`convert`

Posts Tagged ‘convert’

using carp for rss feeds

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

CaRP is a free program which helps you get automated content for your website from RSS feeds on external websites. I have been using it for the past 2 years now - mostly to get blogs feeds or even directory rss on my website’s homepages.

RSS feeds are data feeds that usually contain headlines and excerpts from news stories, blog posts, etc., and a link to the full content.

It is , as the owner Antonne Roundy says, a script which converts RSS headlines and brief description / content into nice looking HTML to fit on your website, which could be made of HTML , PHP etc. I have also used it on the web design website, recently , but there i came across an odd situation.
Initially when i had used CaRP - the free version, which i downloaded when i had much less php knowledge, I could install it myself and configure it as well, without any hitch. Before CaRP , I had also used Magpie RSS feed parser for converting blog feeds at DiscussTV. Carp has provided somewhat much more functionality, includes good documentation along with a Video for help . Yet , even then if you can’t get it to work for your site, let me know - I can help out for a fee. :) Anyway, after enjoying a free software, I recently went back to the website , after receiving several of it’s subscribed email newsletter. The site , which nicely showcases all the various other scripts and services made me eager to try out their paid Jawfish service - which provides RSS to Javascript conversion.

Why I wanted that ? because even though I want to display external blog feed, i did not want to use any framed page - as i felt , it could be unhelpful for my seo attempts. So the only option was to get the feed via javascript . CaRP website said, the only way i could get this was by subscribing to Jawfish - and here is something I DONT recommend from GeckoTribe.
Why : Because they will provide you with a snippet of code , including their javascript source , and more often than not , there is a lack connection between your server and geckotribe’s server . Quoting the owner , Antonne :

I can only guess that the problem you’re seeing with Jawfish is caused by some recurring temporary internet problem somewhere between your server and mine.

The problem with Jawfish i faced : I had paid them for 1 year of the service and it specifically mentioned that there won’t be any refund .
The solution : As i did not receive any sayable service - I emailed the owner ( as their support ticket section was not manned , and only after waiting for 10 days i understood ), and I received his reply . He promised to refund the money ,

Current Status : I have not yet received the refund yet , but I am hopeful i will.

Current Status with my requirement : I am using free and friendly Carp ;) which i have got working with iframe with the customizations i wanted . Google does successfully crawl iframes / frames , as I found by doing a site:www.websys.co.in.

php to ajax

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

PHP is a impressive coding language, and is widely used in major part of our projects. Using the php language with mysql databases hugely successful websites around the world have been created. Every day newer developments are made to make PHP a more robust and secure solution for coders and website owners.
However , recently we have embarked upon converting / adding certain parts of older projects / websites into using AJAX - sometimes on request by the website owner , and sometimes we have offered to convert where we felt using AJAX would give better usability to the project.
One such project involves a Voting / Rating application which was made almost an year ago . The site featured a rating where the current AJAX enabled system would make the voting much more user friendly, instead of the form submit . This would allow the end user to participate in the voting / rating many more times than before - which is the theme of the website , thus keeping him more interested and loyal .
Another project involves enhancing a backend admin panel, which involves various options such as creation of categories, sub categories, and users . The admin backend page usually loads with little bit of time , and for an admin who needs to create around 65 categories , making 65 page loads / refresh was little painful. But the way it is being developed now , creating a new category would be somewhat like , as you find inside the Wordpress admin area . This would provide better usability - this time to an admin , not just an end user .