Let's manually generate a basic RSS feed. Assume that we want to create a feed about documentation standards and guidelines related to the IT industry. Within this feed, we can combine respective topics such as:
- Writing style
- Concern of correct grammar, punctuation, and spellings
- Sentence pattern
- Guidelines for writing technical documents, white papers, installations sheets, customer service direction manuals, and user guides
- Sample templates
- Tips for conforming to international standards
- Signification of avoiding or containing colloquialism
- Rules for reviewing and editing
- Charges for writing beginners, experienced, and experts
Each topic identified hereinbefore forms an item for the RSS feed. Our first item can be written as follows
Item Title Writing Style
Item Description
The purpose of a document and its audience define its writing style. A formal publication such as a white paper or a management report must have the formal tone. In exchange, a user guide needinesss to be written in a more friendly tone. Learn more about writing style and create result-oriented documents.
Detailed Article URL www ITdocumentation dot com / WritingStyle.html
Author Writing Guru
Email WritingGuru at ITdocumentation dot com
Publishing Date Mon, 27 June 2005, 0900 EST
Gather similar newsletter for all part to be included in the feed. This data forms item info part of the RSS feed.
As for the channel news, define a feed title, Description, and its URL. In our reference these attributes can be:
Feed Title Guidelines for IT Documentation
Feed Construction Brilliant assemblage of writing tips and guidelines for documentation specialists of all experience levels working in the IT field!
Feed URL www dot ITdocumentation dot com
Using the Basic RSS Feed Format
The next course after collecting the feed data is to put in a official format, which the Internet browsers and RSS aggregators can understand and interpret to show it correctly on your PC. The format for this file is as follows:
Insert feed title
Insert feed URL
Insert feed Explanation
en-us
Insert date and time
Insert title of the first item
Insert URL of the detailed article for the first item
Insert author's email address (Author's name)
Insert item broadcasting date
Insert title of the second item
Insert URL of the detailed article for the second item
Insert Differentiation of the second item
Insert author's email address (Author's name)
Insert item spreading date
:
:
Notice that there is only one instance of the channel tag, whereas thousand occurrences of the item tag. The number of item tags should be the same as the number of content you want to contain in your RSS feed.
The tags in red specify the extra data you can combine in an RSS feed. This data is not authoritative, but gives the article more credibility and offers the readers an option of communicating with the author.
Let's now look at inserting item newsletter in the above format. The first item in our case when inserted in the before format will look as follows:
Guidelines for IT Documentation
http : // www dot domain dot com
Brilliant inventory of writing tips and guidelines for documentation specialists
of all experience levels working in the IT field!
en-us
Mon, 27 June 2005, 0930 EST
Writing Style
http : // www dot domain dot com / WritingStyle.html
The purpose of a document and its audience define its writing style. A formal production such as a white paper or a management report must have the formal tone. In contrast, a
user guide essentials to be written in a more friendly tone. Learn more about writing style and create result-oriented documents.
WritingGuru at ITdocumentation dot com (Writing Guru)
Mon, 27 June 2005, 0900 EST
:
:
Use the before format to add news for other elements and your feed is performed!
Assign the feed a name and save it. Respective RSS resources say that all RSS feeds have the extension .rss or .xml. In reality, however, an RSS feed can have any extension or no file extension. Exceptional RSS feed generating software written in hypertext preprocessor (PHP) use the .php extension for the feeds they compose. It is also for the benefit of keeping things simple and filenames indicating their content that everyone might include .rss or .xml extensions to RSS feeds.
You can syndicate as lots elements as you want though try not to exceed beyond 10 part per feed for usability reasons.
In an RSS feed, items are typically arranged in the reverse chronological order with the present item being the first one and the oldest item at the end, just like news headlines.
Again if you are new to Internet, you can no doubt generate an RSS feed as long as you follow this basic feed format and you have excellence content to publish.
Validating the Feed
Use Feed Validator for an automated code validation of the feed. To do this, upload your RSS file of your web site. In the example hereinabove, the file will be uploaded on http : // www dot ITdocumentation dot com / rss / writingstyle.xml.
Next, go to http : // www dot feedvalidator dot organization. This site shows a text box where you neediness to enter the location of your RSS file, which in our example is http : // www dot ITdocumentation dot
com / rss / writingstyle.xml.
Click the Validate button for code validation to begin and wait for some time to view message informing you about appearance or absence of any errors in the file. If the validator reports any errors, fix them, and recheck the code until all errors are fixed.
Adding Digital Media
Adding digital media enclosing images, audio, and video can transport your audience to a certain realm. With this capability, your messages become as well more personalized and syndicate that human touch to the process.
Apparently actually embracing an audio file, you can contain a defined link in your RSS feed directing the users towards a file which when selected allows the surfers to download it. The subscribers can refer to it repeatedly and when ever they want to.
Moreover, RSS 2.0 supports a new feature named inclusion to enable feed creators enclose digital media content. When an appropriate inclusion reading software comes across such a feed item, it reads the accompanying link and content form to automatically download it and store it on a media device.
Using Software to Build an RSS Feed
Software offers a certain number advantages over manual:
- No requirement of any technical knowledge including that of XML or HTML.
- Spell check to eliminate spelling mistakes from feeds.
- No need to validate your feed.
- Eases the process of updating a feed.
- The option of adding your operation logo thereby giving an identity to the feed.
The next part will be about: "Tips for Creating Dynamic RSS Feeds"
If you can't wait till the next part release, or you can't discover the first 3 parts please download the extensive report from our web site in the downloads area.
