How to install Fast Feed

With Fast Feed you can easily manage news entries for an RSS feed - outputs a compliant RSS v2.0 xml file and custom HTML content files that can be used to populate many jQuery plugins and 3rd party news ticker scripts. One-click archiving to secondary "old news" feed is included.

Can be used with Dynamic Drive's Pausing RSS Scroller and supports multiple users to allow easy syndication administration.

• Learn more about the features of Fast Feed
• See the Fast Feed changelog for fixes and updates

Who's it for?

• Webmasters with basic-to-intermediate HTML/PHP experience
• Webmasters who do not wish to use, or do not have access to, a database
• Webmasters/users who need/want to edit and manage an auto-generated RSS feed via a point-and-click, web-based interface
• Webmasters/users who need/want to edit HTML content that populates a 3rd party news scroller/ticker plugin
• Webmasters/users who need/want to update their website, and push those updates to Twitter or Facebook, from one location

Installing the Fast Feed back-end

1. First you need to download the Fast Feed zip package, so give the download box at the top of the page a click and save it somewhere on your computer. The desktop is a convenient place. Downloads are available when you view the full version of this website on a desktop computer.
    
2. After you've unzipped the Fast Feed package, browse to the "fast_feed/fast_feed_config.php" file and enter your settings.
    
3. Using an FTP client (FileZilla is a good one and it's FREE), upload the entire Fast Feed package to the root folder of your website. Please ensure that it does go in the root otherwise some scripts will not work.
    
4. CHMOD the "fast_feed/_entry/" and "fast_feed/_status/" folders to 755 (Try 777 if 755 doesn't work).
    
5. That's it! Now login at "http://www.mywebsite.com/fast_feed_v1_0/" to manage your news!

Installing and styling the Fast Feed front-end

Fast Feed's front-facing content can be integrated into a website in a number of ways, using many 3rd party news ticker and news scroller scripts; just search Google to find one you like, install it as directed, then skip forward to "Customising the Fast Feed HTML output" to find out how to populate it with Fast Feed generated content.

Now, back to the pre-made samples provided in the download pack...

Look in the "examples/" folder and you'll see four samples using Dynamic Drive's Pausing RSS Scroller; two are powered by the auto-generated RSS xml files, "newsfeed.xml" and "newsfeed_old.xml", and the other two are powered by the experimental - as in, not officially supported by the script, but they still work - PHP files, "newsfeed.php" and "newsfeed_old.php". Feel free to use these if you want to.

Further configuration is required in the "rsspausescroller.js" and "lastrss/scrollerbridge.php" files (just changing some paths), but for more detailed information, please head over to Dynamic Drive where you can read more about setting up their Pausing RSS Scroller.

Alternatively, just customise the example web pages from the "examples/" folder, and embed them into your own web page using an iframe.

Don't forget that you can dress-up the front-facing content however you like, just by using standard CSS. You are only really limited by your own imagination.

Customising the Fast Feed HTML output

You can use Fast Feed to automatically populate 3rd party news ticker/scroller scripts using the "examples/sample_list_format.php" file.

I have provided an unordered list sample (you know, those <ul> and <li> tags) because this is the format most commonly adopted by 3rd party news ticker/scroller scripts found online. In fact, the online front-end demo shows two examples using jQuery plugins; jCarousel (demo 2) and Totem (demo 3), which both use an unordered list format.

Feel free to customise the HTML output for your news entries in the "examples/sample_list_format.php" file, in whatever way you see fit (although, a 3rd party script will advise you of the preferred format), and import the file (it will generate the appropriate markup) back into your .php web page using PHP's include() command. A bit like this;

<div id="jquery-plugin" class="myclass">
    <?php include('fast_feed_v1_0/examples/sample_list_format.php');?>
</div>

Which would generate an HTML output like this;

<div id="jquery-plugin" class="myclass">
     <ul>
          <li>Entry text one - blah, blah...</li>
          <li>Entry text two - doo-be-doo...</li>
          <li>Entry text three - ho-hum...</li>
     </ul>
</div>

Additional usage - Auto-feed updates to Twitter and Facebook

An RSS v2.0 xml file is (re)generated every time you update your Fast Feed news items and you can use this file to push updates automatically to Twitter and Facebook. This is great for you as it means you only update once, and your message is fed out to other, multiple destinations, without any extra intervention from you. Less effort, less fuss!

Use one of these FREE services to push Fast Feed updates automatically to your Twitter or Facebook account;

• dlvr.it
• twitterfeed.com
• IFTTT

Any problems setting up Fast Feed?

If you experience any problems setting up your installation of Fast Feed and you can't find a troubleshooting answer in the Questions & Answers page, please tell me all about it via the online contact form. I'll try and work through things with you, and document the findings on this website. Ultimately your feedback can help future others in a similar situation, so please take a moment to share.