RSS: Php Scripts

Those who run web servers, or those who have input to their hosting company, will find these php scripts helpful in producing RSS feeds on a web site. Don’t dismiss these tools only because you already have an RSS-producing mechanism. Remember: A mechanic has more than one tool in his toolbox.

• RSS2html. (FREE) Using php, this script takes an RSS feed and turns it into an HTML page. You can then display that page on your site using a link. You can either run it online, using a public web server, or by puting the php script on your own Web server and running it from there. All you need is the script and a template to call in the RSS information you want to include in your html page. You have total control … you can include or exclude material from the RSS feed to display on the page. This free script is from NotePage, producers of the FeedForAll line of RSS products. If your webserver doesn’t support allowing you to upload the rss2html PHP script, then you can run the rss2html.php script on FeedForAll’s public server instead. All you need to do is setup a link on your website to access the resulting webpage. [Read more here]…. [Download it here].

Here’s an example of a template you could use to produce the html:

~~~BeginItemsRecord~~~ ~~~EndItemsRecord~~~

Pretty simple, isn’t it?

Updated on April 4, 2014:

Some web server companies have created security rules that prevent this rss2html script from being allowed to run. They generically cite “security concerns,” although the developers of this php script deny that it is a security hazard. Go figure.

You can try to use this script on your hoster’s server for your site, but if it stops working, or doesn’t run at all, likely your server people’s “security rules” prevented it from running. So, be prepared to talk to your server people about it. In defense of server people, it should be noted that when this article was first written, there weren’t armies of hackers running rampant on the Internet, some bankrolled by countries and others by organizations, trying to bring servers down or to cripple them.

But the answer to server people’s problems with server security marauders should not be a reason to establish knee-jerk, reactionary policies that opt for paranoia over reason and research. Indeed, those who have had to deal with the many levels of tech support at server companies soon find that common sense is not as widespread as it should be.

You can, of course, run rss2html on your own server should you wish, and use the script to produce an html page of multiple feeds and apply your own CSS styles. Yes, the script still works. If you find any security concern, bring it up to the developers of the script at FeedForAll.com in their forums section.

If you’d rather not use rss2html, then you can consider using a javascript program to display feeds on your site, which we’ll discuss in another article.

(Next: SimplePie)