into a new webpage on your new site, and call it into your old site via iframe. And then come to us on the design board to help you get it looking normal in IE. ;)
The beauty of this approach is that other people can also show your feed this way. I think that's what you want???
Kgun did give you the answer, btw. I think you have to just dive in and do it, or pay someone to set it up for you. I love ya Tubby, but I really think you're overthinking this. Trial and error and getting your hands dirty in the code is the only way it's gonna get done.
To add more confusion, I did find another javascript parser that you might be able to use on the old page to pull from the new. I think. I'm not sure.
XML for <SCRIPT> Cross Platform XML Parsing in JavaScript - Parser Sample Applications Overview (http://xmljs.sourceforge.net/website/sampleApplications.html)
speed
08-04-2007, 09:00 AM
Another one for you to look at, this is really a cut and paste solution:
Go to http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/23
Click the link: Post, send, or get code for this widget!
Enter the URL of your feed in the 1st box
Click the <h> icon
Paste the code to a web page that you want to show the feed on
View the web page and you should have the feed in a Flash window
For completeness I'll just add:
One minor problem with iframes, Flash and JavaScript is that the feed is not available to search engines.
The other problem you can have with Flash and JavaScript solutions is that each visitor causes the feed to be read from the source server. Using something like Magpie it caches the feed on the server that is displaying the pages with the feed in them, and as it only reads the feed say once per hour there's less load on the feed provider.
If you have PHP on your server then the way I normally import feeds to pages is to use Magpie RSS (http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/).
There's usage examples at the end of the page, you can just embed their example between <?php and ?> tags within your page to get started, changing the feed URL to yours obviously.
If it is generally that simple without the ad you hate, you have to install PHP or find a hoster that have it installed. It is not a large job to change hoster.
Get an account with a new hoster
Upload the code to the new server.
When the code is OK at the new hosters site, change name servers to point to their servers if you administer the name services yourself.
Don't delete the code by the old server before you know everything function correct on the new server.
The advantage with this approach, especially if you handle the name services yoursel and have a reliable registrar is that you can do this without contacting the old hoster before you delete the account there. Good to know if you have a hoster that you are dissatisfied with.
Nowhere seems to tell me if it is possible to have a program that can re-formats the rss, before it sends it. So that I only need to create a bit of code for every page I wish to feed. Without opting into a paid service.
I think that is possible using the XML family of technologies, here more precisely RSS (That is XML), XSLT (to make the transformation), XSL programming (it is a very simple programming language) and may be XLink.
I have not done it though, so I can not assist you more than say that it should be possible. I have pointed you to the best place to ask, the W3School XML forum.
Then you may not need PHP, even if PHP is very well suited to parse XML documents.
So my reccomendation, install PHP sooner than later.
the the easiest PHP script I've found is called CaRP. You will first want to visit the CaRP download page and download the file. CaRP has a free version that you can use on your website. They request that you link back to their website if you use it.
I can not remember that. But it may have changed. Then, if you do not want the ad you may buy and use the paid version. Is it expensive?
Regarding javascript: It should be possible to find a script that grab the XML / RSS document, parse it as a string or whatever and present it on your site.
I know one heavy way, that may be of interest to other readers of this thread, the DOMobjectModel, can parse an xml file. SimpleXML (PHP) and XMLreader (PHP), can also do it, but that is overkill and require some knowledge of OOP.
Final conclusion: If you find a simple JavaScript that does the job, that should be the simplest solution, but you may get browser problems. May be there is a gadget or widget without ad that you can use. I go for CaRP paid version.
Tubby
08-05-2007, 01:39 AM
BJ, Said (she is usually right)
"but I really think you're overthinking this. Trial and error and getting your hands dirty in the code is the only way it's gonna get done."
Bj. If you saw my work load. on and off the net. You would understand That even reading the above posts is a problem...
Getting a connection to the net is currently a problem.
But I love work . . I am lucky though, I do get the Choice to work where I want..
Gonna print out the last few posts and read them on the lawn when I take tea breaks.
Tubby
08-05-2007, 01:43 AM
KGun.. said
"that may be of interest to other readers of this thread,"
Yes Kgun. I am probably just of of hundres trying to work out this problem....
There are others probably reading, that are searching for the same answers. . but not quite as thick skinned as me to get in and ask. .
You make useful posts Kgun . .
Tubby, last advice:
If you install or switch to a hoster that has PHP, find one that is fast to upgrade. You find information of the latest version at the php net site (http://www.php.net/). As you see, now version 5.2.3 is relased. This is extremely important if you will use XML, since so much is happening around XML and so many new libraries modules extensions etc. are introduced.
