Create RSS Feeds for sites that have none

Martin Brinkmann
Nov 10, 2007
Updated • May 1, 2014
Internet
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A reader was asking me how I managed to keep track of all those software releases and if I had a a special method that I would use. I do use several methods but one that is working very well and gives me an overview almost instantly is by making use of RSS Feeds. Not all sites offer RSS feeds though but there is a way to create custom RSS feeds for those websites as well.

I'm using a service called Feedity to create custom RSS feeds for websites that offer none.

Update: Before you continue to read note that Feedity is no longer free. It costs $6 per month for 20 feeds now which is quite a lot of money if you ask me. A free alternative is Yahoo Pipes.

I suppose the best way to explain how this service works is by providing an example. I have selected the latest software releases from Betanews as the example. While it does offer a feed, it is as good as an example as any.

Add the url on the Feedity website and click on the preview button. The Feed Builder opens up which you can use to create the feed.

At its core level, all you need to do is select the different titles of items so that the service can distinguish between them and notify you when new ones get posted on the website.

It is usually enough to click on the title and all other titles should be highlighted automatically as well by the application.

It can happen that this does not work automatically. You can then switch to the advanced refinement option provided by the application.

The advanced refined option requires that you look at the website's source code and find the tags that surround the title and summary tags and add them to the refinement settings.

A preview is available that highlights whether the tags have been correctly identified by the service or not. If not, you need to get back and refine them again until the preview shows up correctly.

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Comments

  1. Vivek said on November 20, 2007 at 5:53 pm
    Reply

    I’ve been using http://feed43.com/ for quite some time .. works best for me.

  2. Lucas23 said on November 11, 2007 at 11:27 pm
    Reply

    Feedity rocks!!! Just wat I was looking for… thnx!

  3. Iain Cheyne said on November 10, 2007 at 10:59 pm
    Reply

    Ponyfish is good too.
    http://www.ponyfish.com/

  4. Martin said on November 10, 2007 at 4:56 pm
    Reply

    Says “service unavailabe” right now. You might want to try http://www.feed43.com
    Martin

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