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RE: [syndication] Digest Number 882
Hi!
As the RSS standards are still not well determined, it is more difficult to
find the good starting tutorial than in other subjects.
After searching for a long time, I started just coding my handmade RSS, RDF
solution some years ago.
You could do the following:
Get something done that really works: Movable Type (Free, written in perl)
http://www.movabletype.org/ . With this you can publish and generate your
RSSs at once.
Do it by hand: You should have a standard template, that is, an HTML page
with the standard design and with the placeholder for your news.
Another page with a form for your news writing.
Then a script that would be called by the form submission and would create a
new html page with your news inside your template placeholder. And at the
same time, it should record a text file called for example: myNews.rss. That
would follow the ATOM RSS standard (http://atomnet.sourceforge.net/ ) or any
other that you like.
I first did this just by copying some RSS standard models and replacing the
variables with my data. Those where another sort of templates with a number
of placeholders.
I did all that with PHP, and worked great for a long time. I even placed the
templates inside the PHP script with 'HEREDOCs' at the printing.
I then authomatized all the process with a daily call to it by a system
cronjob. I now do it with perl that is a more stable and developed language.
After working with all these for some time, you should develop some
experience in these files. You should try to read them with the standard RSS
readers. If you are having some trouble, it is easier to Google for that, or
ask at the newsgroups.
Remember, XML is a just standard text with some tags like in HTML but more
strict rules. Just that. If you are able to write a text file, you are able
to write XML without any XML writer if you want. At least at the starting.
ALBERTO ADRIÁN SCHIANO
ALBERTO_SCHIANO@2VIAS.COM.AR
/\<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>/\
\/ Going down the road \/
/\ and feeling bad... /\
\/<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>\/
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GMC dpu s+:++ a+ C++ UL P+++ L E W+ N++ o- K- w+ O-- M-- V- PS+++ PE+++ Y
GP- t+ 5-- X+ R* tv b++ DI D+G e h! r--- z++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
| -----Mensaje original-----
| De: syndication@yahoogroups.com [mailto:syndication@yahoogroups.com]
| Enviado el: Miércoles, 15 de Septiembre de 2004 16:14
| Para: syndication@yahoogroups.com
| Asunto: [syndication] Digest Number 882
|
| There are 3 messages in this issue.
|
| Topics in this digest:
|
| 1. Re: Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
| From: "Bruce Whealton" <bruce@trianglewebhosting.biz>
| 2. Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
| From: "Pavel Kalinov" <pavka14@yahoo.com>
| 3. Re: Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
| From: "Bill Kearney" <wkearney@syndic8.com>
|
|
| ________________________________________________________________________
| ________________________________________________________________________
|
| Message: 1
| Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:09:37 -0400
| From: "Bruce Whealton" <bruce@trianglewebhosting.biz>
| Subject: Re: Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
|
| Pavel,
| Thanks for your feedback. Yeah, XML is new to me. I use a weblog that's
| called
| Pmachine and it generates a nice RSS feed.
| I think I do need to learn more about the material you mention. I do
| have a
| copy of
| XMLSpy and the tutorial for it. Forgive me for the ignorance but let me
| ask
| you
| to explain or refer me to some reading material, where to start as it
| were.
| Ok, You said,
| > You'd better just go ahead and create the sites as you want them, and
| > then generate an XML from the database.
| This implies that the sites will be based on a db, perhaps an obvious
| assumption to you
| but I just need to clarify it. I have been using php and mysql as that
| is
| what my servers
| support. And I have looked at some other web site php scripts, no sense
| starting
| from scratch if something can be found. So, from what you said, a
| straight
| xhtml site won't cut it.
| I might add a newsletter feature to the site(s) and then generate the xml
| file from that.
| If I use someone else's newsletter script and it doesn't support RSS is
| it
| still
| easy enough to generate the XML/RSS feed from it, meaning as easy as
| otherwise
| were I to create everything from scratch. Finding these types of
| php/mysql
| scripts that
| also support RSS/XML is not easy.
| > Basically, you will just need to make one script to generate the
| > export, then put a copy of it in every site where you want to export
| > stuff from, or just call it with a different parameter for each site.
| > Here's an example of a case very similar to yours:
| > http://rss.jpress.co.uk/
| Obviously that won't show me the script, will it? I mean when I think of
| scripts I think
| of PHP or ASP that get executed before it gets to my browser. Right?
| So, again, I don't mind recommended reading, hopefully some web sites
| that
| might illumniate things,
| perhaps the XMLSpy book might help.
