Insert RSS in PHP into HTML page? [Archive]

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 14:31

Hi guys, this site was recenttly recommended by a friend and this is my first post although i have also searched the forum for an answer.

My website is www(dot)gardenimprovements(dot)com (not allowed to post url since first post) and I wish to issue an RSS feed on it containing the latest in relevant industry news from a variety of sources ie. newspapers, organisation publishings, blogs etc.

Right now I have a basic google generated feed but this looks rubbish and also is not picked up by robots so not ideal.

I am a novice to code and have built my site using FrontPage so please be frank and unassuming in your advice.

I wish to replace the current feed section with a php based source that needs to be included in my html. I need to know how to do this from start to finish in essence so any help is much appreciated!

Thanks

Nicky

fisicx

28th January 2009, 14:50

RSS is something you push out to other sites not something you get in. People use an RSS reader to read the feeds they subscribe to.

What you are suggesting (I believe) an RSS feed from your site of all the news clippings and articles you have put together. The easier way to do this is to set up a blog. You can then write your articles and use the RSS plugin to set up the feed.

You can really run an RSS feed from an HTML page.

As to google not indexing the info. Why should it? All you are doing is linking to other sites so why should it index you for this duplicate information.

Instead of putting all your effort into helping all the other sites get traffic, it might be more productive to look at your own site conversions 'cos there are all sorts of porblems preventing people from seeing how good you are.

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 15:05

nope, but thanks for the swift response.

either i misunderstand the basic terminology or you've misunderstood my question since this is something i have been recommended to do and that i can quite clearly see other websites do as well.

I shall put it as basically as i can: I want to display a news feed of constantly updated informatino relevant to my business and insdustry. This is to present a professional and helpful image to potential clients. Google will also read it (i have been assured) as content that is fresh daily and thus help my site's promotion.

It has been explained to me before:
"Hi Nicky,

I have tested your URL and can see that the return from this URL is PHP code. I would suggest that you need to write a script that places the content of the response in it's own php file, then include that file in your sites pages."

and

"Nicky,

I think I have something very similar on Landscapedia where I use PHP to generate an RSS feed from the latest articles. If this is what I think you are asking, then you can't simply embed an RSS feed in HTML. You would need another PHP script to read the XML feed and translate that into something a web browser can understand.

You can find scripts like that for free on places like Hotscripts.com. Let me know if you have more questions."

My issue is that i don't have the basic understanding of how to implemet this.

scrizzle

28th January 2009, 15:17

Are you using php?

fisicx

28th January 2009, 15:18

Ok, lets try again. RSS means 'really simple syndication'. You produce the articles and they then feed to subscribers who have an RSS reader. What you want is a newsfeed on your site (not RSS). The problem is that you need to get the news from somewhere. That means eaither you trawl the net looking for suitable articles or you get fed the news (with no control over the content). Try this website: http://www.newsfeedmaker.com/edit_feed.php Either way it is NOT going to help your ranking. I don't know who told you this but they are talking rubbish. If you want to present a professional servixce to you potential clients then you need to write your own material and include links to orther souirces. Which means a blog. But none of this is going to help until you sort out your site. You are making it almost impossible for google to rank you for gardening type keywords.

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 15:19

I'm trying to - i'm new to code and using Frontpage

I realise i can use php but i have to insert it into a table cell created in html...

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 15:21

Ok, lets try again. RSS means 'really simple syndication'. You produce the articles and they then feed to subscribers who have an RSS reader. What you want is a newsfeed on your site (not RSS). The problem is that you need to get the news from somewhere. That means eaither you trawl the net looking for suitable articles or you get fed the news (with no control over the content). Try this website: h--- Either way it is NOT going to help your ranking. I don't know who told you this but they are talking rubbish. If you want to present a professional servixce to you potential clients then you need to write your own material and include links to orther souirces. Which means a blog. But none of this is going to help until you sort out your site. You are making it almost impossible for google to rank you for gardening type keywords.

how so? I rank on the top page in google for most of my relevant keywords: "garden design glasgow" "garden designers glasgow" "garden designer glasgow" etc

Since I'm new to code etc could you point out some of the specific errors you have found?

fisicx

28th January 2009, 15:33

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 15:44

My mistook. One simple issue is your main navigation. Because you use an image map google can't easily follow the links. Google likes text and loves to see unique page titles. So if you change you main nvigation to a set of text links and write unique pages titles for each page then you will rank for all sorts of other keywords. Same with all the flash. Convert it to text and that lots of luverly content for Google to index. Question. How many people land on your site after searching for 'garden design glasgow'?

