Browse new feed items by source or category

Aggregator2 doesn't implement "special system" for categories. You can use Taxonomy module for that - just setup categories and then associate feed and it's item with them.

Browsing by categories can be done through taxonomy.
Browsing by source is implemented in CVS (ie. aggregator2/sources page).

The "source" link on both feed and item nodes is incorrect. It only points to site base, rather than a deep link. This is very misleading to the end users.

The details are reported in my latest GUID/ID issue.

Link to my other post: http://drupal.org/node/35403

The "source" link on both feed and item nodes is incorrect. It only points to site base, rather than a deep link. This is very misleading to the end users.

If You mean that source site is in some subfolder of main URL then there's no way for aggregator2 to know it except from tag in feed.

If You mean it should point directly to item's content, there's "full article" linke for that.
If they're confusing please propose some other names (i'm not english native speaker so there's very big chance my english is not so understandable :), or just use translations to change them :)

The issue got solved by my PHP 5 fix. Sigh...

My only remaining suggestion is to create a pathauto extension to automatically generate aliases for source pages. Paths .../aggregator2/sources/324 are confusing.

It is also somewhat counter-intuitive why 'sources' URLs have all feed contents, but do not correspond to a node. The feed node on the other hand has no content. It is only logical to combine them, displaying different UI depending on user permissions.

Would adding "view items" link to aggregator2-feed node help temporary?

Generating aliases also can help, but i'm not sure it should be in aggregator2.module. Not everyone wants additional aliases to be created (they can slow down site a lot).

I also don't like that on node view there are no items and there's special path needed :( I was thinking about adding item listing to feed node content, but then feed's links would be below node list which would be confusing.

We could also try to workaround this with theming, but that's not ideal solution either :(

A link to news items would be great improvement with UI , IMHO :) Another thought is to have a link with xml image to original news feed, instead of just outputing the url in the node view of the feed.

Great module, just started playing around with it and I am very impressed. Thanks for this much needed module contribution.

Adding "view items" link to aggregator2-feed node would help, but only temporarily.

The real concern is proliferation of pages (like these source pages) that are not nodes and therefore non-trivial to manage without some custom hacking. These are perfectly fine if restricted to admins, but may not be quite ready for user-visible content.

My vote is for integrating feed items display/management into the feed node and reducing pages that are not nodes. We also need more flexibility customizing user-visible nodes, e.g. our non-technical users will definitely be confused by "aggregator2" caption and much other tech-speak. All this, including whether and how to display items should be set up in configurable role-based feed node settings.

Regarding path/pathauto this is a must for search engine optimization. It would take a small extension to pathauto module to create aliases for feed/item nodes...

i take back my last pathauto comment. if we move the source page under a regular node (like into aggregator2-feed) pathauto has a setting to handle it "as-is".

however if it is an "orphaned" page, there is nothing pathauto can do.

I've just commited change adding "view items" link.

Now if someone could find better naming for all those links... because they may seem confusing. Of course it's just defaults, and easy to change with localization module, but good defaults would be nice thing to have :)

Another thought is to have a link with xml image to original news feed, instead of just outputing the url in the node view of the feed.

Yes, i plan to add full re-feeding functionality (ie. generating RSS feed with aggregated items :).

Great module, just started playing around with it and I am very impressed. Thanks for this much needed module contribution.

Thanks! I'm glad You like it :)

The real concern is proliferation of pages (like these source pages) that are not nodes and therefore non-trivial to manage without some custom hacking. These are perfectly fine if restricted to admins, but may not be quite ready for user-visible content.

Hmm... You're right about pages which are not-nodes. I also don't like them too much.

My vote is for integrating feed items display/management into the feed node and reducing pages that are not nodes.

I'm against that idea, because feed node is something else from item node. Adding items contents to feed content (even if only on screen) is not too good solution (for example it may break themes).

But Your earlier comment (not-nodes pages) pointed me to other solution. How about another "mini-module" which will create "item listing" node for each feed? It would need special theming to not show any links section, author, title... just content. And in content there would be feed node, and item nodes listing added. So something similar to news_page module, just knowing about feed->items connection and not dependin on words inside content :).

We also need more flexibility customizing user-visible nodes, e.g. our non-technical users will definitely be confused by "aggregator2" caption and much other tech-speak.

You mean in path? Or in menu? In menu, and inside help, descriptions, etc... it can be easly changed with localisation module. As for path... it could be changed if we used described above module.

A new mini-module focused on user-visible presentation should be fine.

I am not sure the new module/node should drop all those fields that you suggest (links section, author, title...). The aggregated feed view should provide the user experience as close as possible to the original feed source. Best of all maybe to allow these features, but make them configurable by admin.

The "aggregator2" caption that I am referring to is the one displayed on current source page. The problem would go away if the new "feed-view" node would allow to configure it to anything, along with description/help and other contents. Maybe it should be based on flexinode.

This is a great module already. Now it needs a little push to become end-user friendly.

I am not sure the new module/node should drop all those fields that you suggest (links section, author, title...).

Sorry, i described it wrongly. What i ment was that fields of that "feed-view-node" could be dropped. So it could show page like current aggregator2/sources/xxx. Otherwise it's own links section would be shown below list of nodes, which would look ugly (imagine first it's own title, then goes title and normal teaser view of feed, then teser views of X items, then pager, and last it's own links section - confusing and ugly :).

This is a great module already. Now it needs a little push to become end-user friendly.

