Blog . Jiboneus

I love RSS feed. When I found a site I find interesting and want to keep track with it’s contents I’ll put it in my feed reader. But surprisingly in this time of age, there are a lot of site that doesn’t syndicate their content. Ok so 90% of Internet users (I’m pulling the stats from thin air here, so don’t quote me) might not even heard about Web feed or RSS.

Feed43 is a service that converts any Web page to an RSS feed on the fly. I’ve to say that this service is not for everybody. If you are not familiar with HTML codes, or haven’t “view source� your entire life, then I’m afraid this service is not for you.

Looking at the illustration it looks easy enough, well it depends on how well the Webpage you are trying to convert to RSS is coded. Here is how the process goes :-

1. Input in the URL of the Webpage you want to convert.
2. Feed43 will pull the site, look at the HTML code, you then identify the patters. Click extract.
3. Define your output format. Give the feed a name and stuff. Make sure the item element are correct.
4. You now have a feed that your could subscribe to.

I know it’s really not an easy job, so kudos to the Feed43 team for trying to make the process as easy as possible.

Read about understanding search patterns and the step-by-step example from Feed43 for a more clear picture.

For my first try, I’ve manage to convert this page, The Star online last 7 days news to an RSS feed. Why The Star didn’t include RSS feed for their online version of their news is beyond me. Take a look ;-

Webpage : The Star Online News last 7 days
http://archives.thestar.com.my/last7days/

Web Feed : Convert using Feed43
http://feed43.com/the-star-last-7-days.xml

My second try however is not successful. I tried to convert Golden Screen Cinema show time page but was not successful. It’s not Feed43’s fault, I just can’t seem to get the pattern right. My eyes are going sideways looking at the HTML codes. May be someone could help me?

Anyway, if you are familiar with HTML, love RSS feed and there are some site that you wish they provide RSS feed, then give Feed43 a try.

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