NOTICE: New WMS required.
If your site is not yet migrated, consult the Index of documentation for the McGill Web Management System.
OVERVIEW
Target audience: Site Administrators, Site Managers
This article explains how to display RSS feeds on sites that have already migrated to the New Web Management System (WMS) using the Feed Aggregator.
What is an RSS feed?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a standardized web format that automatically publishes updated content such as news, events, or announcements from one website so it can be reused on another.
Instead of manually copying content, RSS allows your website to subscribe to updates and display them automatically.
RSS feeds can be used to:
- Display content from academic journals or associations
- Show latest publications from a researcher (when available)
- Reuse news or announcements across sites
How RSS feeds work in the New WMS
- You add an RSS feed URL to your site.
- Your WMS site imports items from that feed on a scheduled basis.
- Feed items are displayed in global blocks on your site.
Add a feed
- Go to Configuration > Web services > Aggregator in the site administration menu.
- Click Add feed.
- Enter the following:
- Title: A descriptive name for the feed
- URL: The full RSS feed URL (must start with https://)
- Update interval: How often the WMS checks for updates
- Defaults to once per day
- More frequent intervals (e.g. every 15 minutes) are ignored
- You can set less frequent updates (e.g. once per week)
- Click Save.
The feed will appear in the Aggregator list with:
- Title
- Number of items imported
- Last update
- Next scheduled update
TIP: Force an update
When you first create a feed, items are not imported until the scheduled update runs.
To import immediately, click the arrow beside Edit and select Update items.
Click the feed title to view its items (titles, dates, summaries).
Display the feed in a global block
Feeds are displayed using blocks that must be configured and placed on your site.
- Go to Structure > Block layout.
- Select a region and click Place block.
- Find Aggregator feed and click Place block.
Configure the block
- Enter a Title
- Choose whether to display the title
- Select the feed to display
- Choose the number of items to display
- Select the pages where the block will appear
- Click Save block.
Remove a feed
- Go to Configuration > Web services > Aggregator.
- Locate the feed.
- Click the arrow beside Edit and select Delete.
The feed and all associated items will be removed from the site.
