Cobwebs Of The Mind: July 2006

at 3:10 PM

In this article we will discover just how to get your RSS Feed up on the web, and what is possible and what is not with an RSS feed.

Remember: Most Blogging Software builds RSS straight in and there is absolutely nothing you need to do. This RSS part of the Blogging series is for you to get as sophisticated as you like with your own custom made RSS feed.

Naming your RSS file - Your file name does not have to be rss.xml You are welcome to name it to whatever your little heart desires, though the .xml extension is kind of important for your editors to know just what file the software is dealing with.

Now that you have the file - what do you do with it? Okay first thing is first. Take the file and place it in your Web directory where everyone can get to it. Lets say we named the file "ballchain.xml" and we move it (ftp) to our web directory under the address of www.janisjoplin.com/rss/ballchain.xml. Now we know and the rest of the world will know where that file is. Don't put it in a secured or password directory UNLESS you are only granting secure, password access to it to specific people.

Now before you do anything else, BEFORE you release this great RSS feed to the world you MUST make sure it is valid. Of course you have been careful. Of course you never make typos. Of course you got it down pat. Still go and VALIDATE. How do you do this? Well nothing can be simpler. There are many validating engines out there. One very good one, which will of course drive you crazy over every small mistake, but it is good is at: http://www.feedvalidator.org. When you have an error it will lead you to the pages that explain your error. You should get into the habit of validating your feed EVERY TIME you change the RSS file.

Okay NOW we can finally go get our little orange "XML" or "RSS" button. That is easy. If you want to just go to a sight with the button already, and since it is public domain just copy the image with your browser. Move it over to your Web, and put in on your page where you will offer RSS to the world. Then add an HTML href command to the button, so that when a user drags it into their aggregator the correct file will be grabbed. The code will look something like this:
```
<a href="www.janisjoplin.com/rss/ballchain.xml">

 <img border="0" src="www.janisjoplin.com/rss/rss.jpg" WIDTH="48" HEIGHT="14">

You also have the option of going to a site where you can create your own button. One such internet site is: http://www.lucazappa.com/brilliantMaker/buttonImage.php There you can make a standard size RSS button with your own logo on it.
```

Now you have the file and logo and the hyperlink to your RSS feed on your main page. Now you have to go out and Submit your feed address to the RSS Feed Directories. There is also software that will do this for you as well. Instead of listing the many RSS feed directories here, just Google or Yahoo for "RSS Feed Directories" and submit your RSS URL to them. Remember the URL to your feed is NOT your home page. It is rather "www.janisjoplin.com/rss/ballchain.xml".

Think you are done? Hah! Now you want the major search engines to know about your feed right?
- Yahoo - http://publisher.yahoo.com/promote.php is where you begin. In the end you will have your very own Yahoo RSS Feed button for your feed, which Yahoo will give you the code to add to your web page as well.
- Google - http://www.google.com/intl/zh-cn/webmasters/addfeed.html and again in the end you will have an RSS Google button to add to your feed.
- MSN is a bit tricker. For some reason they keep the information on registering your feed with them a universal secret. http://rss.msn.com/publisher.armx will tell you how to do it.
- Once you get more sophisticated you will see the Newsgator button and a bunch of others. Since Newsgator is one of the major players in the market you should check them out at http://www.newsgator.com

UPDATE Your Feed - Now you created your xml file, uploaded that and the image to the web, submitted your feed, gotten a whole host of RSS feed buttons, from Google, Yahoo, MSN and NewsGator. Now all you have to do is make sure that you update your content on a fairly continuing schedule and that your RSS feed is constantly available.

Will you know how many people access your feed? This is a tricky and difficult question with no real solution as of yet. So the answer is no, you will not. Unless you are a real techie and want to spend time in mining your server logs or putting invisible images into your feed (like they do in email to see if it was opened and in RSS that is not foolproof) forget it. You can of course mine your server logs looking for hits on the ballchain.xml file but that is time consuming and an incredible amount of work. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT PUTTING Javascript IN THERE OR SOME OTHER SCRIPT SO A HIT COUNTER CAN COUNT IT. It will destroy the well formed XML and will not be aggregated or read as it will no longer be an RSS feed document.

