Comments on: Don't get a feed, get a blog http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/ Adventures in government, politics and open source. Mostly WordPress-related. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:55:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Yang-May Ooi http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-934 Yang-May Ooi Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:38:25 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-934 Well said. It does seem astonishing to me that some major business websites have so-called "blogs" but they are built on HTML pages. Of course there is no ability at all to leave comments on them either. The joy of RSS is that your readers can choose to receive your updates via RSS reader or by email. There are also options to have your text read out loud eg via the Feedblitz email delivery option or putting the feed through Talkr.com Well said. It does seem astonishing to me that some major business websites have so-called "blogs" but they are built on HTML pages. Of course there is no ability at all to leave comments on them either.

The joy of RSS is that your readers can choose to receive your updates via RSS reader or by email. There are also options to have your text read out loud eg via the Feedblitz email delivery option or putting the feed through Talkr.com

]]> By: Caspar Aremi http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-933 Caspar Aremi Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:26:21 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-933 I have heard rumours that 'tagging' is to be a big feature in a future release!... I have heard rumours that 'tagging' is to be a big feature in a future release!...

]]> By: Simon http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-932 Simon Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:42:20 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-932 Good stuff Caspar, although it's more of a production focus than a patient focus. Wouldn't it be fantastic if, for example, asthma sufferers could get a feed of anything new related to asthma, regardless of which section it gets published in? Just a thought... :) Good stuff Caspar, although it's more of a production focus than a patient focus. Wouldn't it be fantastic if, for example, asthma sufferers could get a feed of anything new related to asthma, regardless of which section it gets published in? Just a thought... :)

]]> By: Caspar Aremi http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-931 Caspar Aremi Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:03:49 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-931 Choices offers dozens of feeds, but there's not a central listing as it has so many different types of content. There is a feed for all new Live Well articles, all new Behind the Headline articles, all new blog posts (and for each individual blog too) and for every hospital profile which people can comment on ensuring anyone interested knows exactly what people are commenting on. There are feeds for the latest videos and tools too. That's pretty much the whole site covered. The only areas I can think of which don't are Medical Advice Now which is the NHS Direct area and Health A-Z which is the health encyclopaedia section. Choices offers dozens of feeds, but there's not a central listing as it has so many different types of content. There is a feed for all new Live Well articles, all new Behind the Headline articles, all new blog posts (and for each individual blog too) and for every hospital profile which people can comment on ensuring anyone interested knows exactly what people are commenting on. There are feeds for the latest videos and tools too. That's pretty much the whole site covered. The only areas I can think of which don't are Medical Advice Now which is the NHS Direct area and Health A-Z which is the health encyclopaedia section.

]]> By: (UK) local government, Web2.0 and social networking « Spartakan http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-930 (UK) local government, Web2.0 and social networking « Spartakan Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:21:17 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-930 [...] subject must be in the air - Simon Dixon just blogged about it this morning too, pointing out that having a simple feed is just the start of it. Naturally, [...] [...] subject must be in the air - Simon Dixon just blogged about it this morning too, pointing out that having a simple feed is just the start of it. Naturally, [...]

]]> By: (UK) local government, Web2.0 and social networking « Spartakan http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-929 (UK) local government, Web2.0 and social networking « Spartakan Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:13:08 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-929 [...] subject must be in the air - Simon Dixon just blogged about it this morning too, pointing out that having a simple feed is just the start of [...] [...] subject must be in the air - Simon Dixon just blogged about it this morning too, pointing out that having a simple feed is just the start of [...]

]]> By: Neil Franklin http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-928 Neil Franklin Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:50:33 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-928 There is no excuse. I managed to hack one into a 10 year old cms in my last job... Why? I thought it was important to be upfront and use the latest tools. I think the confusion is in where to carry rss, and what value it gives. But sometimes applying new, easy, technologies are a no-brainer. It's like putting indicators on a car rather than flapping your hand out of the window... can't imagine Ford agonised over whether to do it or not. There is no excuse. I managed to hack one into a 10 year old cms in my last job... Why? I thought it was important to be upfront and use the latest tools. I think the confusion is in where to carry rss, and what value it gives. But sometimes applying new, easy, technologies are a no-brainer. It's like putting indicators on a car rather than flapping your hand out of the window... can't imagine Ford agonised over whether to do it or not.

]]> By: Mark Pack http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-927 Mark Pack Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:08:39 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-927 I was surprised when I did a recent survey of 20 council websites just how few had RSS feeds on offer. It was only 40% ( see http://www.libdemvoice.org/two-things-to-check-on-your-local-council-website-13555.html ). I think there's plenty of scope to improve that number, and lots of benefits that would flow (such as making it easy for local groups with their own sites to republish relevant content). I was surprised when I did a recent survey of 20 council websites just how few had RSS feeds on offer. It was only 40% ( see http://www.libdemvoice.org/two-things-to-check-on-your-local-council-website-13555.html ). I think there's plenty of scope to improve that number, and lots of benefits that would flow (such as making it easy for local groups with their own sites to republish relevant content).

]]> By: Steph Gray http://puffbox.com/2009/04/20/mash-the-state-rss-campaign/comment-page-1/#comment-926 Steph Gray Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:25:29 +0000 http://puffbox.com/?p=870#comment-926 Quite right. There simply isn't an excuse for missing RSS feeds from major government sites, even though suppliers still don't seem entirely clear on how or why to add it to client sites*. One small triumph from my agency days was getting RSS into <a href="http://www.cskills.org/newsandevents/news/index.aspx" rel="nofollow">a client's site</a>, and making it autodiscoverable, which is also important. It wasn't in the spec, it hadn't been paid for, the client hadn't asked for it, the junior developer working on the enterprise CMS had to learn how to build an RSS feed... but dammit, you can't have a useful news page without it. Wordpress makes it easy, but it's not rocket science whatever tool you're using. <em>*Don't look too hard at my current organisation's RSS feeds. They're being fixed ;)</em> Quite right. There simply isn't an excuse for missing RSS feeds from major government sites, even though suppliers still don't seem entirely clear on how or why to add it to client sites*. One small triumph from my agency days was getting RSS into a client's site, and making it autodiscoverable, which is also important. It wasn't in the spec, it hadn't been paid for, the client hadn't asked for it, the junior developer working on the enterprise CMS had to learn how to build an RSS feed... but dammit, you can't have a useful news page without it. WordPress makes it easy, but it's not rocket science whatever tool you're using.

*Don't look too hard at my current organisation's RSS feeds. They're being fixed ;)

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