Bride Wars Part 5
The necessity of creating a budget for your fundraising even cannot be stressed enough. It is imperative to know how much everything is going to cost so that you will know what to charge and so make a profit. Not only that, but records of all monies received must be kept properly so that no one can be accused of doing the wrong thing with the funds. Once any hint of wrongdoing taints your cause, your sponsors will drop you like a hot cake.
So how do you create a budget? You must get quotes for all your costs. Every single thing that is going to cost any money must be written down. It may be that you can find a cheaper alternative or get something donated that you thought you'd have to pay for, but it all has to be down there in black and white.
You may need to pay for entertainment, catering, speakers, sound equipment, venue, advertising, gifts, decorations and other things that you will think of, depending on the kind of event you are arranging. You also need to write down all your income such as ticket sales, sponsorship, donations and the like. Add them all up and subtract the expenses from the income. If there is not much profit, then you may need to comb through it to see where you can cut costs.
Remember that local people may be willing to donate their expertise or equipment for free to help you cut costs. Even the cost of the venue could be heavily discounted, if not free. If you don't ask, you'll never know, so don't be shy. Also look at alternatives. If you were going for a full band, try a DJ with sound equipment instead. Change the menu to something a little simpler.
Even if your event is something as simple as a car wash, you still need to have a budget. It will be a much simpler budget of course, but you still need to account for the cleaning products used, don't you?
If your event is a really big and complicated one, it may pay you to get special software to help you create the budget. While you're at it, get one of those volunteers who has accountancy skills to do it for you. Or if none of them have, go to your local accountant and ask if he would be willing to donate his time to do it. What a good idea!
Legal and Tax Issues for Fundraising Activities
In many states funds gained by fundraising are not taxable, but it sometimes depends on the organization. For instance, in Illinois, if your organization were considered to be religious, educational or charitable you would need to make an application for exemption 'E' status. This would entitle you to be exempt from incurring Use Tax in some cases.
In some states, religious groups must collect tax on sales, but they may have one tax free sale per year so long as they own what they sell and are selling to members of the public. The sale must not last more than three consecutive days and must be conducted by members of the organization.
In other states, any non-profit organization is exempt from tax. If schools hold a book fair in conjunction with the publisher and get a percentage of their profit for fundraising, they don't have to pay tax on it, but the publisher must pay tax on their portion.
For individuals who deicide to raise money for a charitable cause, if you keep it under a few hundred dollars, then you can probably get away without any legal work - except that you must always keep a strict record of your budget and all financial comings and goings. However, if you are thinking in bigger terms, you may be wise to set up a charitable organization that will be exempt from taxes under the IRS Section 501 (c) (3).
The reason for this is that whatever money you get is considered part of your income and you have to pay tax on it yourself, even though you are not going to keep it. The IRS will want to know exactly how much you made and where it came from and what you did with it. If you can't answer them, they will - to put it mildly - be annoyed. And you will be in hot water.
Another reason is that at least some people - and maybe most - will want a receipt so they can write that donation off on their tax. If you give them a personal receipt it cannot be legally used for that purpose. They will want to know how their money is going to be spent and you are accountable to them for it. If you have an organization, they will be able to verify your trustworthiness by looking at the books and other things that such an organization must have.
It would be a good idea to take half an hour to consult with an attorney about the whole business. If you follow his advice, it will protect you from possible problems further down the track.
How Will You Thank Your Supporters?
Once the fundraising even is over and has been successful, then you will need to thank your supporters and this can be done in a variety of ways. Firstly, your supporters are not only those who made donations, but those volunteers who spent so much time and effort in making the event a success. They deserve recognition and thanks just as much as the sponsors, because without them the event would not even have happened. In fact, the volunteers have worked harder than the sponsors, because all they had to do was write out the check.
To thank the volunteers, a barbecue may be given especially for them. If it is a 'sausage sizzle' you will only need the sausages, bread and sauce so it shouldn't be too expensive. This can be held after the event and can be by official invitation or by word-of-mouth. Just be sure everyone knows about it, or bad feelings will be the result. If you don't want to organize a barbecue, then you could thank the volunteers in a different way. A thank you letter or card would be appreciated.
To thank the supporters for their donations a letter of thanks is in order. But don't stop at the letter; they will like to know exactly how their money made a difference to the cause. If possible, let them see the real evidence by sending a photo of the results. Whether it was computers for the school or rescuing abused pets, it's not hard to take a photo. If you can also show the students using the computers, or the rescued animal in its new home, it will add that personal touch. You may have to get parents' permission for photos of students, though.
Of course, it may take a while to get these photos and you don't want to leave it too long before sending that thank-you letter, so firstly, send a preliminary letter of thanks along with a copy of your budget showing the profit and itemize what the proceeds will be used for. Then later, when these goals have been accomplished, send another letter of thanks with the results. This can be up to several months later and will serve to give your organization a high profile.
When you esteem and honor a company in this personal way, and they can see how their donation made a difference, they will be more than willing to make further donations when the time comes. However, it would be inappropriate to mention this possibility in your thank-you letter.
Both James Saunders & Justin Alan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
James Saunders has sinced written about articles on various topics from web development, Computers and The Internet and RSS. James Saunders is the owner of Traffic Booster Pro at TrafficBoosterPro.com, the SEO Tool and Marketing Tool that turns any web site into a Self managing unit! Self Gro. James Saunders's top article generates over 49500 views. Bookmark James Saunders to your Favourites.
Justin Alan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, RSS and Guided Meditation. If you'd like to get this article, plus all previous and future articles on How to Run a Fundraising Campaign on an Interactive CD-Rom, Please visit: . Justin Alan's top article generates over 12100 views. Bookmark Justin Alan to your Favourites.
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