I've become a fan of RSS feeds lately. I've started using them one I started using Firefox. It has a built in RSS reader so I'm able to keep up on Slashdot, Slickdeals, Techbargains, and some other blogs all with one click.
I noticed that my blogging software automatically created the RSS feed for my Dork or Not Dork? site, but for some reason the On Going Life blog didn't have the option. I figured that the problem was that the On Going blog has be through many upgrades of software but I'm never revisited the blog's layout. I took some time to find out how to get the blog exported and reimported. So I just did a quick export, created a new blog, and import the entries. That solved the problem of the RSS feeds on the On Going portion of the site, or so I thought.
I got an email from my asking if I could fix my RSS feed because it was not up to standard. I was a little confused because I've never had any experience working with RSS feeds. I know that they were XML based and I've done some work with XML but that was dealing with skinning a media player. So I started digging around trying to find out what I needed to update. I found this nice little site Feed Validator where you enter in the feed address and it will tell where a feed is bad. After a little digging I found that the blog software was automatically creating a RDF, 1.0, and 2.0 feeds. I ended up just ditching the RDF and 1.0 feeds that the software created. I thought that would solve the problem, but no. The validator was telling me some gibberish about the dates being out of format. I look through Feed Validator's help and I found exactly what I needed. I told me that MoveableType RSS feed templates do not create 2.0 compliant feeds. The site had a link to the page at MoveableType.org where I could download a new template to make it 2.0 compliant. I took a look at the new template to see where the dates were wrong and it all came down to a colon in the date. I got it changed and it's working
My brother contacted me because he is putting together a website that will grab all the RSS feeds from the Motylinski family blogs. Everyone in my family has a blog except my mom. I think my brother is working on her to get one going but I don't think that it's going to work anytime soon.
