Creating the RSS Feed

The first thing to do is download and install the ListGarden program. That is described elsewhere on the Listgarden website.

When you first bring up ListGarden, you need to fill out some setup information needed as part of the RSS feed and for the program to use when uploading it to your website. Once that information is entered and saved for future use the operation is very streamlined.

ListGarden starts by asking you to create a new feed:

You need to enter a short name to identify the RSS feed. ListGarden uses that to name a local data file that holds all its information about the feed. A name like "mainfeed" is fine. (The file is stored in the same directory as the ListGarden program unless you use the "-d" option to specify another prefix. You probably don't need to change this. If you do, instructions are provided along with the installation instructions.)

Click the "Create" button.

The next screen will ask you for "Channel Information" which is part of the RSS feed:

You should fill out all three fields.

The Title is usually the name of your website, perhaps modified by the specific nature of the feed. For example: "Amalgamated Acme Industries, Ltd.", or "Joe's Eats: Today's Specials".

The Link is to the main page relevant to the feed (such as the website home page or the "Today's Menu" page).

The Description may be the business tag line, or a description of what the feed covers. For example, "The leading widget source in the lower river valley, with service since 1903" or "A guide to the ever-changing pasta and casserole specialties at the town's popular artist hangout".

Click "Save" when done.

This will bring up the normal "home page" of the application. Normally when you start ListGarden this will be displayed first. It's where you choose the feed you wish to work with and start working. Here's what it looks like:

Next, we will enter the first item. A reasonable one to start with is an item announcing the addition of the RSS feed itself.

Click the "Add..." button to the right of the feed name. That will bring up the following screen:

Type in the contents of the first item. Note that with RSS the only required item field is either the Title or the Description. You do not have to provide them both if that would be confusing. Everything else is optional.

Note that, by default, ListGarden is set to automatically provide a PubDate that is set to the current time. Some RSS aggregators depend upon this time to help keep track of items.

Here is the form with the fields filled:

Click the "Add Item" button. That will save the item and bring up the Item page:

To fill out the Publish information, click the "Edit" button (in the image above):

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