Catholic RSS Feeds - Using RSS Feeds in Catholic Web Site

Introduction

Syndicating the content of a site (using rss feed technology) is part of basic web site development. It may not be as popular as the web 2.0 technology of Twitter and Facebook, but its use for information sites like a Catholic web site or blog, is still basic for creating a channel for distributing your content and articles on the Web. This short tutorial will help you learn how to create your own rss feed using a learn-by-example method. If you want to get your rss feed up and ready without learning the meaning of all the elements in its coding, then just follow the example given below. The example is for any basic and standard RSS Feed that can be used by your site's readers to update themselves on your site through their favorite RSS Feed Readers in My MSN, My Yahoo, and Google Reader!

Example code of an rss feed using a .xml file extension

Given below is an example code presently required by in Feedvalidator.org as the standard for any rss feed . The standard number of items that can be placed in a feed are 15 items.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
 <channel>
  <title>Your Catholic rss feed Title goes here....</title>
  <link>http://www.yourdomain.net/</link>
  <image>
   <title>Your Catholic image title goes here....</title>
   <url>http://www.yourdomain.net/images/yourimage.jpg</url>
   <link>http://www.yourdomain.net/</link>
   <width>88</width>
   <height>31</height>
  </image>
  <description>The description of your Catholic rss feed goes here....</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
<atom:link href="http://www.yourdomain.net/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
  <item>
   <title>The title of the first item in your Catholic rss feed goes here....</title>
   <link>http://www.yourdomain.net/subdir/yourfilename.html</link>
   <description>The description of your first item goes here....Note: you can create as many as 15 items in this rss feed format. Studies discovered that having a full description on each item of a feed is very beneficial and gives a positive experience to subscribers...</description>
   <guid>http://www.yourdomain.net/subdir/yourfilename.html</guid>
   <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
  </item>
</channel>
</rss>

This standard rss feed code is your guide to create your own Catholic rss feed. With this basic code format, you can already start syndicating all the content of your Catholic web site for subscription by readers. To complete the creation of your rss feed, save the file in .xml format (through NotePad or any text editor).

Once your have finished and completed your rss feed, placing all the 15 items for distribution of your content, you can then validate if your feed meets the standard of the Web through Feedvalidator.org.

Content that you can publish in your rss feed

You can publish any item in your rss feed - from html files to video files and audio files. If you want your readers and subscribers to be enriched with information and ideas from your feed, you can also include a few items from other web sites related to the Catholic faith. This will make your rss feed filled with both text and multimedia content. Your readers and subscribers can obtain an updated and a more comprehensive picture of the Catholicism as it is presented on the Internet.

A few pointers when you update your rss feed

• for each item's title tag, do not exceed the maximum of 60 characters
• for each item's description tag, you would give good service if a full description of the item is given; readers gets the essential information in one reading; if he wants to learn more, then he can open the item for more details
• for each item's pubDate, you need to find out the time zone difference so that your rss feed will be valid and delivered at the time you want it to be published for your subscribers
• the more regularly you update your rss feed, the better it would be for all your readers and subscribers
• make it a good habit of updating your feed regularly and never forgetting to validate it through Feedvalidator.org; in case something is wrong in the feed, Feedvalidator.org can assist you to make the necessary adjustments

Placing RSS Feed Subscription Buttons in your Catholic Web Site or Blog Template

There are many RSS Feed Aggregators that provide Subscription buttons for your rss feed. These subscription buttons makes it easier for your readers to subscribe to your feed

Placing an orange XML button

To place an orange XML button on your site, just use this code,

<a title="RSS 2.0"
href="http://www.yoursite.com/your-rss-filename.xml">
<span style="border:1px solid;border-color:#FC9 #630
#330 #F96;padding:0 3px;font:bold 10px
verdana,sans-serif;color:#FFF;background:#F60;
text-decoration:none;margin:0;"> XML</span></a>

Placing an Add to My Yahoo RSS button

To place a Yahoo button, just use this code,

<a href="http://add.my.yahoo.com/content?url=
http%3A//www.yoursite.com/your-rss-filename.xml">
<img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/
addtomyyahoo4.gif" width="91" height="17"
border="0" align=middle alt="Add to My Yahoo!"></a>

Note

Don't forget to change the "www.yoursite.com" with the domain name of your Catholic web site or blog. Also switch the "your-rss-filename.xml" with your rss feed's filename. Remember to save the your rss feed as a .xml file. To do this in NotePad, select the "all files" option in the "save as type" function, and then save the file.

When you finally accomplish all of the coding, the buttons will appear as below:

XML

New ways for promoting and syndicating your content

Given above is the standard way for a small Catholic web site developer to syndicate all the content of his site. Another way is by "burning" a feed with Feedburner.com. When you burn your Catholic rss feed with Feedburner.com, the site will provide you with a landing page, where there are many rss subscriber buttons to choose for your readers to choose from. "Burning" a rss feed involves giving the URL of your feed to FeedBurner, and then they give you a new URL with your own well-designed landing page.

More information from this network

Get regular updates on basic and small Catholic web site development, blogging, social networking, and web applications from:

• Friendfeed: Provides content ideas from Catholic news and technology updates
• The Site feed: Discover ideas on blogging, web site development, social networking, and web applications
• A post at Catholic Internet Mission blog: This blog periodically summarizes all the articles and content produced in the network.

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