Increased Number of RSS Feeds

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
If you don't use an RSS reader, disregard this post...

Several members have requested that I increase the number of posts that feed from this forum into your news reader.  In response, I have spoken with the SMF developers and tweaked the code to make this happen.  I have just increased the number of items that will be sent to you from 5 to 50.

Tell me if 50 is sufficient.

Thanks,
Matthew

[Dave Rudy]

Matthew,

Could you please describe how to subscribe to the rss feed for this forum?

Thanks

Dave

[clintholeman]

Matthew,

Could you please describe how to subscribe to the rss feed for this forum? 

Thanks

Dave

Matthew,

I'll have to second that.  I can't find anywhere where I can get an rss feed. Where are you hiding it??

TIA!

[Dan Lyke]

Atom feed: http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?type=atom;action=.xml

RSS feed: http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?type=rss;action=.xml

[Matthew Schenker]

Dan, thanks for helping.  I was just about to request that one of the people who wanted RSS feeds jump in and explain this.

The other option would be to download an RSS reader.

Matthew

[greg mann]

Hey! I like this. I think jumping on during the day to see what all you characters are doing just got easier.

Greg

[clintholeman]

Atom feed: http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?type=atom;action=.xml

RSS feed: http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?type=rss;action=.xml

Thanks!  Where does one find the rss url on this site?

[Dan Lyke]

Those are the Atom and RSS URLs. If you're using a web browser that supports Atom or RSS natively (just tested with Opera, Safari and Firefox), just click on one of them and you'll get options (Opera will show you a page of gobbledygook and ask you if you want to subscribe, if you answer "yes" you'll get a new folder in your Mail section, Safari and Firefox will both show you a message view and give you subscription options).

Don't know about Internet Explorer, I try to not run Windows, and when I do run Windows I try to not open up gaping security holes on my computer.

If you're using an aggregator or feed reader of some sort, just copy and paste one of those URLs into your feed reader URL box.

[Dave Rudy]

Dan,

I am using Safari but do not see the subscription, etc options you describe.  What am I doing wrong?

Dave

[Dan Lyke]

With Safari I think you click on the link, and then add it as a bookmark. It should then behave link the links under the "News" tab, where it'll keep track of new messages, and give you the ability to sort, search, and view in conjunction with other RSS feeds.

(I'm not normally a Safari user, but that's roughly what I just did, and it seems to work)

[Dan Lyke]

Yep! In Safari I added the link to my bookmarks under "News", marked everything under "News" as read, went and made a few posts here and waited a little bit, and sure enough, a little while later the "News" tab had a little "(6)" after it, four of which were from the Festool Owner's Group, and two of which were my most recent posts.

[clintholeman]

Those are the Atom and RSS URLs. If you're using a web browser that supports Atom or RSS natively (just tested with Opera, Safari and Firefox), just click on one of them and you'll get options (Opera will show you a page of gobbledygook and ask you if you want to subscribe, if you answer "yes" you'll get a new folder in your Mail section, Safari and Firefox will both show you a message view and give you subscription options).

Don't know about Internet Explorer, I try to not run Windows, and when I do run Windows I try to not open up gaping security holes on my computer.

If you're using an aggregator or feed reader of some sort, just copy and paste one of those URLs into your feed reader URL box.

I too only run Macs and I use Net News Wire as my aggregator.  Usually site have an rss link - I can't find one for this site.  I do notice now that NNW will subscribe to the site without the usual rss link, larn sompin' new ever day!

[Matthew Schenker]

Personally, I don't use RSS feeds very much.  But I did download a reader called Great News, and it seems to work pretty well.  It's a free program that does a nice job of organizing your feeds.  It lets you choose various formats for the messages.

You can find it here:
http://www.curiostudio.com/

I just put the URL for the forum in Great News.  Then you just add your sign-in information (your user name and password for the forum) and it pulls up the posts.

Has anyone else used Great News?

Also, can anyone comment on whether 50 feeds is enough?  Now that I know how to do it, I can go into the code and increase the number if I need to.

Matthew

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
I am going to move this discussion soon to the following location:
Tech Talk > Forum Software Q&A

I'll move it tomorrow morning, so people can still have a chance to view it here.

Thanks,
Matthew

[Matthew Schenker]

To Members Who Use RSS Feeds,
I'd really like to hear from you, to tell me if the increase in RSS feeds has benefited you.  Does it work?  Is it enough?

Although I have tested an RSS reader (Great News), I don't rely on RSS feeds myself.  Therefore, I need to hear from those who do use RSS readers in order to assess the system.

Thanks,
Matthew

[Dan Lyke]

Yes, Matthew, it rocks. Since there are rarely more than 50 new messages overnight (and if there are that thread is active anyway) I get all the new messages in one handy folder.

Thanks!

[clintholeman]

To Members Who Use RSS Feeds,
I'd really like to hear from you, to tell me if the increase in RSS feeds has benefited you.  Does it work?  Is it enough?

Although I have tested an RSS reader (Great News), I don't rely on RSS feeds myself.  Therefore, I need to hear from those who do use RSS readers in order to assess the system.

Thanks,
Matthew

Matthew-

I use my RSS reader [NetNewsWire] for the list and often only get to see it once or twice a day.  It would be handy if there were a higher number of posts available - says 75 - mor maybe even 100.  Usually there aren't that many, but when the forum gets rockin' and rollin' on something, or a couple of threads, it can easily add up to that many.

Thanks for your interest!  Not to mention the great job you have done and are doing with the FOG!

[Matthew Schenker]

Clint,
Thanks for responding.  This is the sort of thing I need to hear.

Different people need a different numbers of feeds.  The trick for me is to find a number that benefits the most people, without going too high.

The the Web-hosting package I secured for this forum has a generous bandwidth limit, so I could boost the number to 100.  I could then assess traffic to the group and see if it is feasible to keep the RSS feeds at that level.

Meanwhile, does anyone else have an opinion on this?

Matthew

[Dave Rudy]

Other than email addresses in red, what is the difference between the atom feed and the rss feed?  Is there any way to set the browser so that either updates automatically?

Thanks

Dave

[Matthew Schenker]

Dave,
I don't really use RSS readers much, except to test them for the forum, and I have no experience with Atom feeds.  I go on the forum itself to read the posts.

Can someone else jump in here to help Dave with his question regarding Atom and RSS feeds?

Thanks,
Matthew