XML in it's raw form is not difficult. It is simpley an extensible tagging language, an advanced for of HTML in a narrow sense. In a wide sense it is much more. What makes it difficult is this richness, al lot of related technologies. Some are mentioned above, and you have mathematical versions like W3C Math Home (http://www.w3.org/Math/) the eXtensible Business Reporting language XBRL (http://www.xbrl.org/Home/). That is the richness and encompassing make the family complex and difficult. If you will use XML on a more advanced level, namespaces, parsers and extension's are very important to understand. If you make a search term on Google that start with X, there is a good chance that you find a member of the XML family.
PHP is a scripting language, but now getting more and more a true language. It is not so difficult to learn, but there are fairly heavy topics. Never buy a book with PHP 4 in the title unless you are upgrading from PHP 4.x to PHP 5.x. I think version 6 will be very good. XML is as explained a family. XML in its pure form is not diffincult, neither with namespaces. Complexity makes it difficult. And since it is so new, only newer browsers handles it in a good way.
Last but not least, note that the X in AJAX stands for XML. May be you want AJAX functionality on your site in a few years, so the time you invest in learning XML, XPath, XSL, XSLT and XLink, may soon pay back.Since namespaces are so very important in XML, I will take it form the very beginning. A namespace can be so much, but as the name indicates it is a digital space with names in it. They are defined to avoid name conflicts. Scope, in PHP that you may meet is a related subject. All depends on where you are. A computer is plain stuped. It does exactly what it is told to do like Forrest Gump :-) So let us take an example:
Often a namespace is an URL we have two above that we call NS1 and NS2 respectively. That is:
ns1 = W3C Math Home (http://www.w3.org/Math/) that includes a variable X=1 and Y=4.
ns2 = http://www.xbrl.org/Home/ that includes the same variables X=3 annd Y=4.
In addition, you have something called a default namespace with the same variables X=3 and Y=5.
You see the possibilities for confusion if you do not know whare you are. X+Y=:confused:
If you are outside ns1 and ns2 and in the default namespace:
X+Y=3+5=8
Rule1: Never use a default namespace (at leas in 98 % of the cases).
Rule2: Do not use namespaces unless you have to (that is ) be unique.
I have written more on these in my XML corner at the SitePoint (SP name space).
ns1:X + ns1:Y = 1 + 4. Took the point?
I have to leave now for shopping in Sweden with my youngest daughter. It is expensive over here :shock:
Tubby
08-05-2007, 08:30 PM
Thank you . Thank you.
It will take me several weeks to sift through the above.
At this stage I am rather inclined to like.
From BJ
"you can use an iframe to display info on one site from any other web page anywhere. To give an example, if you put Google AdSense on your site, it's displayed in an iframe on your site but the content is actually on Googly's server. So if you don't have php on the server the old site's on, then use the php parser script on your new site, pull your feed into a new web page on your new site, and call it into your old site via iframe. "
This option seems to contain some potentials that I had not previously considered.
I am starting / currently filling the data base, (with user help) and as a temporary measure I will be linking to the results pages. This seems to working O.K. and is getting useful feedback on what it is I actually want.
I am using a classifieds ads script for the data base, and I intend to keep it separate, from my current web pages . . .There is a lot more work to do yet. I am still not happy with the categories, but what I have got so far seems to be reasonably good.
I was testing the result this morning ( I have not yet got 200 entries)
U.S.A. / Car parts for sale / Chevrolet/door
U.S.A.: Search - 'door' - KalkadoonHotel Classifieds (http://classifieds.kalkadoonhotel.com/?cityid=-3&lang=en&search=door&x%5B1%5D=&x%5B2%5D=&view=ads&subcatid=22)
This to my eyes looks good, It simply displays a list in year make model format. If I can refine the results. It will mean anyone searching for a car part can avoid any non model specific parts. (that's important)
If I can feed this type of result, any fellow with an old 1930 dodge Ute will be able to display precise information on his home page. (If I can keep the results 'clean'). .
I shall return before Christmas. with a fuller data base and hopefully a result to show you.
Or it might be earlier. . (when I get stuck)
P.S. just in case you are curious why the data base site is called the kalkadoonHotel. that is where I live, my home. I shall be creating my own 'Home page' there. I am just a one man band on the net, I thought it would be nice to invite people to my "Home" in a metaphoric sense. It sort of feels more honest, I can be found. users like that. (they can come visit!)
Tubby
08-05-2007, 08:42 PM
Kgun said
"A computer is plain stupid. It does exactly what it is told to do like Forrest Gump"
Funny! . . But Kgun, I disagree, Only people can be stupid. (stupidity has a source that is emotional) only an 'emotional' creature can display stupidity.
emotion can always override intelligence. This is the largest source / cause of stupid.
I know this Kgun, because I am a man. . I was borne 36% stupid.