Not many so far since my site has only been live for about a month and this is our downtime before the season starts in a few weeks - why do you feel this might not work? I have generally found that people search for the service ie landscapers, or garden designers and then enter their locality. If you can help at all i'd any advice!!

How do I convert my flash to words? Will that lose the flash altogether? I had set up a text only version of the flash content and submitted a sitemap to google - also if people don't have flash there is a seperate text content behind the flash box to allow use of the site. The reason I first used flash was to control the text sizes from changing in peoples different browsers - i don't know code so this was a solution i could manage - it also allows me to add some animation to the site at a later stage which should create interest since we are a design based company.

What do you reckon?

edmondscommerce

28th January 2009, 15:51

this is easy enough to do.

its perfectly valid to take RSS feeds from other places and display the contents on your site.. this is the flip side of RSS - its not just for pushing, its for pulling as well.

To display RSS feeds on your site you need an RSS parser. My favourite method is Last RSS

http://lastrss.oslab.net/

RSS can help your ranking if you can find a decent RSS feed to use. In fact I have seen sites getting numerous hits using RSS feeds, though unfortunately the traffic tends to be looking for info on the news that is being talked about in the RSS feed, so might not really be that interested in your site.

<self promotion>
Alternatively if it all seems a bit greek, I would be happy to set this up for you
</self promotion>

nickypatterson

28th January 2009, 15:53

this is easy enough to do.

its perfectly valid to take RSS feeds from other places and display the contents on your site.. this is the flip side of RSS - its not just for pushing, its for pulling as well.

To display RSS feeds on your site you need an RSS parser. My favourite method is Last RSS

---

RSS can help your ranking if you can find a decent RSS feed to use. In fact I have seen sites getting numerous hits using RSS feeds, though unfortunately the traffic tends to be looking for info on the news that is being talked about in the RSS feed, so might not really be that interested in your site.

<self promotion>
Alternatively if it all seems a bit greek, I would be happy to set this up for you
</self promotion>

Thank you for this and i shall give it a bash...funds are low at present so not sure if we can afford your services!

fisicx

28th January 2009, 16:29

edmondscommerce

28th January 2009, 17:07

have fun :-)

it's pretty easy really

the trick is finding the RSS feeds that are worth having..

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:10

ok ive given it a bash

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:11

and i think i'm almost there

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:11

trouble is that to show you...

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:11

i need to get my posts up to 15

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:12

in order to put my code in

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:12

and show you where my stuff is

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:12

and where the instructions i have been following are

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:12

hopefully after this one i can do it

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 18:13

Right I've managed to get some php code for a feed but it isn't an aggegated one which i'd like and the graphics for it are cr*p:

<?php
$olderror_reporting =error_reporting(0);
include ("http://rssfeedreader.com/rss3/rss.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Fty pepad%2FPhilipVoice%2Flandscapewatchuk&newpage=1&chead=&atl=&desc=1&owncss=&eleminate=&auth=1&dts=1&width=500&max=10&tlen=65&rnd=&bt=3&bs=Solid&nmb=1&ntb=1&naf=1&nst=1&nwd=500&nht=300&dlen=130&lstyle=7&lc=%23666600&bg=%2366CC00&bc=%23003300&spc=1&ims=1&tc=&ts=11&tfont=Arial,+Helvetica,+Sans-serif&rf=".$HTTP_SERVER_VARS['SERVER_NAME'].$HTTP_SERVER_VARS['PHP_SELF']."&phpout=1");
error_reporting($olderror_reporting);
?>

