Orange XML button & why use it?

While at the not so long ago Gospelcom conference, someone eluded to an internal debate going on within Gospelcom on whether or not they should use an Orange XML/RSS button.

This post isn’t to answer that question but to show everyone where the Orange XML button came from and how we should present it to our users.

First:

Every wonder how to Orange XML button came about? Find out.

Second:

Now that you know that information - The following questions then arise:

Should we use the icon? Why or Why not?
Do we link directly to the XML feed? Why?
How does a user have any idea what this stupid orange button will do for them?

My answers:

Answer 1:

Yes! It’s not the best icon but it’s pretty much the standard across the board. Confusing users with different buttons/different verbiage will confuse them while browsing other websites. A common button allows users to begin understanding what’s going on while browsing.

I could be convinced however that the standard is still new and if going to be changed - should be done now. If that’s the case, you need to figure out how to get everyone else to follow your lead.

Answer 2:

Definitely not. If a user selects the button (on purpose or accident), they only get a screen of messy code that they don’t understand. They then think your site is broken. (solution in next answer)

Answer 3:

I usually recommend showing the button but adding a text link right next to it that says “Feeds Available” or “Syndicate this site”.

Along with that, I never link directly to the feed - I always send them to a page that educates them on what this feature can do for them. on this page they are provided with links to different news readers and different feed types.

Example:

My Personal Site - http://www.theparagon.org/feeds/
A Client Site - Hudsonville Ice Cream (scroll to the bottom of the site).

posted on December 27, 2004 | 4:04 PM EST

4 Comments

Add to the discussion.

Bill Creswell Says:

I am just glad they are having the debate. I wish all sites with regularly update content had RSS feeds. I love doing the “check feeds” in Sage while I check my email, to see what sites are updated.
It would be so cool, for example, for the local Christian Radio stations to have concert RSS feeds, for the local news sites to have local news feeds…

Posted at: December 27, 2004 5:05 PM

Bill Creswell Says:

1. Yes - it’s fine and easily identified, whether it says XML or RSS.
2. Very seldom is someone going to click on something named RSS or XML - it’s not compelling verbiage without knowing what it means.
3. May not help to have that wording, as those who are not familiar with rss are not going to understand those headings either.

Posted at: December 27, 2004 5:10 PM

KMB Says:

Just curious, but why aren’t you using the orange symbol??

And the link to your Feeds in the post above is missing a “

:-)

Posted at: February 12, 2005 12:20 PM

Aaron Schaap Says:

I’m not using the orange button because I think it’s kinda tacky on my website. For larger sites I do end up adding it (as shown on the bottom of the Hudsonville Ice Cream recipes section.

The links to my feeds in my posts are links to my feeds but underlined because they are acronyms. If you roll over them your curser will change to a question mark (depending on browser) and it will show you what each acronym means.

For example XML means Extensible Markup Language.

Posted at: February 12, 2005 12:29 PM

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