RSS IN your Web Site - If you go to some sites on the web, not only will they offer you their own orange button but you will see an RSS feed in fed into their web pages. And when you see that you say "Hey I want this in my web site too!" Well you can do that as well. But before I tell you where to go on the net to get it (its for free too) I want to explain two possibilities here. The reason why many sites (including my own) put an RSS feed on their web page, is because it creates and adds content to the web site. After all the whole issue of content is what makes places like www.ezinearticles.com rock! If you are interested in content ONLY for your viewers than you don't have to worry about the following. However, if you are interested in content for search engines as well be aware of the following two possibilities.
- Many places will offer you a Javascript code to put in your web page. This is great, but be aware that search engines are "blind" to Javascript. What is placed within that code is simply not taken into account. Therefore, all the content being picked up by your link to the New York Times RSS Feed and put on your web site will not be indexed.
- Some places offer you PHP code as well. This requires that your web server supports PHP, which if you are not a techie you will have to check. And then you will have to usually make sure that your page is named say home.PHP and not home.html After that you can insert the PHP code into your page (as short as the Javascript code). BUT the GREAT thing is that search engines DO SEE the content that is in that PHP code, and that content will be indexed along with your web site. And search engines LOVE CONTENT.
For either possibility you can check out one such place. http://www.rssfeedreader.com/ There are others and once again a search will reveal a world of possibilities. Rssfreereader.com does have some really good options though both for Javascript and for PHP.

RSS Aggregator - There are zillions of those. If you use FireFox you can find some great RSS aggregators as Browser extensions. If you want a Desktop Aggregator just do a search for them. And then of course there are Windows aggregators that work within your browser (not as extensions). I don't feel right in suggesting one product over another, so I will not give a list here. They are readily available in any search on the web. Some are free, others you pay for. It is your decision.

Well we have come to the end of our RSS Mania - Understanding RSS Series. Some things like CSS files and formatting your RSS for HTML are not in the purview of this series and are a lot more technical. However, I hoped you learned about RSS and why this mania is sweeping the web.

Previous Articles In This Series:

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part One: Content Is King

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part Two: Introduction To Keywords

Part Three - Keywords, Tags, Categories - Oh Vey! I Am So Mixed Up!

Blogging & Website Basics - Part Four: So How The Hell Do I Get Bonafide Links To My Blog?

Blogging - Part Five: Trying to Understand the Psychology Behind It All

Blogging - Part Six: Viral Technology - An Introduction

Blogging - Part Seven: Article Submission As A Tool To Extend Your Reach

Basics Of Blogging Series - Part Eight: Using Email As An Advertising Tool

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Nine - RSS Mania Addiction An Introduction To RSS and the Terminology

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Ten - Outline of How to Create an RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Eleven - Debunking a Few RSS Myths

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Twelve - The RSS Feed Template File

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Thirteen - The Basic Elements in the "Channel" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 14 - How the RSS Feed Works & Some Programming Constructs

Basics of Blogging - Part 15 - Editor Tools - Qumana & Performancing Extension for Firefox

Basics of Blogging - Part 15A - Qumana's Drop Pad

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 16 - RSS Channel Sub-Elements Specifically "Image" (& How To Use It)

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 17 - RSS - The Elements Within the "Item" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 18 - RSS - Podcasting, VideoCasting & The Magic of the Enclosure Sub-Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 19 - RSS - Rounding Out The Multi-Media - The CDATA Command

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 20 - RSS - A Basic Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 21 - RSS - A Full RSS Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 22 - RSS - A Full RSS Feed Template For Podcasting & VideoCasting

Click Here For The Cumulative Index To All Posts @ Cobwebs Of The Mind

Tags: email, technology, blogging, web site creation, content, writing, books, Search Engines, SEO, site rank, page rank, RSS, Podcast, VideoCast
Categories: technology, internet, Basics of Blogging Series, What Is RSS Series
Basics of Blogging Series: Part 23 - RSS - How To Get Your RSS Feed Up On The Web

at 2:59 PM

This is a "full level" RSS template. Here we add the enclosure command for PodCasting. My previous article had the basic bare-bones template and the full template with the CDATA construct. Now we will have a template for Podcasting or Videocasting.

