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May 30, 2007
RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds are great for productivity, although some argue they aren't strictly Web 2.0.
Just in case you're curious about using these, let me show you and example and walk you through how to use them in your web pages.
RSS feeds to your web pages let you display results from one site on another, and the list will automatically update as the content chanes on the original site. For example, you can list new articles from a blog, results from a PubMed search, new articles published in your favorite journal, or results from a Google News search, for just a few examples.
Let's start with a Google News search on Web 2.0.
STEP 1: Pick the source of your RSS feed.
Google Search: "Web 2.0"
Here's a screenshot:
STEP 2: Find the link for your RSS feed.
For this Google search, you will notice in the bottom left hand corner there is a link that says RSS. (If you need to make the picture bigger, you can click on it.)
STEP 3: Click on the RSS link.
When you click on the RSS link, you might see a somewhat funky display like this:
Notice it isn't very pretty and is a little confusing. That's OK, because you are going to ignore everything except the location bar. You know -- that place where the web address or URL displays? Find the part that begins ... http://news.google.com/news? etcetera. Select or highlight the entire URL, and copy it.
STEP 4: Go to Feed2JS (or one of the mirror sites).
Please note - you can thank Alan Levine for this wonderful tool!
STEP 5: Click on BUILD.
STEP 5: Click on BUILD.
Follow the instructions, and fill in the form.
You might want to play around with this a few times. Use the preview button a LOT to make sure it looks the way you want it.
STEP 6: Generate JavaScript.
When you like what you see enough to go ahead for now, click on the button that says "Generate Javascript." It should look something like this:
Now, highlight and copy the code!
STEP 7: Paste the code.
You can paste the resulting code in your web page code, web code editor, a blog entry like this, or more. Without any extra formatting, you can quickly and easily get this.
Posted by pfa at May 30, 2007 03:26 PM