The RSS widget lets you display (and customize) the latest updates to any RSS feed in the sidebar of your WordPress blog or website.
What is RSS?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to subscribe to the updates of another blog or website. Typically, you would use an RSS reader like Google Reader (that’s what I use) to follow a whole bunch more websites than you could if you bookmarked them all and visited them every day.
This nifty little video from CommonCraft explains RSS in about 3 minutes:
Well you can also use this technology to display a feed from another blog on your website. Here’s how you do it:
The RSS widget – pulling any feed into your sidebar
Instructions
- Login to your blog and start at the Dashboard
- Click on Appearance > Widgets
- Click on Add next to the RSS Widget
- Click on Edit in the RSS Widget you just added to your default sidebar
- Enter in the RSS feed URL. You will find this on most blogs next to the orange RSS icon and/or a Subscribe Link
- Enter a Title
- Select how many items would you like to display
- Choose to list just the post titles from the RSS feed or also to display item content. By default just the titles are shown.
- Choose whether to display the item author if available
- Choose whether to display the item date if available
- Click on Done
- Click on Save Changes
Wrap-Up
The blogroll is a great way to show a list of blogs to go visit. The RSS widget goes a step further and pulls in the content of the other blog and shows excerpts from it on your blog.
See my Using WordPress series for more tutorials on how to use WordPress!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool! How do you do this on typepad?
Do you have a tutorial on adding RSS to the Small Biz Theme?
Hi Mike,
The SmallBiz theme is ‘widget enabled’ so this tutorial applies. To get your RSS feed for a site based on the SmallBiz theme, it is built-in, you can get it from the URL like this: Find Your RSS feed.
Let me know if I didn’t answer your question.
nice post
question: can the RSS feed be placed in the center area of Wordpress, or only the sidebar?
THanks for your help.
Robin
Same question as above. Is it possible to place RSS-feeds in the center area of the Wordpress site?
Thanks for answering.
Hi Robin, Roy,
In this case you are using the RSS widget, and that can be placed anywhere your theme is widget enabled. In most themes that is the sidebar. In the SmallBiz theme, that also includes the footer. But if you want to put that into a page or post in WordPress you’ll need to find a plugin or do some PHP code to make that happen.
Hi Don,
Thanks for answering. I was hoping for a theme that is widget enabled in the center area. I haven’t been able to find it.
I will try to find a plugin.
Regards