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Tristana Writer RSS Editor Q&A
If you have any questions about Tristana Writer RSS Editor or need support please contact us.
The #1 support question we receive about the Tristana Writer RSS Editor is: "What is the "Link to Feed Field?"
The link to feed field is simply the link where your RSS feed will be when you are done and have added it to your web site. So if your web site is http://www.mysite.com and you name your feed news.rss then your link to feed would be, http://www.mysite.com/news.rss or if you prefer to use news.xml then the link would be, http://www.mysite.com/news.xml. Remember to replace "mysite.com" with your own web site address.
Can I scan an existing web page to make an RSS or Atom feed instantly?
Yes. Using Tristana Writer you can instantly scan an existing web page to create RSS or Atom feeds. To do this, click on the "Scan feed from page" icon in the top left corner (page with the globe on it) and then type in the full URL of the web page that you would like to convert to an XML feed. Click "Next" to proceed to scan the web page of your choice. Assuming that Tristana Writer could successfully scan your page (not all pages can be scanned due to different coding methods and dynamic content), you will then see a summary screen of the XML elements which the software was able to search and find in the code.
Please note that if you are not satisfied with the elements that Tristana picks up from your web page, you may wish to click "Cancel" and try again, but check "Strict parsing" for your next attempt. Again, please note that every web page is coded differently, and so it is very difficult to scan a web page and prepopulate it with XML elements each time. You will very likely have to input the Description or other elements manually to get the feed set up with the content that you want.
Why can't I save my feed using "Save" or "Save as..."?
You have likely not completed all of the required fields for your feed. Please fill in the empty fields which have labels highlighted in red, and then try again to save your file.
How do I manually create an RSS or Atom feed from scratch?
Using Tristana Writer you can easily create RSS or Atom feeds from scratch, or by scanning an existing web page to pull out the XML elements needed for a feed. When you open the program, under the "Channel Data" tab, you will first need to input the required field elements: Title, Description, Link, and Webmaster.
You may choose to add some optional Metadata elements further below including: Language and Copyright or Image elements: Title, Resource Link (hyperlink to destinate web page), and Link to Image (source of image graphic). You must then add a Topic by clicking the "Add New" button to open up the "Topic Data" page. Title, Link, Author and Description elements are all optional for your feeds (but all are recommended). To edit an existing Topic, simply find it in the pull-down Topic menu, and click "Edit" (or click "Delete" to delete that topic from your feed).
You may also format your Description using the icons above the larger text box (e.g. font, underline, bold, list, add image, add hyperlink etc). You may wish to add more topics using the "New topic" icon at the top of the page (plus icon over page). With Tristana Writer Version 2.0, you can also add enclosures such as mp3 or other media files (similar to email attachments) to your RSS feeds (Atom or .xml feeds do not yet support enclosures). Once you have completed creating your feed, be sure to click the disk icon to Save your feed to your computer.
How do I view the code of my RSS or Atom feed?
To preview the code of your feed, click the "Code" icon in the left column menu bar (or click "F3"). Click the plus or minus signs next to each line of code to expand or collapse a hierarchical tree view of your RSS or Atom XML coding elements. You may also toggle between RSS and Atom feed formats using the pull-down menu in the top right corner of the page.
How can I preview my new feed before it goes live?
After you have completed creating a feed, you can click on the "Preview" icon (or click "F4") in the left menu column to view how your feed will look in Tristana Reader or your newsreader. You can click through the links and use the "Forward" and "Back" buttons to test links and navigation.
How do I publish my feed to the Internet?
When you are ready to publish your feed to the Internet, click on the "Publish" icon (or click "F5"). First select if you want to publish an RSS (most popular) or Atom feed format and type in a file name. Under "Set up FTP Connection", input your server login information (your Internet Service Provider can provide you with this information) and click "Test Connection" to check that all information is correct. When ready, click "Publish Now!" and use the "Open in Browser" to test viewing your feed online, or click on "Subscribe in Tristana" to add to Tristana Reader.
How do I get my feeds listed on feed search engines and directories?
