Setting Up an RSS Feed 1 Project by iWEBbic.com 1

RSS Feed Setting-up RSS Feed 2 Project by iWEBbic.com What is RSS? RSS is short for "Really Simple Syndication" - that's the most popular definition. You may see it defined elsewhere as "RDF Site Summary" or "Rich Site Summary". More about RSS from Wikipedia What does RSS do? Websites using RSS systems place content into a standardized format that is recognized by RSS readers. Modern browsers typically include RSS readers; otherwise it's software that you can find online and download for free. Subscribing to a City of Toronto RSS news feed lets you read our content as it's published or on other websites with real-time updates. Setting-up RSS Feed 1. Identify the items for your RSS feed. Items are stories, articles, or other pieces of online content that you have created. Each item should be connected or similar in some way, meaning they should be about the same topic or theme. 2 2. Write a list of your items in any word processing application such as Word, WordPad, or Text Editor. Include a title, a description of the piece and the full URL link to the story or post online for each item you use for your RSS feed. The title can be the same as the title of your post, or you can paraphrase it. Your description should be a few words or phrases, and no longer than one sentence. Project by iWEBbic.com 2

RSS Feed Setting-up RSS Feed 3 Project by iWEBbic.com 3. Write a list of your items in any word processing application such as Word, WordPad, or Text Editor. Include a title, a description of the piece and the full URL link to the story or post online for each item you use for your RSS feed. The title can be the same as the title of your post, or you can paraphrase it. Your description should be a few words or phrases, and no longer than one sentence. 3 4. Create an XML file with the necessary tags, which will serve as codes to identify your RSS feed. You will create the RSS feed in a word processing document on your computer with all the proper coding before you paste it online: Insert XML and RSS tags at the beginning and end of the file. You will need to designate your RSS feed as an XML file, and include the version. Use version 1.0 for your original feed. You may update your feed on a regular basis, which will require you to create new files with version 2.0, 3.0, etc. Project by iWEBbic.com 3

RSS Feed Setting-up RSS Feed 4 Project by iWEBbic.com Create a channel for the RSS feed. Think of the channel of your feed the way you think about television channels. Name the channel something general that describes what is similar about all of your items. It alerts Internet users that all of the items are related, the same way the Food Channel alerts viewers that the content will be on the subject of food. The channel appears at the top of the file. 4 Add <item> before each place on your list. Use brackets to enclose the tags identifying the title, description and link. The XML file necessary for an RSS feed requires you to use open and close tags in these brackets: < >. A forward slash is also required at the closing tag after each line. Make sure to close the item tag after you finish the link like this: </item> Project by iWEBbic.com 4

RSS Feed Setting-up RSS Feed 5 Project by iWEBbic.com Place the tags and brackets around each item that you plan to include in your RSS feed. Close the channel, RSS, and xml tags as shown in the picture. 4. Validate that you did everything correctly by uploading your file into a system provided at http://feedvalidator.org/ 5 5. Save the file in XML format. Most word processing programs will have a "Save As" function, where you will be able to designate the type of file you are saving. Look for a setting that says XML. Give the file any name that you want. Project by iWEBbic.com 5

RSS Feed Tips Setting-up RSS Feed 6 Project by iWEBbic.com Submit your RSS feed. Submit the file to sites the same way you would submit content to a webpage. For example, you might submit something online by looking for a "Submit" button or instructions with a specific email address to use for submissions. Sites that accept RSS feeds include Technorati, Rocket News and Feedster. There are also specialized sites for medical feeds, political feeds, and other topic-specific news feeds. Tips Conduct an Internet search for RSS feeds, if you're unsure of where to submit. Utilize an online tool to create an RSS feed. There are sites such as FeedForAll and Feedity that will help you easily create your RSS feed. 6 Project by iWEBbic.com 6

Research and presentation project by iWEBbic.com. 7 Get a project similar to or different from this. Contact us - Skype: Seasonc2 :: Email: ubalsign@gmail.com Project by iWEBbic.com 7