Tubby, a good start :idea:
Even if professor GoogleBOT is fairly advanced, remember that an iFrame, can confuse a spider since it is plain stupid :-?
Reading through this thread, my head started spinning, so I mostly skimmed through it. What I think you are trying to do is create two seperate systems, one that grabs an XML file containing an RSS feed and fits that data into your web site, and another that allows third parties to incorporate the results of queries to your database seamlessly into their own pages. Am I correct so far?
I should start by saying, I HATE Iframes. Spiders have problems crawling them, you don't get any SE benefit from having them (as the content inside is crawled as belonging to the source, not the page that the frame is displayed on) and security applications are starting to get suspicious of Iframes, as they present a significant and critical security threat. In fact, the two most common uses of Iframes are ads (Google adwords) and the spread of viruses and malicious content.
As far as putting the RSS feed onto your site, it is going to depend on the capabilities of your server/hosting package. As you can see from the responses posted so far there are a lot of premade applications that will allow you to display RSS content, but I get the feeling you are looking for something more customizeable that you can incorporate however you want.There is a way to do this. What language is the page you want to add the RSS feed to written in? Is it static HTML, or is it PHP, ASP, or Perl, etc.? Also, if the page is static HTML, are you able to add SSI commands to the page (your hosting company should be able to tell you) and are you able to create PHP scripts on your server (since you do database lookups, I imagine you can, but best to make sure)?
As far as syndicating your content to the third party, it sounds like you need to simplify the coding for the third party as much as possible. You would need to use a seperate script from the one your site uses to generate the results. The output of this script should be an HTML snippet (No <html>,<head> or <body> tags; it should only be the tags around the results themselves). This HTML snippet could then be imported with 1-5 lines of code in Perl, PHP, Javascript, or SSI. For more sophisticated webmasters, you might also want to create a script that formats the results as an XML document.
Tubby
08-07-2007, 05:47 PM
Hi wige.
I find head spins are good, It is sort of a pre-indicator to a little drop of the "aaaah I get it". . .
I think you 'Got it' wige. I have two old sites that I have kept strictly htm. linking from them I have the complimentary sites, (different servers) photo hosting, classifieds, etc.
(I did this because basically I did not know any better, and I moved servers once and It was the biggest mess up you ever saw. also I use ' freelance contractors and I like to confine them to only screwing up the one server at a time. Plus I am a disorganised individual, that likes to keep each mess separated from the other...
My head is still a bit foggy too, but this is probably because I am trying to guess what my users will accept this time next year. (they are finicky).
My latest thoughts are on something like the program at RSS2HTML (http://www.rss2html.com) I have been playing with it and it looks to be about what I need. I will update this thread as I progress. But this might be slow as I seem to be having a little user nonacceptance changing to a new 'submit advert' form to the new data base. So I need to get that right.
I continue to confuse myself as a data base opens up more scope for searching submitted adverts . But every input increase in user input, makes it more work for the user, more scope for poor inputs. . I will end up with a messy results that will be hard to read. You know the sort of thing " FANTASTIC OFFFER" type submissions. .
Making the feed is one thing - keeping it 'clean' (easy to read format) is another.
Yes. . I noted
"should start by saying, I HATE Iframes. Spiders have problems crawling them, you don't get any SE benefit from having them"
I should say here, that had my website been built for other webmasters I would have been struck by lightning years ago. Fortunately I have very few computer savvy users.
I also have little respect for Google search. . I think they do the average mum dad user a huge dis-service by encouraging and promoting bull shit practises by a good few webmasters. The average computer user is confronted with millions of pages when even the simplest word is typed into the search box. (Google contributed to at least 80% of them with their crap algorithm, and those optimising for it) . . User benefit has higher priority. (if all other things are equal. . . . then, SE benefits)
I think I might be wandering off topic....
Hey, guys, in my defense, I don't care for Iframes either. However, in the interest of giving Tubby something he could USE considering he's said numerous times that his old server does not have php, this seemed the quickest route to giving him the functionality he wants. Especially since he didn't seem to be getting his head around the other stuff.
However, Tubby, I do agree that there are better options if you could just figure out how to make one work. But at least you have a fallback position.
Tubby
08-07-2007, 06:43 PM
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"Hey, guys, in my defense"
Bj, you don't need any defence. I always read carefully what you have to say. It was pretty clear that you offered an option if I did not have php installed, and knowing the end result I was looking for. (I still might go that way) the none searchable aspect is less important if the display page already has plenty of relevant content, and a search facility
could re- direct the SE's. .
I think you understand what is practical. You talk to me in a way I can comprehend. Your input always helps point me in the right direction. (and others)
I am having a lot of fun here BJ. ( Having a website is not like 'real work')