In Tristana Writer, you can now submit your feeds to the leading 22 feed directories and submission services using the "Setup Ping Services" option before you publish your feed (see the 'Publish' tab). This will not only drive increased traffic to your website, but also improved your ranking on leading search engines due to increase inbound links to your website. http://www.tristana.org/writer/images/ping.png
My FTP connection is not working even though I've checked my userID/password
Try re-inputting your password and testing the connection once again. You will need to replace the "****" with your password. Also, be sure to indicate if you are posting a RSS or Atom feed by checking the appropriate box on the "Publish" page. Check the "Path to feed" and the "Feed URL" directory path to ensure it matches the appropriate folder on your server. Tristana will guess at the "Feed URL" based on the "Path to feed" provided, so you may need to edit the latter. Be sure to carefully "Test Connection" and review the server log file to see what the issue may be (ie. it may say "Incorrect directory"). If you are still having problems, be sure to speak with your Internet Service Provider to check that you have the correct website server settings, folders and paths (ie. a common mistake is not filling in with "Path to feed" area with the appropriate public directory to access your files on your server (ie. "/public" in some cases). Since each server is set up differently, only your ISP will be able to confirm your valid server access settings (this has nothing to do with our software). Also, you may need to toggle your "passive mode on/off", or again create a special path for FTP (some servers require long paths like /home/virutual/somesitelogin/www/htdocs).
TRISTANA RSS READER
What is RSS?
What is Atom?
How do I find and add new content?
Can I add content from any website to Tristana?
What if the website I want doesn't have an RSS feed?
How do I delete content or unsubscribe?
How will I know when new content arrives?
Can I have topics automatically updated or deleted at certain times?
Can I scan an existing web page to make an RSS or Atom feed instantly?
Why can't I save my feed using "Save" or "Save as..."?
How do I manually create an RSS or Atom feed from scratch?
How do I view code for my new feed?
How can I preview my new feed before it goes live?
How do I publish my feed to the Internet?
How do I get my feeds listed on feed search engines and directories?
My connection is not working even though I've checked my userID/password
What if the website I want doesn't have an RSS feed?
Why do I get this message: "Cannot open Tristana document file. Please make sure it is accessible for reading and writing"?
I get this message "Error reading index of -- channel" and Tristana then hangs - what can I do?
"Access violation / Read of address" error
When I'm trying to publish a feed using Tristana Writer, I get "FTP Connection Failed" - why?
How do I import or export my content and folders?
Can I save a topic to my hard drive for viewing when offline?
How can I better organize content?
What is Atom?
Atom is both a new standard for developers, as well as a universal XML syndication format or "feed" for your blog or website content. It functions essentially the same way as RSS, but is open-source.
How do I find and add new content?
To add new channel/content feeds;
1. Find a  , or Atom icon or link next to the content you want to add or use the "Search web for feeds:" search bar to search for content feeds by keyword.
2. Right click the XML, Atom, RSS or RDF icon or link and select "Copy Shortcut", "Copy Link Location" or "Add Content To Tristana".
3. Click on the green "+" icon in the top left of your screen (or File pull-down menu) in your Tristana Reader to "Add a Content Channel", click "Add" and then browse the new content.
NEW: You may now also right click and hold your mouse over a feed link or orange icon, and then drag it into the Folder Panel (left panel) of your Tristana Reader and release to confirm. If you have your reader minimized to the Windows System Tray or in your Task Bar, you will need to right click and drag your feed link over the Tristana Icon first, and then move it to the Folder Panel.
Can I add content from any website to Tristana?
Only websites which provide (syndicate) their content in XML format (RSS or Atom) can be added to your Tristana Reader. This is because XML uses a standardized template to organize only content which is different from how web pages are presented in HTML. There are millions of websites that do offer content in RSS format such as Yahoo.com, and Atom format such as Blogger.com and many more being added each day. By using the "Search web for feeds:" search box in Tristana, or using a content aggregator website such as Syndic8.com, you can search to find which websites do offer XML formats for your Reader. You may also quickly create a RSS or Atom feed from a website using Tristana Writer.
What if the website I want doesn't have an RSS feed?
To automatically create an RSS feed for a website that doesn't offer one, download Tristana Writer.
How do I delete content or unsubscribe?
