Newsfeeds

Newsfeeds, also called web feeds or RSS feeds, allows parts of a web site to be made available to other websites or individual subscribers. Content from the source site appears on your own website or in your "newsreader" (software that allows you to pick up and organise RSS content). When the content on the source site is updated, it is also automatically updated on your website or in your newsreader.

Newsfeeds are  often labelled as XML or RSS or using this symbol.

Eldis offers two Newsfeed services - for individuals and for website managers

Newsfeeds for individual subscribers

As an individual user you can receive and organise newsfeeds with a "newsreader" (sometimes also called an "aggregator"), a piece of software that collects, manages and displays feeds. Some newsreaders display content in a window or list view similar to any email-programme, others have browser-based interfaces. Newsreaders can also be built into web browsers, e-mail programmes, etc. Most readers can be downloaded from the internet, some free of charge, some have to be purchased.

Once the newsreader has been installed, you simply have to pick the newsfeeds that you want to receive. Most websites providing feeds, mark their feeds "RSS" or "XML" or with a bright orange button (see above), so they can be recognised easily.

By receiving newsfeeds you will always be updated automatically with the latest content from the websites you have chosen to monitor. This means you should spend less time surfing the internet as the content comes to you rather than you having to go to find it yourself. Unlike subscribing to e-mail newsletters, there is no need to provide your email address, which means RSS is more private and secure and cannot be used as a spam channel.

Select an Eldis newsfeed for use in your newsreader from the list on this page.

Newsfeeds for website managers

Newsfeeds also allow website or intranet managers to provide additional, regularly updated content to their users by adding a feed to their site.

Many content management systems provide a functionality which converts (“parses”) the received feeds so they can appear as items on the website. If your content management system (CMS) does not offer this possibility, or you do not have a CMS, you can insert a script into the coding of your website. The script is generated by a parser. Some feed providers, such as Eldis, offer the conversion as part of their service. This means webmasters only have to cut and paste the generated script in order to update their website with feeds. If this is not offered by the feed provider you will have to parse the feed yourself by using a commercial software application.

The content which appears on your site is usually a list of items, with each item containing a title, summary, and a link to a web page. The appearance of the newsfeed can be adapted to the design of your own website.

Adding a newsfeed to your own website is a very efficient and easy way of providing your users with fresh content all the time.

Use the Eldis parsing service to add an Eldis newsfeed to your web pages...