You can easily copy and paste this into a template. If you are not a techie and dealing with XML for the first time, use a decent text only editor, unless you can use FrontPage or DreamWeaver or a dedicated XML editor. Be careful of any extra charcters that you may sneak in with your typing, and remember not to touch the opening or closing brackets. If you do not know what you are doing do NOT touch the first three lines. The line beginning with the "channel" element is where you should begin to substitute the information on your feed.

Below we have two items in this channel. You can of course add as many items as your heart desires. Just keep on adding the entire section of beginning and ending with <item></item> and filling in the information.

Just to remind you. The enclosure command consists of three parts:

url - The URL of the actual enclosure.

length - The size in bytes and not an estimate but a total exact size

type - A standard MIME type, e.g. Audio, Video, Text etc. A list and explanation of standard MIME types can be found here - http://www.fileformat.info/info/mimetype/standard.htm

By the way. We are keeping RandyPandy's Perfumery, but since his wife Sandy loves Janis Joplin the enclosure command will contain Summertime from Janis. Hope you don't mind!

First a template with information and then a template without.
(The editing software forces an empty line between each command however in your Feed you should not have any empty lines. Just delete the lines with no information if you copy & paste)

First a template with information and then a template without.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<description> RSS Feed for The Great Perfume Products Sold At Randy's Pandy's Perfumery </description>
<copyright>"Copyright 2006 Randy Pandy's Perfumery - All Rights Reserved"</copyright>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<managingEditor>randypandy@randypandy.com (Randy Pandy)</managingEditor> <webMaster>webmaster@randypandy.com (Pandy Randy)</webMaster>
<category>Ecommerce</category>
<lastBuildDate>Sun, 4 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<pubdate>Mon, 5 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubdate>
<image>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<width>142</width><height>99</height>
<link>http://www.randpandy.com</link>
<url>http://www.randpandy.com/images/randylogo.jpg</url>

</image>
<item>

<title>Heaven Scent Perfume At 50% Discount</title>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heavenscent.html</link>
<description> [CDATA[<img border="0" src="http://www.randypandy.com/janis/ballchain.JPG" width="138" height="180"/></a> Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Your daddy's rich And your mamma's good lookin' So hush little baby Don't you cry One of these mornings You're going to rise up singing Then you'll spread your wings And you'll take to the sky But till that morning There's a'nothing can harm you With daddy and mamma standing by Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Your daddy's rich And your mamma's good lookin' So hush little baby Don't you cry ]]</description>
<author>George Gershwin sung by Janis Joplin</author>
<category>Blues</category>
<category>Jazz</category>
<category>Greatest Singers</category>
<comments>http://www.janisjoplin.com/comments/summertime.html</comments>
<enclosure url="http://www.janisjoplin.com/mp3s/summertime.mp3" length="4368242" type="audio/mpeg"/>
<guid isPermaLink="true"> http://www.randypandy.com/janis/janisjoplin.html</guid>
<source url="http://www.gershwin.com/summertime.xml">Author of Summertime</source>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>




Now Just the Bare Bones Template.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title></title>
<description> </description>
<copyright></copyright>
<link></link>
<language></language>
<managingEditor></managingEditor>
<webMaster></webMaster>
<category></category>
<lastBuildDate></lastBuildDate>
<pubdate></pubdate>
<image>

<title></title>
<width></width><height></height>
<link></link>
<url></url>

</image>
<item>

<title></title>
<link></link>
<description> [CDATA[<img border="0" src="" ]]</description>
<author></author>
<category></category>
<category></category>
<category></category>
<comments></comments>
<enclosure url="" length="" type=""/>
<guid isPermaLink="true"> </guid>
<source url=""></source>
<pubDate></pubDate>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>


This will work and without too much trouble if you want to create a full RSS feed including enclosures for music or video this is what you need.

