Display RSS Feeds
Displaying RSS RSS offers webmasters a unique opportunity to
display fresh content on websites. While publishing an RSS feed
is a great way to generate site interest and increase
communication, syndicating and displaying feeds from related
relevant sources can also generate interest, increase traffic
and improve search engine ranking.
RSS Radars Webmasters with limited time or capacity can
syndicate related content. In a nut shell, webmasters can create
RSS radars by combining a mix of content from related sources by
grouping similarly-themed feeds. RSS feeds are updated at
different intervals, providing an ever-changing collection of
related information.
RSS is a form of eXtensible Markup Language or XML. Viewing an
RSS feed in a web browser generally produces code that is not
easy for website visitors to decipher. As a result, webmasters
use tools to display the content contained in an RSS feed.
Content contained in RSS feeds can be added to websites a number
of different ways. Each method for displaying the RSS feed has
pros and cons associated with it. Webmasters will need to
determine which option will best meet their hosting and
technology needs.
Using Javascript to Display RSS Javascript is the easiest way to
display RSS feeds on a website. There are a number of sites that
will allow you to generate code that can be inserted into a
website. The javascript will auto-update, showing the latest
headlines as the feed is updated. Each time a visitor visits the
website the javascript pulls the data from the feed. Often, the
various scripts can be customized so that the look of the feed
can be made to match a specific websiteeeds with hopes that the
search engines will devour and spider the contents, you will be
disappointed. When javascript is used to display RSS feeds,
search engines do not actually "see" the contents of the feed,
meaning that the search engines will not index the contents of
the feed within the website.
Feedroll - Feedroll is a free service for syndicating RSS and
ATOM news feeds on your website. Simply select a feed, customize
the design, then copy and paste the code provided onto your
page. http://www.feedroll.com
Using PHP to Display RSS PHP is a slightly more complex solution
for displaying RSS. Like javascript, as the contents of the feed
updates, the web page contents will update as the page is
refreshed. The benefit of using PHP to display RSS is that the
contents of the feed displayed with the webpage can be spidered
and indexed by search engines. The result is a feed that always
displays the most current information from the RSS feed and the
web page content is considered search engine spider and
robot-friendly.
rss2html.php - The rss2html.php script allows users to create
web pages that will always display the most current information
from the RSS feed, and because the resulting page is pure HTML,
it will be in a format friendly to search engine robots. Using
rss2html.php, webmasters can customize the format and look of
the web page created from the feed. The RSS feed's contents can
easily be integrated into an existing website's theme. The
rss2html.php script parses the RSS file, extracts the pertinent
information, formats it, and serves it up as regular HTML.
http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm
FeedRoll Pro - FeedRollPro was really designed to enable
publishers to syndicate their own content on other sites. But it
can be used to syndicate news feeds from other sites on your own
pages. http://www.feedrollpro.com
Using ASP to Display RSS ASP is similar to PHP. The free
ASP/ASP.NET scripts can be used to convert RSS feeds into HTML
and display on ASP/ASP.NET web-server.
rss2html.asp - ByteScout has implemented a guide for displaying
of RSS/XML feed using free RSS2HTML.ASP script in ASP or ASP.NET
environment. This script can be used free of charge on any ASP
or ASP.NET web-server and generate HTML from RSS feed. This free
ASP script uses MSXML to load RSS feed from URL and display it.
You can use it as a standalone or call from script on HTML page
to generate HTML content from RSS feed and then display on your
HTML page.
http://bytescout.com/how_to_display_rss_using_asp.html
RssFeed - RssFeed is an open-source custom ASP.NET server
control that displays the contents of a specified RSS feed in an
ASP.NET web page.
http://www.scottonwriting.com/sowBlog/RssFeed.htm
If PHP or ASP is used to update feeds, the website will have
free fresh, relevant content each time the feeds referenced are
updated.
Export RSS to HTML If you wish to dress up the feed's appearance
you can use a template exporting the feed as HTML or an HTML
table. Publishers can incorporate exported tables into an HTML
template using a server-side include. Each time the feed is
updated, the feed will need to be exported to HTML and uploaded
along with the feed. Though this only takes a few moments,
exporting RSS to HTML does require webmaster intervention to
update the content. The end result, though, is a complete web
page with an RSS feed in it that will be search engine-friendly.
FeedForAll - FeedForAll allows users to export RSS feeds from
RSS to HTML. The look of the HTML can be modified to match an
existing website's design. http://www.feedforall.com
Using Services There are a number of services available that
host and display RSS feeds, in many cases free of charge.
Because these services operate on a different domain server
there is little benefit to end-users displaying their feeds in
this fashion. That said, the services are generally free of
charge, so you get what you pay for.
RSS2HTML.com - Select a layout, color scheme and enter the URL
of the feed. A web page URL will be generated that will display
the feed in the selected scheme. http://www.rss2html.com
FeedBurner - FeedBurner provides a number of online services.
Among them is a service that displays RSS feeds on a website.
http://www.feedburner.com
Using XSL to Display RSS Although using XSL and CSS stylesheets
to display XML directly is easy to understand in theory, it is
rather tricky to implement in the real world and is very tough
for novices to use successfully. Webmasters must be fairly
familiar with CSS and XSL to have the formatting work well, and
webmasters then have to address browser incompatibilities and
exceptions. As a result, not a lot of resources or services yet
exist to display RSS using XSL.
Using highly targeted feeds, webmasters can enhance their
websites with themed content. Ultimately, providing relevant,
educational or newsworthy information from reputable related
sources will establish expertise in a specific area.