Feed

[Download feed.zip] [Example Page]

Feed is a newsfeed system that allows you to generate newsfeeds for your web site AND allows other web sites to pick up on your newsfeed.  You can of course just use other peoples' newsfeeds if they have made the URLs publicly available.

I personally use it to bring headlines together from a group of web sites I manage. (see the ticker at the top of the page)

Installation

The newsfeed system is built from a minimum of 2 .js files. The main file is the feed control and the other/s is/are the newsfeeds.  The newsfeed files can be loaded directly from the web site supplying feed and the control file is stored locally on your site.

Download the .zip file and extract the files to a folder. The file, example.htm, will show you the basic HTML required for your web page (also detailed below) and the following instructions will show you how to configure the newsfeed.

• Copy the files, feed-dynamic-1-1b.js and blankfeed.js into your web site.
• Rename the file, blankfeed.js to something more suitable for your site like newsfeed.js
• Add the following HTML to the page(s) that will display the news ticker in the location you wish to display it:

  <span id="thefeed">&nbsp;</span>

• Add the following HTML to te same page(s) just before the </body> tag:

  <script type="text/javascript" src="pathto/feed-dynamic-1-1b.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="pathto/newsfeed.js"></script>

As the newsfeed files are relatively simple, you will be able to upgrade your newsfeed control file to any new version without having to recode your headlines.

Configuration

Now that you have all the files in the correct place you'll need to configure your newsfeed and add your headlines/links.

• Open the file newsfeed.js and modify the first line:

  feedno=newfeedtype("Colour (hex)","Site Name","Siteurl");

• Change "Colour (hex)" to a hexidecimal colour value such as "#1A2B3C".
• Change "Site Name" to the title of your site or newsfeed such as "Maxx's Scripts".
• Change "Siteurl" to the root url of your site such as "http://www.maxxblade.co.uk".
• e.g.:

  feedno=newfeedtype("#1A2B3C","Maxx's Scripts","http://www.maxxblade.co.uk");

• To add your headlines edit the second line of the file:

  newstory("Date","URL of Story","Headline");

• Change "Date" to a the date of the headline such as "dd/mm/yyyy".
• Change "URL of Story" to the url of the story relative to your main url i.e. "news/story.htm".
• Change "Headline" to the headline such as "Feed! New Version Available".
• e.g.:

  newstory("15/05/2007","feed/index.php","Feed! New Version Available");