Previous Articles In This Series:

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part One: Content Is King

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part Two: Introduction To Keywords

Part Three - Keywords, Tags, Categories - Oh Vey! I Am So Mixed Up!

Blogging & Website Basics - Part Four: So How The Hell Do I Get Bonafide Links To My Blog?

Blogging - Part Five: Trying to Understand the Psychology Behind It All

Blogging - Part Six: Viral Technology - An Introduction

Blogging - Part Seven: Article Submission As A Tool To Extend Your Reach

Basics Of Blogging Series - Part Eight: Using Email As An Advertising Tool

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Nine - RSS Mania Addiction An Introduction To RSS and the Terminology

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Ten - Outline of How to Create an RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Eleven - Debunking a Few RSS Myths

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Twelve - The RSS Feed Template File

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Thirteen - The Basic Elements in the "Channel" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 14 - How the RSS Feed Works & Some Programming Constructs

Basics of Blogging - Part 15 - Editor Tools - Qumana & Performancing Extension for Firefox

Basics of Blogging - Part 15A - Qumana's Drop Pad

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 16 - RSS Channel Sub-Elements Specifically "Image" (& How To Use It)

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 17 - RSS - The Elements Within the "Item" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 18 - RSS - Podcasting, VideoCasting & The Magic of the Enclosure Sub-Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 19 - RSS - Rounding Out The Multi-Media - The CDATA Command

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 20 - RSS - A Basic Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 21 - RSS - A Full RSS Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

Click Here For The Cumulative Index To All Posts @ Cobwebs Of The Mind

Tags: email, technology, blogging, web site creation, content, writing, books, Search Engines, SEO, site rank, page rank, RSS, Podcast, VideoCast
Categories: technology, internet, Basics of Blogging Series, What Is RSS Series
Basics of Blogging Series: Part 22 - RSS - A Full RSS Feed Template For Podcasting & VideoCasting

at 10:33 PM

Cobwebs Of The Mind - AW Blogroll Cobwebs Of The Mind is proud to present Blogroll #6 - Absolute Write Writers, Authors & Members
(If you are an AW member and wish to be included please read the thread AW Blogroll - Listing & Exposure for instructions on how to submit. The Blogroll goes up in batches of five.)
These Are ALL GREAT BLOGS for Writers and show Passion for Life and their Work

Wendelynn - Flying Shoes
Blog Address: http://flyingshoes.blogspot.com/
Subject Categories: Writing, Tarot, Digital Art, Scrapping, Alternative Healing, Spirituality,
Blog Description: Put on your Flying Shoes and see the world from inside my butterfly mind.
I happen to love fantasy, angels, devils and am extremely interested in the world of Tarot, dreams, herbal medicine and the like. So it not surprising to say that I loved this blog. If you have any of these interests or just want to get inside of them on a blog that is both artistically well done with information and links then Wendelynn's Flying Shoes is for you. Of course since I drink in this stuff, I would love for Wendelynn to post more information, and due it every day. But she links to some interesting sites, writes incredibly well in a succinct and good style. Take a look at her site, and as she says "see the world from inside her butterfly mind". You will be glad you did.

Simon Haynes - Hal Spacejock
Blog Address: http://halspacejock.blogspot.com
Subject Categories: Writing, publishing
Blog Description: I'm blogging my experience as my novels make it through the publication process. Also includes articles & writing tips and the occasional rant.
Simon, as he tells us in his blog has had fiction appear in several Australian genre magazines and his humorous SF story 'Sleight of Hand' won the 2001 Aurealis Award for horror. However, this blog is devoted to a host of things not the least his Hal Sapcejock series in SF. Simon knows how to write and certainly involves us through a myriad of posts in the art of writing and the frustration at certain things in writing and publishing. It is really interesting to follow the thoughts and adventures of Simon as he attempts to continue his SF series and shows us the inner side of getting his books out and how one author markets them. There is something here for all writers to learn from.

