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loren s · Aug 25, 2006, 02:52 PM

Swiftly..

What is a general workflow I can use to have an rss feed updated when I also update the html news page so i don't get misshaps..

But I have no cms in this issue unlike other automated tools I have used..

I saw feeder and others but they are just xml editors... Is there a simple script or app that can convert a page to xml feeds ?

loren s · Sep 8, 2006, 07:09 PM

bump to this, I am still in great need of some type of answer please

Millennium · Sep 8, 2006, 07:31 PM

You can't do this without some kind of script. You can get by without a full-blown CMS, but we need more information about the site before we can help much more than this.

How is the HTML page that you want to "shadow" currently updated? Is it a hand-edited HTML file? Is it generated by some kind of script that runs periodically? Is dynamically generated by a script but not a real CMS? I ask because there are many different ways you could go about this, but depending on how the HTML page is generated some methods may be better than others.

loren s · Sep 8, 2006, 10:28 PM

Well I mostly always edit by hand in taco so it is static. things like rapidweaver don't do importing so i can't use that ..

besson3c · Sep 8, 2006, 10:33 PM

The page needs to be based on database-driven dynamic content, and the RSS feed constructed dynamically.

PHP and MySQL are a good choice for learning how to do this sort of work.

skalie · Sep 9, 2006, 04:06 AM

Is a database really necessary?

besson3c · Sep 9, 2006, 06:14 AM

Originally Posted by skalie

Is a database really necessary?

Well, if you want the RSS feed to automatically reflect changes to the main site, no, you could have it parse data out of a flat file containing your content, but by the time you write such a script you might as well go the DB route anyway, IMHO.

There are other benefits to dynamic content too (e.g. the ability to provide search mechanisms in a more elegant fashion). RSS feeds are dynamic in their nature. If you feel your site needs such a feed, you really ought to look into making it dynamic, IMHO.

Millennium · Sep 9, 2006, 08:43 AM

This sounds like something that could benefit from a CMS, it's true. Then again, Jefferey Zeldman hand-edited his Weblog and his RSS feed for many years, and during that time it became one of the most popular Web-design blogs out there.

As for a database, it's still not strictly necessary. There are popular weblog and wiki packages out there that "use the filesystem as a database": consider Blosxom and MoinMoin.

Ahem. Getting back to your RSS issue, though, while I don't think a CMS is necessary, I <em>do</em> think you should use a CGI script of some kind for this. It would parse your main HTML file, scrape out the data you need, and send it out in RSS format.

Do you have a link to the page? Depending on how the HTML is formatted, this could be relatively easy to write. What languages does your host allow?

besson3c · Sep 9, 2006, 09:16 AM

Honestly, what I would likely recommend depending on your needs is to go with something like Wordpress that will automatically generate your RSS feeds for you. It is extremely popular blogging software with a ton of support available, and has a very easy install and setup (although it does require access to a database).

Millennium · Sep 9, 2006, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Honestly, what I would likely recommend depending on your needs is to go with something like Wordpress that will automatically generate your RSS feeds for you. It is extremely popular blogging software with a ton of support available, and has a very easy install and setup (although it does require access to a database).

Personally I agree, but it sounds like he has a reason for avoiding CMS, and so I'm looking for a solution consistent with that..

loren s · Sep 10, 2006, 07:49 AM

well, I mean I could install a cms though we would have to get even more disc space on the server. But frankly I hate cms's there all have their werid kinks to them that feel so limiting if you dont add content the exact correct way the cms wants you to.

Thats why I find doing it all by hand in nicer, but reflecting rss automaticly or parsed out of a program would be a boon. Otherwise I can do an install of textpattern which is the cleanest cms I have ever found, just so picky in some areas..

besson3c · Sep 10, 2006, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by loren s

well, I mean I could install a cms though we would have to get even more disc space on the server. But frankly I hate cms's there all have their werid kinks to them that feel so limiting if you dont add content the exact correct way the cms wants you to.

Thats why I find doing it all by hand in nicer, but reflecting rss automaticly or parsed out of a program would be a boon. Otherwise I can do an install of textpattern which is the cleanest cms I have ever found, just so picky in some areas..

If you don't want a CMS, create your dynamic content by hand, and find a script that queries your DB to generates RSS feeds... the latter shouldn't be very hard.