Feed Tools

Feedity offers several nifty tools and tips for RSS feed users, like a widget, API access, Autodiscovery, and Bookmarklet.

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Bookmarklet

When you click on the bookmarklet, it will redirect to Feedity with the webpage (URL) you're on. It's just a quicker way to build RSS feeds. To install, drag this link to your browser toolbar: Feedity

Widget

Widgets, or webpage gadgets, are small portable plug-in's for websites. Feedity offers a simple widget to embed and display RSS feeds on your website or blog. This Widget is customizable and safe to use. You can drive more traffic to your site by showcasing the news from your favorite source by copying a small JavaScript snippet.

Simply select the JavaScript code below, and 'copy & paste' it to the appropriate location on your webpage (HTML).
You can customize the widget by editing the marked fields in the widget code below.

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
    // Customize the widget by editing the fields below
    // All fields are required

    // Your Feedity RSS feed URL
    feedity_widget_feed = "";

    // Number of items to display in the widget
    feedity_widget_numberofitems = "5";

    // Show feed item published date (values: yes or no)
    feedity_widget_showdate = "no";

    // Widget box width (in px, pt, em, or %)
    feedity_widget_width = "250px";

    // Widget background color in hex or by name (eg: #ffffff or white)
    feedity_widget_backcolor = "#ffffff";

    // Widget font/link color in hex or by name (eg: #000000 or black)
    feedity_widget_fontcolor = "#000000";
//-->
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://feedity.com/js/widget.js"></script>

Look & feel of the widget can be customized by specifying the background and font/link color properties (in the code above). The widget's div tag (id: divFeedityWidget) can also be used through CSS for more control.

Note: This widget can only be used with RSS feeds generated through Feedity or Yahoo Pipes!

API

The Feedity API (short for Application Programming Interface) has been created to let users and partners interact programmatically with Feedity. The API provides a simple and easy utility for creating custom RSS feeds on-the-fly.

Our API is currently in private beta stage. It will be available shortly to our paid plan users, and for non-commercial use by developers. Commercial use will be possible by prior arrangement.

More details about the API will be published on our blog in the near future.

Publishing

An important step after creating a RSS feed is letting your viewers know that it exists. You can easily do this by putting a link to the RSS feed on your website or your blog. Follow these simple steps to publish your RSS feed online:

1. Download the RSS icon image (right-click on the image, and save it on your computer):

2. Select the HTML code below, and 'copy & paste' it to the appropriate location on your webpage.

<a href="http://feedity.com/your/feed.rss" title="Subscribe to the RSS Feed"><img src="rss-button.gif" align="absmiddle" width="68" height="25" border="0" alt="Subscribe RSS Feed" /></a>

3. Replace the anchor URL (http://feedity.com/your/feed.rss above) with your RSS feed URL, and upload the RSS icon image to your server.

Besides publishing a link to your RSS feed on your website, you may also look at RSS autodiscovery (described below) for promoting your RSS feed through your website.

Autodiscovery

RSS autodiscovery is a technique that makes it possible for web browsers and other software to automatically find a site's RSS feed. Autodiscovery is a great way to inform users that a web site offers a syndication feed.

To support autodiscovery, a link element must be added to the header, as shown in the HTML markup below. Replace the href value of the link element with the URL of your RSS feed.


    <html>

  <head>

    <title>Your Website</title>

    <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feedity.com/your/feed.rss">

  </head>

  <body>

    <!-- the web page's contents -->

  </body>

</html>

You can learn more about RSS autodiscovery at RSS Advisory Board.