Kristen King - :: inkthinker ::
Blog Address: http://inkthinker.blogspot.com
Subject Categories: Writing and editing
Blog Description: Freelance writer-editor Kristen King is an inkthinker with a passion for the written word. Find out where it all started...and where it's going!
Kristen is a writer who is dead-serious about her craft. She quit her editing job and now is a full time freelance writer (though it is clear from her writing that her ability to write clearly and to the point has been helped with her editing experience.) Her blog is not only useful for any and all freelance writers out there, it is useful for all writers as Kristin has great advice on writing, editing and freelancing. And if you happen to be a freelancer this blog is a must!

Judi Silva aka Simran - Everything Indian
Blog Address: http://everythingindian.blogspot.com
Subject Categories: Writing about everything Indian (India)
Blog Description: As a freelance writer and editor, I write mostly about people and things from India, especially Bollywood.
Simran's blog is a great peephole into Indian Culture and Bollywood. (I am not going to tell you what Bollywood is you will just have to read her blog!) Since two of my children spent many months in India, this certainly holds an interest for me. Obviously someone who can explain the culture as well as the more fun parts to the culture in an entertaining way is something to be cherished and read. Everything Indian gets a thumbs up for a writer who is showing her excellent grasp of the craft of writing, and presenting us with a look at a culture she can explain, smile at, and demystify. Take a look and worth every minute.

Peggy - The Road Less Traveled
Blog Address: http://thoughtsontheroad.blogspot.com
Subject Categories: Cooking, Science, Books, Personal Thoughts
Blog Description: Follow the twisted path of my musings on food & cooking, books & writing, science, art, travel and more.
Actually this is not as twisted as Peggy would like us to believe. Certainly there is an eclectic gathering of posts, but then again that is the purpose of the blog to begin with. Peggy's writing covers a myriad of subjects. I have said this before, that I am not "into" reading personal lives or about what the kids had for breakfast. Peggy does not do this. She writes as the mood hits her, but it is clear from her writing, that she is also conveying a message be it about music, writing, friends or cooking. This blog is worth your while folks. Another fine example of an AW member showing off their craft in a unique way.

Previous Entries in Blogroll Absolute Writers Series:

Absolute Write Blogroll #1

Absolute Write Blogroll #2

Absolute Write Blogroll #3

Absolute Write Blogroll #4

Absolute Write BlogRoll #5

Tags: technology, blogging, web site creation, content, writing, books, Search Engines, SEO, site rank, page rank
Categories: technology, internet, Blogroll
Blogroll #6

at 7:46 PM

I want to thank everyone for the kind emails of congratulations that I receieved when they read the stories at thedeepening.com.
I certainly do not feel worthy of a lot of the compliments and statements made about my writing, but it certainly is gratifying to hear.

Since Jan. 2006, five of my stories have been published at thedeepening.com. Normally I just post the fact that the stories are up, and I tend to shy away from the editor or reader comments to the stories. Well since thank goodness things are kind of heating up in "possibilities" I will quote one of the editors on my last story that went up at thedeepening.com. You can read this comment and the story in the full by accessing it here. This is just one of the comments I have received about my writing.

"EDITOR'S NOTE: Ted William Gross has to be one of the preeminent literary writers of this new century. There isn't a word in his letters to me, a moment in his work, that I don't sit stunned, in awestruck admiration…for the man, for his perspectives, for his literature. —zentao"

You can read some other comments by readers here, along with my bio.

Thanks everyone once again for your private emails.

Click Here For The Cumulative Index To All Posts @ Cobwebs Of The Mind

Tags: books, novels, literary, agents, short stories, memoirs, Israel, fantasy literature, legends, tales, Jerusalem
Categories: short stories, writing, on writing series
Reverieing, The Heretic, A Pot Of Gold, Tenuous Webs, The Suflower - Short Stories

at 4:02 PM

This is a "medium level" RSS template. Here we add some more Channel information plus the CDATA command along with the rest of item commands. This template is without the "enclosure" command. My previous article had the basic bare-bones template and my next one will have a template you can use for Podcasting or Videocasting.

