Welcome to our New Feeds to Code Converter. We have been working on it for a while trying to implement every feature you've suggested. So hopefully it will serve you well satisfying all your needs and demands.
In this User Guide we will come across all features of the Converter so you could operate it almost on autopilot. Telling the truth the tool is rather easy to operate and can be used intuitively. Anyway let’s take a tour to see what it’s capable of.
Furthermore, every feed item consists of a number of elements. Depending on a feed provider number of elements can differ. We provide you with possibility to work with such elements as: item date, item title, item description, item link (see the picture). Again you will be able to edit each element one after another and even choose the sequence in the item (meaning you will choose the order of elements within each item: title, date, description or link).
Pic.1- RSS feed elements
Ok, let’s see how this works inside the tool.
This is the interface of the Feeds to Code Converter:
Pic.2- Feeds to Code Converter interface
Here we have a text area to enter your RSS feeds and special sections to play with your feeds' channels and items. You will also have an option to give your code snippet a custom name so it could be easily found in ‘My Saves’. After that you can choose an output code format, as usual: PHP, HTML and JavaScript. Then you will have an option of sending the copy of your code snippet to your email. And at last two regular buttons: Preview and Generate Code.
Enter Feed URL(s).
In thist text area you insert RSS feeds that you want to work with. You can simply copy and paste them from their location (for example from ‘My Saves’). Or you can transfer them from any RSS feed Generator by simply pressing ‘Add to Converter’ button. This is also a new feature we have implemented. Now you do not need to copy and paste generated feeds every time you need to convert them into a code snippet. Simply press ‘Add to Converter’ button and all your feeds will appear in the converter window.
Pic.3- Add feeds to Converter
Note: you can use ‘Preview’ option of the Converter (at the bottom) to see the feeds content and it's formatting.
General Settings.
This is the first step of your content tune up. Here you can edit the outlook of the future content block. Press 'Advanced settings' to see more.
Pic.4- General settings
Number of items to show – here you can set how many items you want to display in your content block. Set as many as you want. The tool will try to take items from every feed from the group. For example you have 5 feeds and want to show 8 items. The program will take one items from each feed and the rest 3 items randomly from this group of feeds. Note: don’t set a high number of items to show. Set reasonable number in order to make your content block informative but not annoying. (In our example we will take 3 items for better obviousness).
Width/Height - this feature will let you set the dimensions of your content block. This is very helpful if you have a special spot on your webpage for the content block. And here you can make it the best fit. It is set in pixels. If you are not sure what size you need, try using ‘Preview’. It will show the exact size of your content block.
For automatic sizing leave these fields empty.
Border - here you can choose if your content block will be bordered or not.
Shuffle – this is a powerful feature which will show RSS items from the feed in random order with every refresh of the webpage. This will make your content block dynamically changing and your webpage ever updated.
No follow / Cloak links - this is one of the SEO options you can apply to your content block. This will convert all the links in the content into JavaScript. it will prevent from Page Rank leakage which is rather important as well. Also using this option will cloak your links, meaning you can protect your affiliate links from somebody stripping them. So if you think this is a useful feature – check-mark it. If not – skip it.
Font family, Font size, Font color and Background color – these are “look & feel” features. This option will help to make your content block match the design of your webpages.
Now we can press ‘Preview’ to see what we have as a result.
Note: It probably doesn't look like a piece of art but we used all these settings so you could see how it can be done. The only limit here is your imagination so use it on a full scale to make your content more attractive.
Pic.5- Preview general settings
Channel title.
Pic.6- Channel title
By using Show/Don’t show option we can choose if we want to show channel information in our content or not. Here we can also set the Font color for channel title. Another option will set the Background color for the channel or will use your custom image for the background. To set background image you need to provide a full url to it starting with "http://". Let’s see how this works.
