Displaying An RSS Feed On Your Website Using PHP And MagpieRSS

by: Mikel Beck

These days everybody wants to have fresh content on their web site. Search engines like to see dynamic web pages, where the content is updated on a regular basis. Static pages that have information that doesn't change are not only boring, but less likely to be visited by a search engine spider than a page that changes every time it is displayed.

By using RSS and the MagpieRSS toolkit, you can import data from another web site or news source and display that information on your own site.

First, download the MagpieRSS kit from http://magpierss.sourceforge.net.

Next, unpack the archive, into a directory off your root on your web site called "rss".

Then, create a directory off your root called "cache". CHMOD this directory to 777.

You'll need to know the URL for the feed that you want to display. You can find this by searching for "RSS feed" in Google, or by going to one of the many sites that allow you to search thrown various sources for feeds. Syndic8.com is one, for example.

To display data from a single source, you can use code similar to this:

require_once('rss/rss_fetch.inc');

$news_feed = '';

error_reporting(E_ERROR);

$rss = fetch_rss("http://www.url-of-the-rss-feed.com");
$items = array_slice($rss->items, 0);
foreach ($items as $item )
{
$news_feed .= '' . $item['title'] . '' . $item['summary'] . '';
}

echo $news_feed;

MagpieRSS not only decodes the data, but it will also cache the data so it will retrieve news articles only once per hour.

Utilizing RSS in this fashion will allow your web site to have fresh content displayed constantly, and will (hopefully!) keep the search engine spiders interested in your site. The more the spiders index your site, the more pages you will have listed in the search engines. And with more pages listed in the search engine indexes you have a much better chance of attracting people to your web site.

Copyright © 2005 by Mikel Beck.

At A Glance: ASP.net vs. PHP

by: Ian Wilson

In the world of web development, the choice of which development language to use commonly comes down to two popular choices. Web applications, specifically those relying on back end databases, are typically being created using either Microsoft's ASP.Net language, or the Open Source alternative language of PHP. Reasons why one might choose one over the other can include: The cost of development tools, or availability of such tools, or even ones comfort level with the Open Source initiative. The goal of this article is to provide some perspective on reasons why one might choose one over the other.

Active Server Pages or ASP has long been an option for creating dynamic web content. Active Server Pages facilitates the ability to use databases such as Access or SQL just to name a few, to create dynamic, feature rich websites. The work going on behind the scenes in serving up the dynamic content is being done at the server level by the Active Server Pages source code. Microsoft has spent a great deal of time and resources promoting their .Net family of programming languages of which ASP.Net is a member. In order to develop with ASP.Net one must obtain the extremely expensive Microsoft Visual Studio Programming Suite. While expensive, Visual Studio is an asset to any programmer due to its vast amount of features. As with all of Microsoft's products, support and updates are constantly made available for ASP.Net. The shear amount of features that Microsoft packs into Visual Studio, coupled with Microsoft's extensive support make certainly make ASP.Net an attractive solution for any corporation's web development needs, but the cost can be prohibitive, if not impossible to afford for the individual web developer.

PHP which is in its 5th revision now, is an Open Source web development language that also facilitates the creation of feature rich, dynamic websites that can use databases. Being Open Source means simply that PHP isn't owned by anyone. Just as with Active Server Pages, the work going on behind the scenes of serving up the dynamic web content is being done by PHP at the server level. As with most Open Source products, the resources available to a PHP developer are free of charge. This makes PHP extremely attractive to the independent web developer. There are some commercial quality development suites available from companies like Zend, but there is also wealth of free resources just a Google Search away. Because there is really no corporate entity behind PHP, support and development on PHP is done by the community of its users and developers themselves. Surprisingly this does not seem to adversely affect the ability to find support for PHP.

All in all, ASP.Net and PHP are both excellent options, offering basically the same functionality. Whether the decision comes down to the cost of initial investment, or the comfort level one has regarding Open Source, or something else entirely, the end result depends upon the mastery of whichever language is chosen.

PHP, SEO, And Spiders - Oh My!

by: Ian Wilson

Dynamic database-driven sites have become very popular, and relatively easy to set up and administer, through the use of Content Management Systems (CMS) and PHP server-side scripting. It's also possible to create a fancy-looking site with little actual content, or automatically generated code that can harm your SEO, such as multiple URLs that display identical content.

Search engines are constantly evolving and adapting in response to changes in the way information is presented on the web. Strategies that were once necessary to ensure inclusion of PHP pages are no longer required.

It was once helpful to generate a static HTML version of a PHP page so that all the "includes" could be indexed. Now search spiders "see" all the content on a PHP page, the same way it is viewed in a browser.

It used to be prudent to avoid dynamic URLs containing "? & =" - now, the search engines list URLs with the dynamic variables. However, it is best to compose them with no more than three variables. Some variable-laden URLs may be listed, but without any accompanying content/description, in the search results... Stay tuned for further developments as the search engines refine their methods.

With many hosts running the popular Apache server, developers are expanding the use of PHP by modifying the .htaccess file to allow PHP code processing within HTML documents, and enabling shorter URLs with fewer variables by configuring httpd.conf. Your web hosting provider's support team should be able to tell you if these features are available for your site.

Implementing a common-sense approach to SEO for your PHP site requires cooperation and coordination among the developer, webmaster, and web host. Beware of "SEO Experts" with "secret methods" and "guaranteed results" - gimmicks that kludge the search spider today might hurt your ranking tomorrow.

A descriptive and catchy page title is one of the key elements of SEO - whether or not your site uses PHP - since it becomes the linked title of your search engine listing. Use the name of your site in the title to encourage branding, along with a brief capsule about the specific page. Remember that the title displays at the top of the browser window and in the menu bar, so keep it brief, less than 160 characters. Avoid using identical titles on multiple pages (this can easily happen with dynamically generated titles) because they may not be listed individually, and if they are listed separately, it's confusing. Meta tags for description and keywords have become less crucial to SEO - but that doesn't mean you should forget about them.

The basic principles of SEO that apply to static HTML sites also apply to dynamic PHP sites:

● Provide engaging and valuable content presented in an attractive design.

● Code should be error-free and standards-compliant.

● Use keywords appropriate to your subject matter - don't be tempted to use "tricks" that might end up hurting your search engine listing.

● Encourage repeat visits with frequent updates, interactive features, membership sign-up, opt-in newsletters and, if appropriate, "freebies" - contests, giveaways, downloads and other resources.

● Encourage linking to your site with copy & paste code. Reciprocal links build partnerships and enhance page rank, but avoid hosting bulky "link farms" and other venues for worthless web site spam.

● Make use of tools provided by the search engines, such as creating a sitemap.

● Educate yourself by reading the search engine faqs, as well as by perusing some independent forums for SEO tips and methods.

Here are a few resources for further information:

Optimizing Dynamic Content

http://www.highrankings.com/issue065.htm#seo

Building Dynamic Pages With Search Engines in Mind

http://phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20000526.php3

High Rankings(r) Search Engine Optimization Forum > Technobabble > Dynamically Generated Site Issues

http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?s=c5e371a3bec60ac7e650447c430abfd4&showforum=25

Digital Point Forums > Marketing > Search Engine Optimization > PHP, HTML does it matter?

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=53280

Parsing PHP in .html Files

http://www.desilva.biz/php/phpinhtml.html