You can easily copy and paste this into a template. If you are not a techie and dealing with XML for the first time, use a decent text only editor, unless you can use FrontPage or DreamWeaver or a dedicated XML editor. Be careful of any extra charcters that you may sneak in with your typing, and remember not to touch the opening or closing brackets. If you do not know what you are doing do NOT touch the first three lines. The line beginning with the "channel" element is where you should begin to substitute the information on your feed.

Below we have one full item and one bare bones item in this channel. You can of course add as many items as your heart desires. Just keep on adding the entire section of beginning and ending with <item></item> and filling in the information.

The editing software forces an empty line between each command however in your Feed you should not have any empty lines. Just delete the lines with no information if you copy & paste.

First a template with information and then a template without.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<description> RSS Feed for The Great Perfume Products Sold At Randy's Pandy's Perfumery </description>
<copyright>"Copyright 2006 Randy Pandy's Perfumery - All Rights Reserved"</copyright>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<managingEditor>randypandy@randypandy.com (Randy Pandy)</managingEditor> <webMaster>webmaster@randypandy.com (Pandy Randy)</webMaster>
<category>Ecommerce</category>
<lastBuildDate>Sun, 4 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<pubdate>Mon, 5 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubdate>
<image>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<width>142</width><height>99</height>
<link>http://www.randpandy.com</link>
<url>http://www.randpandy.com/images/randylogo.jpg</url>

</image>
<item>

<title>Heaven Scent Perfume At 50% Discount</title>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heavenscent.html</link>
<description> [CDATA[<img border="0" src="http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heaven.JPG" width="138" height="180"/></a> Heaven Scent Perfume the Smell your lover will die for. Created especially by Skunk Perfumes it is their newest and best selling perfume on the market today. Purchase a beautifully shaped skunk bottle with this incredible perfume and get a whopping 50% off! And if you purchase over $100 we will throw in Free overnight delivery as well! randypandy.com - All Perfumes You Can Ever Desire ]]</description>
<author>sandy@randypandy.com Sandy Pandy - The Queen of Scent)</author>
<category>Perfume</category>
<category>On-Line Shopping</category>
<comments>http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/comments/skunkyheavenscent.html</comments>
<guid isPermaLink="true"> http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heavenscent.html</guid>
<source url="http://www.yaddayadda/hs.xml">Secret Source of Heaven Scent Publicity</source>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</item>
<item>

<title>Angel Face Cream</title>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com/cosmetics/angel.html</link>
<description> A new face cream which will get rid of all your wrinkles in 7 days or your money back! Buy the lover in your life the best present she ever had!</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>


Now Just the Bare Bones Template.





<?xml version="1.0"  encoding="utf-8"?>

 <?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>

 <rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title></title>
<description></description>
<copyright></copyright>
<link></link>
<language></language>
<managingEditor></managingEditor>
<webMaster></webMaster>
<pubdate></pubdate>
<category></category>
<lastBuildDate></lastBuildDate>
<image>

<title></title>
width></width><height></height>
<link></link>
<url></url>

</image>
<Item>

<title></title>
<link></link>
<description>[CDATA[ ]] </description>
<author></author>
<category></category>
<comments></comments>
<guid></guid>
<source></source>
<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>
<Item>

<title></title>
<link></link>
<description>[CDATA[ ]] </description>
<author></author>
<category></category>
<comments></comments>
<guid></guid>
<source></source>
<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>

</Channel>

</rss>


This will work and without too much trouble if you want to create a full RSS feed (with no enclosures for music or video) this is what you need.

Previous Articles In This Series:

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part One: Content Is King

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part Two: Introduction To Keywords

Part Three - Keywords, Tags, Categories - Oh Vey! I Am So Mixed Up!

Blogging & Website Basics - Part Four: So How The Hell Do I Get Bonafide Links To My Blog?

