Introduction:

This is an introduction to how to use our RSS/XML Feeds.

ChristianBlog.Com offers two primary purposes for our RSS/XML Feeds:

The first method is via a RSS Reader, be it application-based or web-based.

The second method is via a RSS Parser, and including the most recent Blog Entries into your own website.


News Aggregators:

You can find a list of News Aggregators - which is the fancy term for a RSS Reader - at should you not already have one and need one.

News Aggregators are a type of software that retrieves syndicated Web content that is supplied in the form of a web feed (RSS, Atom and other XML formats), and that are published by weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media websites.

Website Integration:

Integrating the ChristianBlog.Com RSS/XML Feed will allow you to keep the latest listings posted to ChristianBlog.Com listed within your own website.

We offer the ability to display both the latest Blog Entries by all the members of ChristianBlog.Com or the latest Blog Entries of a specific member of ChristianBlog.Com

In order to properly format the ChristianBlog.Com RSS/XML Feed you will need an RSS Parser. Due to the massive amount of possible languages (php, asp, coldfusion, perl, etc) that exist, we will leave it up to you to figure out exactly how to parse our RSS/XML Feed.


The RSS/XML Feed:

The RSS/XML Feed is located at:



This is the actual file you will need to link to when adding the RSS/XML Feed to either your News Aggregator or your personal website.

Important: If you plan to utilize any of the additional features listed below you will need to use the extension of (.php) rather then (.xml) when linking to our RSS/XML Feed.


Additional Features: Limit Variable

This additional RSS/XML Feed feature will allow you to place a limit on the amount of Blog Entries that are displayed.

We default the RSS/XML Feed at ten (10) entries.

You can set this "limit" at anywhere between one (1) and twenty-five (25).

This is done by adding the following variable to the RSS/XML Feed: (say you wanted only 5 entries to show)

?limit=5


Additional Features: Specific Member

This additional RSS/XML Feed feature will allow you to display only Blog Entries from a specific member of ChristianBlog.Com

In order to do this you will first need to know the exact Usersname of the given member, here at ChristianBlog.Com - Note: Members Usersname are *not* a persons real name.

Once you know the Members Usersname you will need to attach the following variable to the ChristianBlog.Com RSS/XML Feed:

?usersname=XYZ

(replace the 'XYZ' with the Members Usersname)


Using Both Features Listed Above:

If you would like to use both of the above mentioned RSS/XML Feed Features, use the following method:

.php?limit=5&usersname=XYZ

(again: replace the 'XYZ' with the Members Usersname)


Questions & Answers:

1. Does ChristianBlog.Com plan on providing RSS/XML Feeds for specific categories?
   
   Yes. Though we do not have a scheduled release date for this feature.
   
   
2. Does ChristianBlog.Com plan on providing RSS/XML Feeds of entire Blog Entry Text?
   
   Yes. Though we do not have a scheduled release date for this feature, at some point in the future we plan on offering the ability to allow people to place their entire Blog Entry data within their own websites. This is a feature that will be reserved for 'Premier Members' only. This feature will allow people to, should they want to, utilize the services of ChristianBlog.Com yet have their Blog Entries display within their own website, so folks visiting their website are not readily aware that the owner of the personal website is using a third-party (ChristianBlog.Com) for hosting of their Blog.
   
   
3. Does that mean ChristianBlog.Com is planning on developing an API for it's Premier Members?
   
   Hmm, good question. One we have chosen to not answer at this time.
   
   
4. Does ChristianBlog.Com plan on putting a load-cap on their RSS/XML Feeds?
   
   If at some point in the future our RSS/XML Feeds begin to consume a significant amount of bandwidth it is something we will discuss in greater detail then we already have.
   
   
5. Does ChristianBlog.Com plan on providing RSS/XML Feeds that are cached?
   
   Caching RSS/XML Feeds are "client side" and not "server side", which means it is the responsibility to the owner of the Website, or News Aggregators, to properly cache our RSS/XML Feeds. That said, if certain websites and/or News Aggregators abuse our free services, we will not hesitate to take every measure - including legal ones - to terminate their connection to our RSS/XML Feeds.
   

One Note Of Caution:

Many RSS Reader Applications (News Aggregators) download new Blog Entries every few minutes. Sometimes people have, and will continue too into the future, post Blog Entries that we 100% do not consider acceptable to this website. When we find these Blog Entries we remove them ASAP. However, should your News Aggregator ping the RSS Feeds before we get the questionable Blog Entries removed, you are going to end-up with those Blog Entries listed within your available feeds. There is very little we can do about this. The only option we have would be to preview each and every Blog Entry submission and not allow it to go public until our staff can review it. At this time, that is something we can not afford, and it is also something we are not sure we want to do.


Accessibility:

Please note that access to public RSS Feeds are only available to Premier Members. If you are not already a Premier Member please see your "My.Account" page for further details on how to become one!


Further Information:

For further information on RSS/XML Feeds we would suggest you read RSS_reader, which presents a good overview of RSS/XML Feeds.

If you need further assistance with how to use the ChristianBlog.Com RSS/XML Feed please use our Contact Form - providing specific details to your question - and our staff will review your needs.