What is an RSS feed?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a lightweight XML format generally used for sharing news headlines between websites. In this article we demonstrate how to utilise the flexibility of RSS feeds and create a feed of special offers to add to your website.
Differences between an email newsletter and an RSS feed
How do you subscribe to an RSS feed?
There are many RSS readers now available. These can be standalone applications, web based or plugins for MS-Outlook.
Full example
A live special offers RSS feed in can be found at http://www.egypt-uncovered.com/late/rss.xml
This is part of Egypt Uncovered's late availability & special offers page
Below is the full TourCMS template for this RSS feed. You can use this exact template code or use it as a basis of your own RSS feed.
Notes on TourCMS tags for building an RSS feed
<pubDate><$TourCMSdeparture output="d_offer_datetime" format="2822" xml="1"$></pubDate>
For an RSS 2.0 format remember to use RFC 2822 compliant dates such as Thu, 3 Jun 2004 11:23:19 +0100. This can be done by adding the format="2822" attribute to the date tag.
Also ensure that, as for all XML feeds, that the data is valid XML format and does not have any single or double quotes. This can be ensured by adding the xml="1" attribute to the tag.
Finishing touches
One you have completed your RSS feed you will need to ensure that your site visitors are made aware that it exists. This can be done by adding
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/DIRECTORY/rss.xml">
to the HEAD section of your all your HTML pages. (Change the location of the RSS file to the location on your website)
Additionally it is common practice to add the icon to all pages, linked through to your RSS feed.
Other ideas