Blogging - Part Five: Trying to Understand the Psychology Behind It All

Blogging - Part Six: Viral Technology - An Introduction

Blogging - Part Seven: Article Submission As A Tool To Extend Your Reach

Basics Of Blogging Series - Part Eight: Using Email As An Advertising Tool

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Nine - RSS Mania Addiction An Introduction To RSS and the Terminology

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Ten - Outline of How to Create an RSS Feed

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Eleven - Debunking a Few RSS Myths

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Twelve - The RSS Feed Template File

Basics of Blogging Series: Part Thirteen - The Basic Elements in the "Channel" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 14 - How the RSS Feed Works & Some Programming Constructs

Basics of Blogging - Part 15 - Editor Tools - Qumana & Performancing Extension for Firefox

Basics of Blogging - Part 15A - Qumana's Drop Pad

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 16 - RSS Channel Sub-Elements Specifically "Image" (& How To Use It)

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 17 - RSS - The Elements Within the "Item" Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 18 - RSS - Podcasting, VideoCasting & The Magic of the Enclosure Sub-Element

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 19 - RSS - Rounding Out The Multi-Media - The CDATA Command

Basics of Blogging Series: Part 20 - RSS - A Basic Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

Click Here For The Cumulative Index To All Posts @ Cobwebs Of The Mind

Tags: email, technology, blogging, web site creation, content, writing, books, Search Engines, SEO, site rank, page rank, RSS, Podcast, VideoCast
Categories: technology, internet, Basics of Blogging Series, What Is RSS Series
Basics of Blogging Series: Part 21 - RSS - A Full RSS Template File to Create Your Very Own RSS Feed

at 11:20 PM

Cobwebs Of The Mind - AW Blogroll Cobwebs Of The Mind is proud to present Blogroll #5 - Absolute Write Writers, Authors & Members
(If you are an AW member and wish to be included please read the thread AW Blogroll - Listing & Exposure for instructions on how to submit. The Blogroll goes up in batches of five.)
These Are ALL GREAT BLOGS for Writers and show Passion for Life and their Work

Paul Glatzer - Absolute ElvisPaul
Blog Address: http://elvispaul.blogspot.com/
Subject Categories: Powerlifting, Massage, Writing
Blog Description: Thoughts on being Paul Glatzer, his desire to write, to make friends, and make people laugh
Sometimes I wonder at what madness caused me to create this AW BlogRoll. The work, the responsibility, the need to make sure everyone is happy and satisfied is sometimes difficult. And then comes along a Blog like that of Paul Glatzer and I know and learn once again what is important and what is not. Yes AW'ers. Paul Glatzer is our own Jenna's brother. But that is NOT the reason he is getting a thumbs-up and five stars. Paul is getting it because of his courage, commitment and achievements. He is first and foremost a New York State champion Powerlifter at the Special Olympics. Paul also wants to be a writer, and wants in his own words "to make people laugh". This is what it is all about folks. We sometimes get so caught up in our own world of ranking, hits, publishing, agents and the like, that we tend to forget that little things, as Paul says, "to make people laugh" are what is really important. Visit Paul's Blog and leave him a comment or two or three. I think, nay, I know, that we all have something to learn from Paul's courage and tenacity. Great job Paul!

Marilyn Braun - Marilyn's Royal Blog
Blog Address: http://www.marilynsroyalblog.blogspot.com/
Subject Categories: British Royalty, The Queen, Prince William, Camilla, and Diana when the mood strikes
Blog Description: Not really a monarchist, just fascinated. An occasionally humorous, always informative blog about British Royalty.
Some people like turtles, some like steak, Marilyn is a royal watcher. But her blog is also full of historical notes as well, as she writes, "post Queen Victoria". Now whereas I cannot make any claims to knowledge of royal family information, nor have any inclination to do so, Marilyn's blog is chock full of historical and current information. Marilyn's excellent writing skills show in her posts about the royal family.

cesarcarlos - Of Chapters and Reels
Blog Address: http://chapreel.blogspot.com
Subject Categories: Writing, Book reviews, Movie reviews
Blog Description: A place where I write about different movies and books I come across. I also showcase some fiction and announce blog events concerning with writing (particularly horror). Also included are some news on releases of both movies and books and heads ups on any web appearances from names in the industry.
This blog is a good eclectic mix of original writing by the author, book reviews and movie reviews. One of the AW blogs that combines the author's writing talent with his passion for the arts of books and writing.

