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AdamTTnJ · Joined: 27 Oct 2013 Posts: 14

Hello. I am currently looking for assistance in setting up an RSS feed for my webcomic (link in sig) so that updates to my comic will show up in people's feed, as opposed to just my blog posts showing up. Hopefully it won't be a problem that I don't use ComicPress for my site. Any help would be fully appreciated. Thank you.
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SunScales · Joined: 03 Feb 2013 Posts: 323

I'll start by saying I don't know what your level of expertise is with any sort of coding, so I hope I don't either undermind you or scare you away, haha.

It isn't a problem that you aren't using ComicPress, it's just a bit more tedious. I manually do my RSS feed, and the biggest problem I have with it is forgetting to change the appropriate dates (which causes it to not actually alert anyone subscribed).

RSS is made with XML, which is a very simple language that no one bothers memorizing. If you don't mind spending money, you can buy software that'll set up a feed and all you really have to do is tell it the URL and a few other details. Since I'm broke and cheap, I do it manually.

First of all, read this. That'll give you the gist of it.

Things to note:

The XML file doesn't like HTML, unless you warn it first. Do this by typing <![CDATA[, then whatever HTML you want, then close with ]]>. I have an example of how I use this below (in my item's description - I wouldn't recommend doing this anywhere else), but it isn't something you HAVE to use if you don't want to or it seems weird.
Your RSS file will inherit your favicon if you have it saved at the root of your website as favicon.ico. There are a few different methods to display a favicon on websites, but this is the only one your RSS feed will find.
Remember to change the lastBuildDate at the top, otherwise reader's feeds won't be notified of new pages.

Here's a snipit of mine as an example:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<channel>
   <title>Blitz Phoenix</title>
   <link>http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/</link>
   <description>A webcomic about a boy who's given super powers by his mad scientist mother. Updates Mondays and Wednesdays.</description>
   <lastBuildDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:05:00 -0600</lastBuildDate>
   <language>en-us</language>
   <webMaster>emily@arccuit.com (Emily Brackhan)</webMaster>
   <copyright>Copyright 2013, Emily Brackhan</copyright>
   <atom:link href="http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />

   <item>
   <title>Chapter 4, Page 23</title>
   <description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/archives/0423.php"><img src="http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/images/thumbs/0423.jpg"></a></p>]]></description>
   <link>http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/archives/0423.php</link>
   <pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:05:00 -0600</pubDate>
   <guid>http://www.arccuit.com/blinix/archives/0423.php</guid>
   </item>

</channel>
</rss>

And how it looks in RSSOwl (with some notes, so you can maybe see what ends up going where):

Once you have it put together, just put a link to it on your site. I'd also say you should probably subscribe to it yourself and make sure it works. If you want to get fancy, put this in your page's <head> tag:

Code:

Hope that helps.
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AdamTTnJ · Joined: 27 Oct 2013 Posts: 14

Hi, just wanted to keep you updated. Decided to do it manually because I am also broke and cheap. It was touch and go for a while, but I managed to get it working. You were a major help, MindChimera and I thank you very much!
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fluffy · Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 12:28 am Post subject:

How are you managing your comic in the first place? If you're doing a hand-coded site then you can use something like RSSPect to more easily set up a feed, but if you're using a content management system of any sort there's probably a way of having it generate an RSS feed along with your index HTML or whatever.
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