To
delete content and unsubscribe from a content channel, you simply highlight the channel title in the Folder Panel (left side panel), and click on the red "X" icon in the top menu. If you want to keep the channel but clear all topics within that channel, you can right click your mouse while highlighting the channel you want to clear, and select "Clear Channel". To delete all topics but keep channels intact, right click and select "Clear All Channels".
If you want to delete individual topics from within a content channel, simply highlight the topic in the Channel Panel (top right) and right-click on your mouse to select "Delete A Topic". Under the "View / Preferences" pull-down menu, you can also indicate how often content should be deleted from Tristana (e.g. every 30 days is the default). How will I know when new content arrives?
When new content arrives, a small pop-up message will appear on your system tray to alert you of fresh content and will then disappear after a specified number of seconds, or can be closed by clicking on the "X" in the top right corner. This pop-up reminder can be disabled under the "View / Preferences" pull-down menu options and the length of time it displays for can also be adjusted.
How can I better organize content?
Tristana enables you to create folders and drag and drop topics and channels into them to help organize your content feeds. Simply click on the "File" pull-down menu and select "Create Folder" to add a folder to the left side Folder Panel.
You can also delete or rename folders under the "File" pull-down menu. By clicking on the grey "Folders" header bar, you can also sort your folders alphabetically.
How do I import or export my content and folders?
To import content folders, channels and topics from a friend or a second computer, click on the "File / Import Channels" pull-down menu item and select the file name which you would like to import (ends with an .opml extension). Once imported, click on the Refresh icon to load new topics. Import files do not have to originate from Tristana, and can be any .opml file formatted for RSS or Atom feeds.
To export your content settings, select "File / Export Channels" and then save your settings to a file stored on your computer for sharing with others (will require an .opml extension).
Can I save a topic to my hard drive for viewing when offline?
Yes, you can right click your mouse over the Topic Panel (top right) to "Export Topic" as an HTML file to your PC's hard drive, for viewing feeds while working remotely without Net access.
Can I change the way I can view content in Tristana?
Yes, you can easily hide folders, channels or topics by selecing from the "View" pull-down menu, and unchecking the Panel which you would like to hide from view.
How will I know when new content has been updated?
When new content has been added or updated to one of your channels, a pop-up window will appear for 10 seconds indicating the channels which contain new topics, and the number of new topics within each feed will also appear next to the channel title. If you do not want this pop-up window to appear at all, simply click on the "View" pull-down menu, select "Preferences" and uncheck this option. You may also close the pop-up window at any time by clicking the "X" in the top right corner.
Can I have topics automatically updated or deleted at certain times?
To update or refresh topics at a regular time interval, simply
click on the "View" pull-down menu, select "Preferences", check the box next to the option: "Check topics every: X hours/minutes" and select your desired time interval. To delete topics after a set period of time, under this same menu item, check the box next to: "Automatically delete topics after: X days" and modify the number of days before topics will be deleted.
"Access violation / Read of address" error
This error may occur as a result of downloading a corrupt/incomplete feed. To resolve, first export your feeds to an .opml file (File/Export Channels) to save your feeds to your computer. Then go to "My Documents" folder and open "My Tristana Reader" (or "My ABC Reader" if you downloaded a custom version) and delete the .bin files there (ie. Tristana.bin or Reader.bin). This will clear your feeds from your reader so that you can reload them manually or via the opml file you exported.
How do I flag topics that I want to read again later?
To flag items to read later, simply highlight the feed topic in the Channel Panel (top right) and right click your mouse. You can then select "Toggle Topic Flag" to add a flag icon next to the topic feed you want highlight. You can also select "More Flags" to add up to 5 different colours of flags next to each item.
Why don't scripts or pop-ups work in the Topic Panel?
As a result of overwhelming feedback, all scripts have been disabled in the Topic Panel (Bottom Right) area by default. This has been done to stop pop-up advertisements from automatically displaying while trying to view a feed. However, if you wish to enable scripts - you can do so in the "View / Preferences" pull-down and check "Allow scripting in web browser."
next to them. To download those attachments, such as music, video or audio files, simply double-click on the feed in the Channel Panel. To view download activity - under the "View" pull-down menu, click on "Downloads" to view attachments.
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