What is RSS

[Pages:5]What is RSS?

RSS, an acronym for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, is an XML based protocol that allows for the automatic distribution of Internet content from news related sites via RSS aggregators or readers. RSS allows you to receive free updates by subscribing (or clicking on buttons labeled "RSS" or "XML") to information from sites that publish content (e.g. news outlets or bloggers). Publishers of information may make information available to users in this format to save time required to visit multiple web sites individually.

How does Avenet's system support RSS?

The Avenet Content Management System supports RSS in two distinct, powerful ways: RSS Produce, and RSS Subscribe.

Your site can produce RSS feeds for your use by your site's visitors. The contents of a "Basic" or "QuickList" section can be used to create an RSS Feed, which your visitors can then subscribe to or review at their leisure. Your section can include an orange "RSS" icon, if you desire. The items in your "Basic" or "QuickList" section will comprise the content of the RSS feed; any items that are "On" will be included in the feed.

In addition, you can now can also "subscribe" to another site's RSS feeds. Each such feed will create a section on your web site; you control the Section Introduction, while the section's items will be drawn directly from the RSS feed. An RSS Subscribe section acts just like any other section: it can be turned on or off, it can be promoted to other pages, and more.

This document provides details on using these two features.

Support for RSS Feeds within Avenet's Content Management System

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RSS Produce (a Premium feature; pricing available by contacting the Customer Support Center):

To begin producing your own RSS feed, you must first select or create a section on your site using either the "Basic" or "Quicklist" datatype. You should add a few items to the section, since these items will contain the content of your RSS feed. When you're ready to produce the feed, click "Configure Section".

At the bottom of the "Configure Section" screen, you will see two features for controlling your RSS Feed.

RSS Feed Options:

Should be set to "RSS ? No Icon" or "RSS ? With Icon" to allow your visitors to view/subscribe to your feed. In most cases, you should select "...With Icon", which will display a small orange RSS icon ( ). The "...No Icon" will not display the icon, but will still maintain your feed and leave it active. This might be used if you'd like to avoid allowing new users to subscribe to your feed, but still allow existing users/readers to access it. Additionally, some contemporary web browsers (Firefox 1.0, Safari 2.0) will indicate that your page is available as an RSS feed by displaying an icon in the toolbar; this browser-specific indicator will be "activated" if either "... No Icon" or "... With Icon" are selected.

RSS Feed Icon Placement:

Use this menu when the previous option is set to "RSS ? With Icon". If your section has a Section Introduction (which is turned "On"...), you can display the orange icon above or below the Intro. Otherwise, you can display the icon beneath the actual items in your section.

NOTE: the "Summary Items" setting on this page will also affect your RSS Feed. You can use this feature to limit your feed to only the first few items. More likely, to ensure that your complete feed is available, check "Display All Summary Items".

NOTE: The items in your feed will, by default, be exported according to the "sort order" of your section's items. However, many RSS readers and interpreters will re-order the entries based on "creation/edit date and time". At this time, there is no way to directly control the "edit" date and time of items within the Basic and QuickList datatypes. To force a specific order for these readers, you can "Edit" and then "Save/Finish" an item to update the date/time manually.

Support for RSS Feeds within Avenet's Content Management System

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RSS Subscribe:

If another site offers content in the RSS format (versions 1.0-2.0), you can "Subscribe" to that content and integrate it within your own website. A single RSS feed will contain a series of items, or "stories". Each item consists of:

- A Headline/Title - A summary - A hyperlink to the full story, hosted by the original site - An image (optional).

To subscribe to an RSS feed, you will first need to locate the source for the feed. Usually, that will involve right-clicking a site's orange "RSS" button or link, and selecting "Copy Shortcut" or "Copy Link". Then, you will add a new "Sub Section" to some area of your site. Enter a "Title" for the new section, and then choose "RSS Subscribe" from the menu of available Datatypes.

Since this is a new section, you will need to "add" the details for a new feed. Click the "Add Item" button next to "Configure your RSS Feed" (this button will change to "edit" after you add your RSS details).

Support for RSS Feeds within Avenet's Content Management System

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URL of RSS Feed: Enter (or paste) the complete web address of the feed to which you're subscribing. Be sure to include the http:// prefix.

Show channel information? (Yes or No): Some RSS Feeds include a brief summary or introduction before the actual items are listed; set this option to "Yes" to display this text.

How many items should be displayed?: Use this setting only display a select number of items from the feed (example: entering "5" will display the first five items of the feed). Set this option to "0" to show all items contained in the RSS Feed.

Show item summaries? (Yes or No): Each item in the feed will usually contain a Title/Headline and a summary of the content (usually the first sentence or two of the full story). However, you may choose to only display the Title/Headline of each item; set this option to "No" to hide the summary text.

How many characters should be shown?: If you choose to show the summary text (see previous option), you may choose to "truncate" (cut off) the summary after a certain number letters (numbers, spaces and punctuation are also counted). Enter "0" to display the full summary text.

Show Posting Dates? (Yes or No): Displays the date associated with each item, if such a date is available.

Link Targeting (New or Inline): Each Title/Headline of the feed will be hyperlinked to the story/content as hosted by the original site. You may choose open this content in a new browser window (leaving your site's window open in the background; visitors will close the new window to "return" to your site). Or, you may choose to have the content displayed in the same window (visitors will need to click the "Back" button to return to your site).

Intermediate Page (Do Not Show or Show): Setting this option to "Show" will display a simple page when the Title/Headline links are clicked. The page instructs visitors that they are leaving your site. After 5 seconds, this intermediate page will automatically forward the visitors to the story/content as hosted by the original site (visitors may also click a hyperlink instead of waiting five seconds).

Support for RSS Feeds within Avenet's Content Management System

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Promoting an "RSS Subscribe" section: RSS Subscribe sections can be promoted, just like any other datatype with "items".

Support for RSS Feeds within Avenet's Content Management System

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