Merge Multiple RSS Feeds and Create Code for your Website for Free

RSS feeds, also known as Really Simple Syndication, are invaluable tools for tracking the updates of your favourite blogs and sites. You can find RSS feed files by looking for the symbol above on a website, and clicking it to discover the feed file address. RSS file formats usually end in .rss or .xml file extensions.

Many websites have 'Blogrolls', made up of a list of these dynamic links, but if you are writing your own code, or the site builder software you use does not have a plug-in or add-on to create a blogroll, or news feed, automatically, it is possible to use free tools to generate your own code based on the feeds you want to subscribe to.

Amidst several rather complicated options, one online tool makes the task of adding multiple RSS feeds to a digest really straight-forward.

Feed.informer.com generates code in Javascript, Flash, Flash (Legacy), Picture, PDF, PHP (CURL with Timeout) and PHP (Regular Include) formats. Registration is necessary, but the website is free.

How to merge feeds using Feed Informer.

1. Enter one RSS feed on the feed.informer.com homepage. Click 'submit'.
   
2. Enter all the other feeds to be included in your list, one by one on the next page. Click 'submit' after each one.
   
3. When all the links have been submitted, go to 'Choose Settings'. Enter your preferred details, following the guidance underneath each option if its meaning is unclear. Save changes.
   
4. Under 'Digest Design', look at the available options and choose an appearance based on aesthetic preference, which will co-ordinate well with your website design.
   
5. Select 'Publish Digest', and choose your preferred format. The code you need for your site is ready to be copied and pasted onto your site.

Following these instructions, webmasters are be able to create their own dynamic news feed, even when coding a website from scratch. A skill which is normally only manageable by experienced programmers is now available to anyone who can follow these instructions and copy and paste code into a site design.

In this way, website visitors will have access to the latest news and views from all your favourite websites, right from your personal homepage, regardless of your experience or coding expertise.

Photo Credits: Jakub Krechowicz, espensorvik and dullhunk

For information on RSS feeds, what they are, how to create them and add them to your website, try this page