The RSS zone makes it easy to add an RSS feed to your messages and templates.
Watch the video
Watch a short video that highlights the redesigned Zones iconography and the new, pre-configured Layouts options.
Valid URLs in RSS feeds
In order to ensure that your RSS feeds work as expected, you should use a URL for a published web page; that will enable our system to continuously "listen" and access it as necessary. Higher Logic offers the following guidance on feed URLs with the following extensions.
Recommended / OK to use
- *.XML, *.RSS, and *.PHP
Possible conflicts / avoid
- *.ATOM and *.JSON
Known issue / do not use
Do not use RSS feeds that have the .CFM extension (i.e., ColdFusion Markup Language files); they will not load in Message Editor.
Check your feed's validity
You should check the validity of every feed before adding it to the zone in Message Editor.
Higher Logic recommends the following free service from World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):
- Feed Validation Service (Atom and RSS feeds) - https://validator.w3.org/feed/
Add the zone to a message/template
TIP: As you work, click the gear icon in the upper right and click Save Changes. Use the undo and redo buttons to manage your changes.
BEST PRACTICE: Before adding an RSS feed to your message, you should take a few minutes to review the content and formatting options that are described in this article because you cannot change the content or formatting of the RSS zone after it's been added to the message.
For example, if you choose to include the article's publication date and then decide you don't want it, you cannot edit the zone to remove that option. You must delete the zone and repeat the steps to insert and configure a new zone with your preferred content and formatting (in this case, not including the article's publication date).
To add and configure the zone:
- Click-and-drag the RSS zone to where you want it in the message and "drop" it into place.
The configuration dialog automatically displays.
- In the field, specify the full URL of the RSS feed that you want to include and click Load Feed to expand the dialog and configure the settings.
- In the upper part, check the boxes of the stories that you want to load into the feed.
- If the URL has a lot of stories, click More... and they will display in the list.
- Below, in the Include section, choose which components of the feed to display. These settings are described in the table below the image.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Article title | Check this to include the article's title as plain text in your message/template. Check Link title to article to make the title a hyperlink directly to the article. TIP: This setting serves the same purpose as the Read more... button, but lets you link to the article without the need for a button (an "aesthetics" and space-saving consideration). |
| Article excerpt | Check this to include an excerpt of the article in your message/template. Then choose Text (the default; the excerpt is plain text) or HTML (the excerpt displays exactly as formatted [bold, colors, line breaks] in the article). TIP: If the Excerpt source option displays, you can include an excerpt of the source text. Choose: |
| Article publication date | Check this to include the date and time that the article was published. The date and time (formatted as 7/14/2023 10:45am) display below the title (if Article title box is checked) and above the excerpt (if Article excerpt box is checked). |
| Link to "Read more..." | Check this to include a standard (underlined-blue) text link to the article. Check Use a button to make this link a button instead of text and then, optionally, use the dropdowns to format the button's text and background colors. If you don't see the color that you want, click Edit your theme to open the Manage Themes selector on the left. |
- Click Insert.
- Click the Menu tab of the Navigation bar and then click Preview to review how the zone looks, populated with feed content, in the editor.
IMPORTANT: You cannot change the content or formatting of the RSS zone. You must delete it and repeat the steps to insert and configure a new zone with your preferred content and formatting.
Manage the zone
You can click the zone to access the management options.
TIP: As you work, click the gear icon in the upper right and click Save Changes. Use the undo and redo buttons to manage your changes.
- Click Drag and then drag the icon (no need to click-&-hold) to wherever you want to place the zone, and click to release it.
- Click Edit to open the text editor tool bar and use the options to format the feed's text.
- Click Copy to automatically replicate the zone immediately below itself.
- Each copy is an independent zone with these same management options which act uniquely on it.
- Click Delete to remove the zone.
- This action is immediate; there's no confirmation prompt or cancel option.
TIP: Click the undo icon to reverse a deletion.
- This action is immediate; there's no confirmation prompt or cancel option.
Other zone editing options
In addition to formatting the text in the zone (via the Edit option discussed in the previous section), you can use the options on the Design tab of the Navigation bar to customize the zone.
- Click on the zone to open the Design tab on the left to set:
- Background Colors,
- Zone Styles, and
- the Default Font Style.
TIP: As you work, periodically click the Menu tab of the Navigation bar and then click Preview to make sure that the font, font size, and colors work together to present a visually appealing message.
| Zones | Descriptions |
|---|---|
In this section you can:
The zones on the canvas update in real time so that you can immediately see the effects of your changes. NOTE: The background color is unique to this zone because a zone is selected (the option is Section Background Color). When a zone is not selected, the option is Body Background Color and applies to the message background. |
|
In this section you can:
The in-progress zone on the canvas updates in real time so that you can immediately see the effects of your changes. NOTE: These settings are unique to this zone, unless you click Select Parent which then highlights (selects) the parent container and applies your changes to it, which affects all of the zones it contains. |
|
In this section you can:
that is applied to Message Editor zones. Click Set to see the effect of your changes in real time. NOTE: These settings are global; they are not unique to this zone. If you change the font and/or font size, the text in other zones might also change. |
Related articles
- To learn about the features and functions that you can use while working in Message Editor, see Message Editor Overview.
- Message Editor Zones and Layouts offers a high-level look at the various "purpose-built" Zones and links to the dedicated articles that provide instructions for configuring and customizing the Zones.
- To learn about Message Editor Layouts, which have pre-configured designs for quicker message- and template-building, see Message Editor Layouts.