| Thanks,
| Oh, I'll be glad to check out the site you mention,
| Bruce
|
| >
| > >From the sound of it, your needs are so specific that you will never
| > find a ready-made CMS to fit.
| > You'd better just go ahead and create the sites as you want them, and
| > then generate an XML from the database.
| > An export XML is extremely easy to create - much easier than an html
| > page, in fact. For comparison - on one of my sites I have 350 lines of
| > code to generate the home page, and 30 lines of code to generate the
| > XML for it.
| > Basically, you will just need to make one script to generate the
| > export, then put a copy of it in every site where you want to export
| > stuff from, or just call it with a different parameter for each site.
| > Here's an example of a case very similar to yours:
| > http://rss.jpress.co.uk/
| > This is the RSS exports of a group of UK newspapers (several dozen of
| > them).
| >
| > Best regards
| > Pavel
| > http://feedz.info/
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| > Yahoo! Groups Links
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
|
|
|
|
| ________________________________________________________________________
| ________________________________________________________________________
|
| Message: 2
| Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 18:06:02 -0000
| From: "Pavel Kalinov" <pavka14@yahoo.com>
| Subject: Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
|
| > This implies that the sites will be based on a db, perhaps an
| > obvious assumption to you
|
| Well yes, without a database this whole thing is suicide.
| You mentioned a number of news sites, meaning lots and lots of texts -
| you can't just generate static html's forever, you need a CMS and then
| let the editors enter stuff.
|
| > no sense starting from scratch if something can be found.
|
| Usually, yes.
| Depends on what you want though. For a small site, and if you are
| happy with a ready-made system that comes with features that somebody
| else planned - OK. But if you intend to have unique features, if you
| want to customize, if you are in any way different than the standard
| case... maybe you should start from scratch.
| Depends on your long-term plans, and of course your budget.
|
| > Obviously that won't show me the script, will it?
|
| Well no, but you see the end results, so you know what your script
| should generate.
|
| > I mean when I think of scripts I think
| > of PHP or ASP that get executed before it gets to my browser.
| > Right?
|
| Yep, that's the one.
|
| > So, again, I don't mind recommended reading, hopefully some web
| > sites that might illumniate things, perhaps the XMLSpy book might
| > help.
|
| Hm... I don't know, I haven't looked for such info so can't recommend
| anything :-(
|
| Best regards
| Pavel
| http://feedz.info/
|
|
|
| ________________________________________________________________________
| ________________________________________________________________________
|
| Message: 3
| Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:29:21 -0400
| From: "Bill Kearney" <wkearney@syndic8.com>
| Subject: Re: Re: Independent Online Newspaper RSS Feeds
|
| > Well yes, without a database this whole thing is suicide.
|
| Maybe not suicide but perhaps an exercise in futility. XML is expected
| to
| be VERY precise in handling of stuff like character encodings.
| Attempting
| to create something like a newsfeed in XML without using templates and
| machine-driven code is asking for a fair amount of trouble. There are,
| frankly, just too many little details that XML *requires* for a mere
| mortal
| to keep track of during manual edits.
|
| So yes, it's VERY likely and a VERY good idea to create feeds from
| database
| output.
|
| > You mentioned a number of news sites, meaning lots and lots of texts -
| > you can't just generate static html's forever, you need a CMS and then
| > let the editors enter stuff.
|
| Well, things like MovableType, Wordpress and others can well be thought
| of
| as a "CMS for one" or a lightweight CMS. CMS is a bit of misnomer as
| many
| different products call themselves a "CMS" when they're little more than
| template-driven editors. Truly sophisticated CMS have features like flow
| control, version tracking and a lot more. But most environments neither
| need nor have the budget to obtain and run such beasts.
|
| > Usually, yes.
| > Depends on what you want though. For a small site, and if you are
| > happy with a ready-made system that comes with features that somebody
| > else planned - OK. But if you intend to have unique features, if you
| > want to customize, if you are in any way different than the standard
| > case... maybe you should start from scratch.
|
| Eh, probably not. Stuff like the various *nuke portals, zope, drupal,
| slash, wordpress and a host of others already handle more than enough for
| most situations.
|
|
| > > I mean when I think of scripts I think
| > > of PHP or ASP that get executed before it gets to my browser.
| > > Right?
|
| There are server-side and client-side scripts. When your browser loads
| up a
| page from, say, our site via http://www.syndic8.com you're seeing the
| results of a great many server-side scripts. We happen to use PHP for
| most
| pages there. Our RSS ouput is all database driven.
|
| -Bill Kearney
| Syndic8.com
|
|
|
| ________________________________________________________________________
| ________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
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