How do I customize my newsfeed XML data for others?

March 27, 2004 11:27 AM

Web coding quesiton:
I want to be able to offer my XML feed to others to implement on their webpages. I'm using Movable type (and have refrained from posting my site or it's feed (you can click on my name to get there).

I know they can get the feed via the link.

But, these other sites want just the headlines of the feed; and for it to be updated on their pages - I don't have the knowledge (which is why I came to Ask) - and my google searches haven't been helpful.

I'd love to get a nudge in the right direction.
posted by filmgeek to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Well, you can create a feed that has headlines without any of the body text. You would need to edit the template within Movable Type, taking out the tags that you'd rather not have appear. One section of the MT manual lists what each tag is for, which would help you decide which ones to take out. As far as these other sites syndicating your feed... well, it would depend on what software they're running. Are these other Movable Type sites? LiveJournals? If they are already syndicating other feeds they should be able to add yours without hassle.
posted by bcwinters at 1:54 PM on March 27, 2004

The content of the newsfeeds are controlled via the appropriate template. Go into the templates and modify the template to reflect just the title of the post. There are a few in there for various syndication format flavors so you should adjust them all accordingly. You'll probably want to make copies of the originals in case this goes south, but they are also available on the MT site if you need to go back.

At one point Mark Pilgrim had some replacement templates around so a search of his site may also be useful.

Whether or not your viewers will see the content as it updates depends on how their feed reader of choice is configured.
posted by cedar at 1:59 PM on March 27, 2004

I really think that how they present your feed is more their problem than yours, unless you're all inside the same organization or something.

If your syndicators are also using MT and install this plugin, they get pretty fine-grained control over how they present your feed.
posted by adamrice at 3:10 PM on March 27, 2004

Response by poster: thanks all.

None of them are syndicating other feeds, and none are using MT. Like me - good at video, not great at HTML and it's ilk.

The specific request I got was:

"A news feed would be COOL.. Check out the PHP news feeders here: www.tokyodv.com and then check out the top of www.fuckedgaijin.com.
[not that I have any interests in the above sites]
a news headline feeder in PHP would be awesome for my fcp
sites."


I'll take a look at mark's site.
posted by filmgeek at 5:03 PM on March 27, 2004

Okay, I'm confused.

If they are not running a CMS capable of rendering the feed, a desktop aggregator or a web based aggregator, I'm not sure exactly how they expect to see your feed (short of using a service like Bloglines, in which case they would just subscribe to whatever URI MT spits out for your feed).

I don't know what a 'fcp' site is.

The tokyodv.com site is using something on the server to publish the content generated by the fuckedgaijan newsfeed. It's trivial to write and there is also a variety of canned scripting to do this -- maybe your looking for something like zFeeder?
posted by cedar at 5:50 PM on March 27, 2004