E Scherr - Cognitive Elements Of Teaching
Blog Address: http://mrscherr.blogspot.com/
Subject Categories: Teaching
Blog Description: Teaching with technology is the focus of this blog. However, I plan on also writing for parents and informing them of what kinds of questions to ask teachers. The basic idea is to create a partnership between teacher, student, parent and community.
A fairly new blog with an emphasis on discussing the marriage of technology and teaching. Judging by the first post, this blog should get fairly interesting. It is worth following and we hope it is added to on a regular basis.

Timothy Coote - BCOM
Blog Address: http://businesscom.blog.fr/
Subject Categories: English communication for international presentations/conferences/meetings
Blog Description: If you are giving a presentation in English to a group of suits from around the world and ever wondered why they are suppressing yawns I have the answers.
Sometimes I am completely surprised when I look at an AW blog (this is a good thing!) This blog has nothing to do with writing but rather some incredibly interesting posts on the art of communication in business. Coming from the world of high tech, stuff like this is refreshing and appreciated. Definately worth a look, especially if your daily job brings you into the presentation/communication fields.

Previous Entries in Blogroll Absolute Writers Series:

Absolute Write Blogroll #1

Absolute Write Blogroll #2

Absolute Write Blogroll #3

Absolute Write Blogroll #4

Tags: technology, blogging, web site creation, content, writing, books, Search Engines, SEO, site rank, page rank
Categories: technology, internet, Blogroll
Blogroll #5

at 5:09 PM

This is a bare-bones RSS template. Well it is a bit more than "bare-bones" however, it only contains the information at the minimum you should have in your RSS file. My next two articles will have the "medium level" and "full level" (good if you intend to Podcast).

You can easily copy and paste this into a template. If you are not a techie and dealing with XML for the first time, use a decent text only editor, unless you can use FrontPage or DreamWeaver or a dedicated XML editor. Be careful of any extra charcters that you may sneak in with your typing, and remember not to touch the opening or closing brackets. If you do not know what you are doing do NOT touch the first three lines. The line beginning with the "channel" element is where you should begin to substitute the information on your feed.

Below we have two items in this channel. You can of course add as many items as your heart desires. Just keep on adding the entire section of beginning and ending with
<item></item>
and filling in the information.

The editing software forces an empty line between each command however in your Feed you should not have any empty lines. Just delete the lines with no information if you copy & paste.

First a template with information and then a template without.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<description> RSS Feed for The Great Perfume Products Sold At Randy's Pandy's Perfumery </description>
<copyright>"Copyright 2006 Randy Pandy's Perfumery - All Rights Reserved"</copyright>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<pubdate>Mon, 5 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubdate>
<image>

<title>Randy Pandy's Perfumery</title>
<width>142</width><height>99</height>
<link>http://www.randpandy.com</link>
<url>http://www.randpandy.com/images/randylogo.jpg</url>

</image>
<item>

<title>Heaven Scent Perfume At 50% Discount</title>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com/perfumes/heavenscent.html</link>
<description> Heaven Scent Perfume - your lover will love. Created especially by Skunk Perfumes it is their newest and best selling perfume on the market today. Purchase a beautifully shaped skunk bottle with this incredible perfume and get a whopping 50% off! And if you purchase over $100 we will throw in Free overnight delivery as well!</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</item>
<item>

<title>Angel Face Cream</title>
<link>http://www.randypandy.com/cosmetics/angel.html</link>
<description> A new face cream which will get rid of all your wrinkles in 7 days or your money back! Buy the lover in your life the best present she ever had!</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2006 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>

Now Just the Bare Bones Template.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">

<channel>

<title></title>
<description></description>
<copyright></copyright>
<link></link>
<language></language>
<pubdate></pubdate>
<image>

<title></title>
width></width><height></height>
<link></link>
<url></url>

</image>
<Item>

<title></title>
<link></link>
<description></description>
<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>
<Item>

<title></title>
<link></link>
<description></description>
<pubDate></pubDate>

</Item>

</Channel>