Pic.7- Channel preview
Now let’s see what we can do with elements within each item of the feed. You can operate 4 main elements of the feed’s item: Title, Date, Description and Link. First of all you can turn each element ON or OFF. Just use Show/Don’t show option. Then you can change the order of these elements within each item. Simply drag and drop the blocks of the item element one over another and set the order you want them to be in the item.
Pic.8- Elements of the feed's item
Let’s set the following order: Date, Title, Description and Link.
Pic.9- Preview elements
Time to see how you can setup each element.
Pic.10- Description set up.
As it was said before you can easily turn on and off each element using Show/Don’t show option.Also each element has HTML before/after option. Here you can use any HTML tag to set precise "look & feel" of the element.
Description length: this option will let you control the length of the description. For example you can set to show the entire description: Description length = All or a limited number of symbols: Description length = Random number of symbols. If you set Random number as 80-80, you will have exactly 80 symbols in the description, and if you set it to 80-100 you will have a random number of symbols in each description from 80 to 100. Note: the program will not cut up words in the middle. It will also insert (…) at the end if the description was cut. Also you should know that when you shorten a description which contains images it’s more likely that some images may disappear from description. So be careful using this option and test, test, test (use 'Preview' button often).
Pic.11- Description preview.
Other elements. As it was said 4 main item elements will be available for your customization: Title, Description, Date and Link. But sometimes rss feed contains other elements such as <author> <enclosure> <category> <comments> and so on. So we give you an opportunity to make them visible along with the item's description. Checkmark this option and you will add these secondary item's elements into description. If you think that 4 main elements are enough just don’t use this option.
Title
Pic.12- Title set up
Again, using HTML before/after you can edit your item titles outlook. Let’s make our title's color "red" just for this example:
Pic.13- Title preview.
Link
Pic.14- Link set up
Besides the options we have discussed above, 'Item link' table has a special option called 'Substitute link text with phrase'. Here you can set anchor text for item link. If you do not need links in your items just use Don’t show option or leave this option empty.
Date
Pic.15- Date set up
Element 'ITEM Date' has HTML before/after option only. You can choose to show this element and customize its "look&feel" with some HTML before and after or simply hide it.
Let’s do a little tune up of our content block and see how this might look like:
Pic.16- Date preview
Now when we are done with editing of your content block we need to generate a code. But first you need to name your code snippet. It can be a default name or a custom one. This option will help you easily locate your code snippet in ‘My Saves’ –‘My code snippets’. To find your code snippet you will need to go to ‘Search my saves’ and type in your code snippet name. Also, code snippet name will be in the code itself so you would be able to easily locate it in your webpage's source code.
Next, you need to choose a code output format: HTML, JavaScript or PHP. HTML code will be generated in the form of iFrame. For better SEO effect we recommend using PHP code format.
Also you will have an option of sending a copy of your code snippet to your email. You can set this option in 'Account' tab or set it before generating a code snippet.
Pic.17- Code snippet name
Once you choose your format press ‘Generate code’.
Pic.18- Generating a code snippet
Now you need to copy and paste this code snippet onto your webpage or blog.
When you locate your code snippets in 'My Saves'-'My code snippets' you will see a new option - 'Edit'.
Pic.19- Edit code snippet
The same option you can find in “My Saves”-“My RSS feeds”. Check-mark the needed group of RSS feeds and press “Convert selected into code”.
When you click 'Edit' above your code snippet you will be redirected to "Feeds to Code Converter" where you will be able to edit your code snippet, preview it and resave it.
Change whatever you need and press "Generate code" button. If you keep the same code snippet name, your existing code snippet will be overwritten. All the changes will be automatically updated on all of your websites and blogs where you have inserted this code snippet.
If you change your code snippet name it will be saved under new name keeping your old code snippet intact.
Here is another tip on how you can use 'Edit' option. Create a code snippet with the settings you use most of the times and keep it in your 'My saves'. Every time you create another content block just edit this code snippet inserting new RSS feed and changing snippet name.
This is it.
