1. Creating and Managing RSS Feeds Kate Pitcher SUNY Geneseo © 2005 pitcher@geneseo.edu

2. Log into www.blogger.comwww.blogger.com

3. When you get into the Dashboard, click on “Change Settings” for the blog you want to change…

4. Under the Settings tab, click on the link to “Site Feed”…

5. Choose “Yes” to publish feed Choose “Short” for description content (this way, users must go back to your blog to read the full content of your posts) The Site Feed URL is the RSS (or Atom) feed which users will subscribe to and read in their newsreaders (example: Bloglines)

6. If you click on the Site Feed URL, a browser window will open with the Atom formatted XML site feed Click here to get this

7. Click on the orange “Save Settings” button at the bottom of the screen and “Republish” to see the changes

8. You will want to create an RSS feed button to put on the main page of your blog for your users to click and get the RSS XML file. FeedForAll has a free RSS Graphic Tool where you can create your own button. The url is http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htmhttp://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm Example of RSS Feed button Create your own button with colors and text

9. Click on “Build Button” and your RSS Feed button will appear at the top of the page. Right click on the button and SAVE AS to the folder where you store your images for the web. Click on Build Button to create your customized RSS Feed graphic Right click and SAVE AS to your Images folder

10. In the above example, I am linking to the RSS Feed graphic I created and stored in an Images folder on my library’s web server. Blogger will then link to the graphic and it will appear on the main page of my blog. 1. Click on the Templates tab in Blogger 2.Select the place within the HTML code in the template where you want to insert the RSS Feed graphic (where do you want it to appear on the main page of the blog?) 3.Follow the below example, substituting with the links from YOUR site URL feed and the graphic’s location in your Images folder Site Feed URL created by BloggerThe source of your RSS Feed graphic (i.e. its permanent location on your computer server

11. Preview and then click on the orange “Save Template Changes”

12. Republish your blog to see the changes you created…

13. In this example, the RSS Feed was placed underneath the author’s profile. Users will click on the RSS Feed graphic and then copy and paste the URL into their RSS newsreader to subscribe to the blog’s feed.

14. When a user clicks on the RSS Feed Graphic, an Atom (or RSS in many cases) formatted XML file is created, which users can subscribe to in Bloglines

15. In Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com), log in to your account, or Register if you are a new userhttp://www.bloglines.com

17. In the left sidebar will be three tabs: My Feeds, My Blog, Clippings Click on My Feeds to open up the window with the Feeds you have subscribed to. In the above example, I have clicked on the RSS Feed for the Guardian Unlimited Newspaper and in the main window on the right, you can see all the recent postings, with the most recent at the top. In order to read the full post, I must click on the title of the post to go to the Guardian Unlimited blog.

18. To subscribe to an RSS Feed, I must have the URL of the XML file which is created by the blog or web site owner. In the above example, I am subscribing to the site feed created for my blog, The Book Burden. This is where users will copy and paste the site feed URL you create in Blogger – if they want to subscribe to your feed.

19. After clicking “Subscribe” you will now receive the most recent postings from this particular blog.

20. After subscribing to the blog, the RSS Feed title will show up in the My Feeds folder on the left sidebar. Click on the title to get the most recent postings from this blog.

21. Appearing in the main window will be the most recent postings from this blog. Click on the title to go to the real post in the blog.

22. Any Questions? Email Kate Pitcher pitcher@geneseo.edu