What is a web feed?

Web feeds are used to publish streams of online content on panel pages. They are typically used for content that is published or updated frequently, such as blog posts and news articles.

A web feed contains a list of content items, each with a:

  • title
  • link to the content.

It may also include other information, such as a description, teaser image or published date.

UQ Standard websites support both RSS (really simple syndication) and Atom web feeds. Both RSS and Atom feeds use a standardised, computer-readable XML format.

Users can subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed using a web feed reader program. This allows them to keep up to date with a website's content without needing to visit the site.

Use a web feed to:

  • display a feed of relevant content from another website on your site
  • create a feed of content to be published on another site.

A web feed shouldn't be used for:

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How to display a web feed on your site

To enable web feeds on your site, submit an IT request.

Once enabled, web feeds can be added by:

  • site builders.

Feeds must be in a valid RSS 2.0 or Atom format. If you try to add an invalid feed, you'll receive an error message.

Before adding a web feed to a panel page, you'll need to add it to your site's feeds list. Web feed content cannot be displayed in vertical content lists or added to node pages.

Adding a web feed to your site's feeds list

To add a web feed to the feeds list on your site:

  1. From the black Drupal menu at the top of the page, go to 'Content' > 'Feeds' > 'Add Feed'.
  2. Enter a title to help you identify the panel in the 'Feeds' menu. This title won't appear on the page.
  3. Enter the URL of the feed.
  4. Leave the number of items as '0'. You'll need to set the number of items to display when you add the web feed to a page.
  5. Leave the 'Cache Timeout' set as '5 minutes'.
  6. Click 'Save'.

The web feed will now be available to add to panel pages on your site.

Adding a web feed to a panel page

Once you've added a web feed to your feeds list, you can add it to a panel page:

  1. Click 'Customize this page' in the black Drupal menu at the bottom of the page, then click the plus icon (+) in the blue box at the top of the page.
  2. Select 'Feed Readers' from the side menu, and then click the feed you want to add.
  3. Enter the number of items you want to display on the page. Don't leave this field empty – it will default to '0', which will display all items in the feed.
  4. Choose the display mode. If you select 'Teaser – title and description' leave the 'Description format' as 'Rich Text' and choose the heading level.
  5. Click 'Finish' to add the web feed to the page.
  6. Apply the section style to the panel finalise the layout.
  7. Click 'Save' in the Drupal menu at the bottom of the page to publish the changes.
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How to edit a web feed

You can edit or delete a web feed from your site, or change how it displays on a panel page.

Editing a web feed in your site's feeds list

To edit a web feed on your site:

  1. From the black Drupal menu at the top of the page, go to 'Content' > 'Feeds'.
  2. Click 'edit'
  3. Make edits to the feed. You can edit the URL or administrative title.
  4. Click 'Save'.

Deleting a web feed from your site

To delete a web feed from your site, make sure you've removed it from any pages it's used on and then:

  1. From the black Drupal menu at the top of the page, go to 'Content' > 'Feeds'.
  2. Click 'edit'.
  3. Click 'Delete' in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  4. Click 'Confirm'.

Changing how a web feed displays on a panel page

To change how a web feed displays on a panel page, follow the instructions for editing panels on panel pages.

You can edit the number of items displayed and the display mode.

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How to provide a web feed of your content

UQ Drupal sites automatically create web feeds for articles, blog posts and content tagged with taxonomy terms.

To make a feed available to users, you'll need to link to it from a relevant place on your site, such as a news page or blog.

For each item the feed provides:

  • title
  • page URL
  • publication date
  • summary
  • teaser image URL.

Article feeds

To link to a web feed of your site's 10 latest articles, add /article/feed to the end of the URL (e.g. https://yoursite.uq.edu.au/article/feed)

Blog post feeds

To link to a web feed of your site's 10 latest blog posts, add /blog/feed to the end of the URL (e.g https://yoursite.uq.edu.au/blog/feed)

Taxonomy term feeds

Each taxonomy term has a listing page that:

  • displays all content tagged with that term
  • automatically includes a web feed icon that links to the feed for the term.

Users can navigate to these pages by clicking on a taxonomy tag on any tagged page.

Site coordinators can access the taxonomy term listing pages through Drupal.

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Best practice

  • Make sure that any web feeds you display on your site will remain relevant to your users and will be updated frequently.
  • Clearly identify the source or topic of embedded web feeds.
  • Use the 'List – Title' display mode to display feeds that don't provide a description in a valid format.
  • Include a web feed icon when linking to a feed of your content to help users easily identify the purpose of the link.
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Fields

Complete all required fields and as many optional fields as possible to provide the best user experience.

Adding a web feed to your site

Field name

Required field?

Function

Title

Yes

Administrative title to help site builders identify the panel. This title doesn't appear on the page.

Feed URL

Yes

URL for the web feed.

Items

Yes

Leave as the default: '0'. This does not control the number of items that display when you add the feed to a page.

Cache Timeout

Yes

How often the feed will update. Leave as the default: '5 minutes'

Adding a web feed to a page

Field name

Required field?

Function

Items

No

Set the number of items to display in the field. Entering '0' will display all items in the feed. Don't leave this field empty – it will default to '0'.

Display mode

Yes

Controls how the feed displays. Defaults to 'List – Title'. If you select 'Teaser – Title and description', additional fields will display.

Description format

Required for 'Teaser – Title and description' display mode

'Rich text' will display text formatting defined in the feed, while 'Plain text' will remove any formatting.

Title element

Required for 'Teaser – Title and description' display mode

Select the heading level (H2 to H4) for the title. Defaults to 'H2'.

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