WordPress.com

1. emcreg
   Member
   Jul 25, 2007, 2:14 PM

   Veteran web designer, 3 day old blog designer ;^) I think I read too many documents on the topic from too many services: 411podcaster, feedburner, wordpress, RSS validator, iTunes, etc.

   So I build this blog site and entered a new "episode" which is a PDF document.

   When I use Juice to navigate to it (http://mysite/wordpress.com/feeds) it shows no new episodes. Related to this question, what is the exact url I place on my blog site (or other site) to allow subscription to it. Is it the http://mysite/wordpress.com/feeds URL or one pointing toward an XML file of some sort?

   Thanks - for your patience!

2. abbydonkrafts
   Member
   Jul 25, 2007, 3:37 PM

   Do you have actual content in your blog entry? If it's a PDF document, an aggregator can't read it.

   The URL for the feed is http://yoursite.wordpress.com/feed . It, along with the comments feed, is visible in the "Meta" widget. However, you can also provide it manually like I've done in a Text widget.

3. timethief
   Member
   Jul 25, 2007, 4:11 PM

   Is this your blog? http://emcreg.wordpress.com/
   If so your feed is http://emcreg.wordpress.com/feed
   I see this single entry dated July 24th which has a pdf file at the end of it. http://emcreg.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/pulmonary-embolism-and-deep-venous-thrombosis-evaluation-and-treatment-in-the-emergency-department/
   Your post has not yet appeared on google. This takes 4-6 weeks. http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/05/07/why-isnt-my-blog-in-google/

4. emcreg
   Member
   Jul 25, 2007, 9:21 PM

   Thanks guys. So if our content is, for now, primarily PDF documents, I wont be able to "feed" those? Also need to know what code I place on our main website to have a user click on the RSS feed icon and be able to subscribe to http://emcreg.wordpress.com/feed and be notified on new PDFs.

5. raincoaster
   Member
   Jul 25, 2007, 9:27 PM

   I would strongly suggest using a format other than PDF. Using that would have the effect of using a "more" tag: ie people won't be able to read your blog through the feed reader but will have to go to the site itself and download the files one by one. I can't see people enjoying that process.

   If you convert it to a JPEG or something, the feed should display that just fine.

6. emcreg
   Member
   Jul 27, 2007, 2:44 AM

   So in general PDFs are not a good candidate for PDF feeds, correct? All the intro I read said media OR documents. Is it just a Word Press limitation of all avenues? Can an XML file force feed anything? Thanks everyone!

7. cornell
   Member
   Jul 27, 2007, 9:41 AM

   Emcreg

   You're over-thinking this bud. There's no such thing as a "PDF" feed. The RSS feed will only be able to send the plain text that you put in a post and pictures. This isn't a limitation set by WordPress, it's how the RSS works generally.

   All a feed reader (Thunderbird for example) is going to see (from your latest post is:

   Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a clinical entity which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). VTE is a common medical condition affecting up to 117 patients per 100,000 population annually.1 The diagnosis of VTE is often difficult and frequently missed. Mortality in untreated PE is approximately 30%, but with adequate anticoagulant treatment, this can be reduced to 2–8%.2 The purpose of this Newsletter is to focus on the diagnosis and treatment of VTE, including PE and DVT in the emergency department (ED). In this EMCREG-International Newsletter, Dr. Charles Cairns, Associate Professor of Surgery and Medicine and Associate Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine discusses the important disease process venous thromboembolism (VTE) which includes deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism from the perspective of emergency medicine.

   And then the link to get the PDF. If that's what you want then fantastic. What this will not do is automatically pass the PDF file to the person reading the feed.

   If it's just text and images then I would suggest that you provide the content directly in the post. By all means provide the PDF as well for archiving purposes by the end reader.

   And no, the XML file can't "force" feed anything. Only what it is designed to push (see above).

   I hope this helps!

8. raincoaster
   Member
   Jul 27, 2007, 9:42 AM

   XML is designed to be reader-controlled, not poster-controlled. Beyond that I cannot help you except to suggest you put your text out on the blog and images as Jpegs. In general PDFs are a good outlet for people who are more concerned with controlling their output than in diseminating information. And I say that as one personally acquainted with the originators of XML.

9. emcreg
   Member
   Jul 27, 2007, 2:38 PM

   Cornell>>>You're over-thinking this bud.

   How many times have I been told that ! ;^)

   >>>>And then the link to get the PDF. If that's what you want then fantastic.

   Thats totally acceptable. My problem has eben that I cant get the aggregator to recognize anything on the feed/blog as new. Always comes back reporting notrhing found. A title (new text / new item) and a link would be fine.

10. cornell
    Member
    Jul 27, 2007, 2:53 PM

    What are you using to examine your feed?

    Give me a few minutes and I will switch to the big PC instead of the laptop and try picking up your feed to see what I get. :)

11. emcreg
    Member
    Jul 27, 2007, 5:55 PM

    I tried Juice first. Ahhh yes, the big PC!

12. cornell
    Member
    Jul 27, 2007, 6:11 PM

    Well, I added your feed http://emcreg.wordpress.com/feed to Google Reader and it worked a treat. :)

    Also worked ok with Thunderbird. I've never heard of Juice so can't comment on it.

    You might just want to explain in your posts that people will need to download the PDF to read the content.

13. emcreg
    Member
    Aug 9, 2007, 6:11 PM

    OK, Im slowly getting this.

    My feed is: http://emcreg.wordpress.com/feed

    To add the nice orange RSS feed icon to our webpage inviting people to subscribe to our feed I would just need a simple img tag surrounded by a link tag point to my feed, correct:

    < a href="http://emcreg.wordpress.com/feed"> <img src="CuteLittleRSSfeedIcon.gif> </ a>

    Clicking that would subscribe them to our feed and do so regardless of the aggregator they use (for the most part)?

    And finally, is there any way to feed users to the cosmetically much nicer version of our feed on WordPress: http://emcreg.wordpress.com

    http://emcreg.wordpress.com/

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