Widget: RSS Ticker
Overview
The RSS ticker widget displays a scrolling or fading ticker of your RSS feed items. It provides a standardized solution to automatically display updated textual web feeds (such as blog entries, news headlines and twitter feeds) in a clean and easy-to-read format. An RSS Ticker widget is commonly used for:
- Displaying the latest news feeds and/or headlines from online media broadcasts including news sites.
- Providing the latest updates from users on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
- Sharing of new content from blogs and organizations with regularly maintained websites.
Editing RSS Ticker Widget Appearance and Behavior
Step 1
From an existing application, click on the RSS ticker widget from the selected layout or select it from the list of widgets on the right. To edit the widget in the Visual Editor, click on the Properties button at the bottom right. This will bring up the widget properties dialog.
Step 2
On the APPEARANCE tab, you will be able to view the layout of the widget. The right hand side of the page contains all the editable properties of the widget which includes:
- COMMON: general widget color, width, and margin settings
- PROPERTIES: the various attributes that affect how the RSS information will be displayed
- FONT: different customization options for different fields of the RSS feed
The PROPERTIES section allows you to alter the behavior of the RSS text being displayed, such as:
- Display Layout: the arrangement of elements
- Layout Spacing: the gap between the content and the layout
- Item Spacing: the space between each RSS item in the ticker feed
- Ticker Speed: the speed of the text moving in the feed
- Ticker Direction: the direction of the movement of the ticker feed
Step 3
To change the RSS feed display layout, click on the [+] sign to the right of the Display Layout field under PROPERTIES.
In the Layout Display window, click and drag any of the elements from the Available Element column and drop it into the Display Element column in order to display it in the RSS Ticker, and vice-versa to hide it. You may also re-order any of the elements in the Display Element using the drag and drop method. Click OK when you have completed your layout selection.
Step 4
In the FONT section, you can utilize the sub-tabs for customizing the look of the TITLE, DATE and TEXT using a variety of formatting options, including font type, size, alignment and color. Be sure to click the Apply button to confirm the changes you have made.
Note
Refer to the table below for additional details of the FONT settings.
FONT Sub-tab Properties
The TITLE, DATE and TEXT tabs share the same customization options for their respective sections in the RSS feed, namely:
| Property Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Font | Provides the options to select the font from the dropdown list |
| Size | Assigns a selection of sizes for the designated text (from 8 to 120) |
| Align | Designates the positioning of the text in the layout (Left Align, Right Align or Center Align) |
| Color | Customizes the color of the text to be displayed |
| Bold | Toggles the text to be formatted in BOLD |
Adding RSS Feeds
Step 1
Click the CONTENT tab. You will be able to view the list of RSS feeds you have uploaded (if any). Proceed by clicking either the Add RSS button or the Add RSS link (only available if no existing RSS feeds are listed on the page).
Step 2
In the RSS Feed window, choose the Common Feeds option to quickly and easily add web feeds based on freely available feed channels, including Industry, World, Sports and Entertainment news. To select a feed, use the radio buttons that appear to the right of each RSS feed. Once you have selected a feed, click the Apply button.
If you choose the Custom Feeds option, you can assign your own tailor-made web feed based on the URL you provide. Enter the web address into the URL box and click the Apply button when finished.
Step 3
For both Common Feeds and Custom Feeds, you are able to configure the following options:
- Refresh Rate (Every 15 minutes to Every day): determines how frequently the system will search for new content from the web feed
- Max Age (Never expires, 1 week, 1 month): designates the expiration date of the oldest updated content from the web feed
- Max Items Per Feed (1 to Unlimited): configures the maximum number of content (items) to be displayed for each individual web feed
Editing RSS Feeds
Step 1
From the CONTENT tab, click the date link of the designated RSS feed under the Updated column.
Step 2
In the RSS Feed window, make the changes to the Refresh Rate, Max Age and/or Max Items Per Feed options as desired. Click Apply when finished to confirm the changes made.
Removing RSS Feeds
Step 1
From the CONTENT tab, click the Remove link under the Options column for the RSS feed to be deleted.
Step 2
When prompted by the confirmation dialog, click OK to proceed with removing the RSS feed from the widget.