And then I've followed these instructions: @

http://rssfeedreader.com/php.html

but the feed doesn't appear a all where I want it - is this a parsing problem? My .htaccess looks like:

ErrorDocument 404 /custom404page.htm

.htm server parsed

.html server parsed

Addhandler application/x-httpd-php .html .php

And I can see the php feed at:

www.gardenimprovements.com/rssfeeds.php (http://www.gardenimprovements.com/rssfeeds.php)

I think I'm just missing the last piece of the puzzle - any clues guys?

alphanumeric

29th January 2009, 19:17

rename your file to index.php

then use:

<?php include("rssfeeds.php");?>

where you have



now im going to go rest my eyes :(

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 19:53

>>alphanumeric

" rename your file to index.php

then use:

<?php include("rssfeeds.php");?>

where you have



now im going to go rest my eyes :("

Hi mate, thanks for this but it hasn't solved the problem. I renamed rssfeeds.php to index.php and changed the php insert as instructed - this still leaves me with a big white box...please have another look man I'm losing the will here!

alphanumeric

29th January 2009, 20:07

nope... go back to what you had ie rename your file back

change your index.htm / index.html to index.php then re-read my previous post.

nickypatterson

29th January 2009, 20:25

nope... go back to what you had ie rename your file back

change your index.htm / index.html to index.php then re-read my previous post.

ok you coulda mate it a bit clearer then. That works but only if i go to http://www.gardenimprovements.com/index.php and not at http://www.gardenimprovements.com

plus I cannot edit my site any more cos (as i said at first) i ain't no use at code and use Front Page. The solution in the link above appealed because I apparently do not have to change my page to php but keep it htm or html and parse these as I have been told elsewhere.

stugster

30th January 2009, 07:20

First things first... using FrontPage to try and do anything more advanced than create a basic, static, boring HTML page is a waste of your time.

There's a reason Microsoft gave up on FrontPage.

http://www.rss2html.com/ Have a look at their hosted option.

If you want to be clever with your site, and have RSS feeds with PHP capabilities, you're going to have to either ditch FrontPage, or get someone in to help.

fisicx

30th January 2009, 07:40

ok you coulda mate it a bit clearer then. That works but only if i go to http://www.gardenimprovements.com/index.php and not at http://www.gardenimprovements.com

plus I cannot edit my site any more cos (as i said at first) i ain't no use at code and use Front Page. The solution in the link above appealed because I apparently do not have to change my page to php but keep it htm or html and parse these as I have been told elsewhere.

That's because index.htm is stuill on the server and is the default page. Delete index.htm and you should be OK>

But you do need to get rid of FrontPage.

alphanumeric

30th January 2009, 09:25

and a thankyou would have been nice....

and if you must use frontpage just show all files and force it to open it

nickypatterson

31st January 2009, 21:23

Of course I shall thank you - if I get a solution that I can work with!! It can obviously be done through front page and without changing files into php since there are websites about this. My problem again is that I don't understand the jargon - I'm a garden designer not a techie.

Anyway the index.htm file was back on the server when you checked because i had to change it back - in frontpage php files only appear as code so i cannot see what the page looks like. And i've got to stick with FP cos that's what i know how to use - i don't have the time to learn script nor the money to pay for a pro to do it so i'm stuck with what i have.

If you guys can't help it's cool i can try some other forums.

Thanks anyway

Nicky Patterson

(http://www.gardenimprovements.com)

scrizzle

31st January 2009, 21:28

You cant do it with just a HTML page... It NEEDS to be server side script, php, asp, ruby etc.

The only is to insert an inline frame into the html page.

alphanumeric

31st January 2009, 21:40

there are plenty of people who can fix it here if you willing to pay, fortunately i have told you the solution to the problem, if you lack the skills to implement this then surly you see a reason to pay someone to do it for you?

In the same ascpect you would not expect me to become a garden designer using nothing but some crayons and some scrap paper.

If you want your website to earn you money then i honestly suggest you get someone to do it for you.

*also as a side note to edit the file on your local pc change it back to index.html then once you have finished your edits save it as index.php and upload.