I’ve made a WordPress widget called RSSPhoto that pulls images from photoblog RSS or Atom feeds and displays a thumbnail in the sidebar (I’m using it in my sidebar). I mentioned the beginnings of this project a couple posts back. That one was pulling images straight out of my database though. This version is more generic and uses the SimplePie PHP library for parsing feeds.
Even though I say it pulls from photoblog feeds, really it can pull from any feed–it will just pull one of the images out of the content of a feed item. I’ve used it to pull Flickr RSS feeds and a couple other random ones. I also installed it easily on Emily’s blog.
Check it out on my new Projects page (direct link). If you have a WordPress blog, try it out and let me know how your experience was. I’d definitely appreciate any feedback.
#1 by Sarah Jean on August 5th, 2009
Does it work on non-wordpress blogs? That is so cool!
#2 by Spencer on August 5th, 2009
Not yet, but that is a good idea. I’ll look into what it takes to create a Blogger plugin.
#3 by bineet on September 3rd, 2009
hi how we can install this plugin in our theme.
please tell me in detail. hi its looks very nice.
#4 by Spencer on September 3rd, 2009
Hi Bineet,
Thanks for asking about RSSPhoto integration with your theme. Soon I’ll be releasing RSSPhoto with shortcode support so that you can include the plugin on any page in WordPress. For now, you can try the development version which includes this feature. Click the “Development Version” link at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/rssphoto/download/.
On the page you want to display RSSPhoto, you can use
[rssphoto url="http://www.your-url.com/feed.xml" size="300" fixed="height"]
to get a 300px high version of RSSPhoto on that page.
#5 by Laura on October 11th, 2009
Hi. I like the widget (am not using it as of yet). Since you don’t have contact information, I am using the comments.
I am using the same theme that you have here (Fusion) and am having a few small issues. I am not a programmer and just wanted to know how to customize the side bar without having to code.
Thank you in advance. I hope your trip was fun.
#6 by Spencer on November 9th, 2009
Hi Laura,
You caught me just as I was leaving so now it’s been a very long time! Hopefully you still check back for an answer.
Once you install RSSPhoto, just go to Appearance -> Widgets (in the Admin section of your blog). You can drag and drop widgets from a collection on that page to a replica of your sidebar. Once you start customizing your sidebar, it will only display the widgets you place there – so if you like the default layout, remember to drag those widgets over.
HTH – Spencer