Thanks, and yes - end-user friendliness is good thing :)

I agree that using current aggregator2/sources/xxx page as starting point is a good idea. Still, I would suggest to modify it in the following ways:

(1) "aggregator2" title

Should be customizable to user-friendly feed label / description.

(2) Feed vs. Item Display Distinction

Right now the summary of feed node on the sources page looks a lot like each item and therefore is confusing. Maybe feed node summary should be merged with title replacement (1) and perhaps it should be shown with a border or delimited in some other way to indicate its special status.

(3) Feed/Item Link Names & Logic

Feed link "source site" points to the original feed source URL, while "source" link on feed items points to the same aggregator2/sources/xxx page that contains it. I suggest to reserve the word "source" only for links to the original source. This means it should replace "full article" link on the feed item. Finally, there should be a way to force opening the source site links in a new browser window, maybe as a config option.

(4) Trackback

If trackback module is enabled, it should be possible to invoke trackback hooks for every feed item in feed-view as they appear on standalone feed-item nodes. It may also make sense to include a simple "trackback" link under every item in the feed-view node. This would make feed-view look like authentic MovableType blog.

i have been testing the latest from CVS and the recent fixes seem to work, except that neither "view items" link nor Original Author display does not show up

hope this could be fixed together with other usability / display issues

(1) "aggregator2" title

Should be customizable to user-friendly feed label / description.

In case of node, it will be just a title of node. So very customizable :)
Also it should already be possible to change throught localization module.

(2) Feed vs. Item Display Distinction

Right now the summary of feed node on the sources page looks a lot like each item and therefore is confusing. Maybe feed node summary should be merged with title replacement (1) and perhaps it should be shown with a border or delimited in some other way to indicate its special status.

That's mostly a job for theme, not module.

(3) Feed/Item Link Names & Logic

Feed link "source site" points to the original feed source URL, while "source" link on feed items points to the same aggregator2/sources/xxx page that contains it. I suggest to reserve the word "source" only for links to the original source. This means it should replace "full article" link on the feed item. Finally, there should be a way to force opening the source site links in a new browser window, maybe as a config option.

Ok, so how "source" link (pointing to feed node) should be called?
As for forcing new window i'm totally against it (there are few articles on internet about why it's bad). It may be done with theme (phptemplate) if someone really wants to.

(4) Trackback

If trackback module is enabled, it should be possible to invoke trackback hooks for every feed item in feed-view as they appear on standalone feed-item nodes. It may also make sense to include a simple "trackback" link under every item in the feed-view node. This would make feed-view look like authentic MovableType blog.
#15 submitted by dkruglyak on November 2, 2005 - 07:03

I never used MovableType, or any similar module. Could You post some link to the page which shows how it should look?

i have been testing the latest from CVS and the recent fixes seem to work, except that neither "view items" link nor Original Author display does not show up

Did You configured "view items" link to show up? On admin/settings/aggregator2 page?
What do You mean by "Original Author display does not show up"? It's not added to content. It must be done by theme for now. It should be visible on node edition page.

Sorry if my comments ring obvious. I have not yet gotten to theme customization in the earnest. Further notes:

(1) I believe the source page has not been converted into node yet. That is why it is unclear to me where to customize "aggregator2" title.

(2) OK, I look forward to starting with theme customization. Would appreciate any pointers on how to get started. Some good defaults would be nice of course.

(3) I think that other "source" link can be dropped. There is already "read more" that essentially does the same. Anyone who clicks source, really want the whole item.

(4) Here is an example (http://www.siliconbeat.com/). MovableType seems to be the most feature-rich / usability-proven blogging tool out there. Note Trackback / Linking Posts links, their reply counts and clear "Continue Reading" teaser delimiter.

OK, I found where to enable "view items" link and now understand the intention about Original Author. Still, maybe a good default for its display is in order.

Thanks for all your help.

(1) I believe the source page has not been converted into node yet. That is why it is unclear to me where to customize "aggregator2" title.

You have to have locale module enabled. Then just create "own english" language and translate anything You don't like to anything You like :)

(2) OK, I look forward to starting with theme customization. Would appreciate any pointers on how to get started. Some good defaults would be nice of course.

Check documentation of PHPTemplate. You just have to create "node-aggregator2-item.tpl" template file, based on node.tpl template file and modify it. For example You can change "authored by" part to output $node->author (ie. original author of item).

(3) I think that other "source" link can be dropped. There is already "read more" that essentially does the same. Anyone who clicks source, really want the whole item.

No, if we keep "view items" we have to keep also link to feed. Please keep in mind that there are people who want to keep visitor on site as long as it's possible.

(4) Here is an example (http://www.siliconbeat.com/). MovableType seems to be the most feature-rich / usability-proven blogging tool out there. Note Trackback / Linking Posts links, their reply counts and clear "Continue Reading" teaser delimiter.

So trackback just shows how many and which other sites/pages point to node, right? Or just other nodes on the same site pointing to this node?
In any case it's not a job for aggregator2 module. If there's trackback module and adds links like those on the site You linked, they should be already visible on item nodes.

OK, I found where to enable "view items" link and now understand the intention about Original Author. Still, maybe a good default for its display is in order.

I saw some module for Drupal distributing .tpl file for PHPTemplate. I think it's a good idea to provide "defaults", without putting them inside module.

Thanks for all your help.

No problem :)

A few minor comments:

No, if we keep "view items" we have to keep also link to feed. Please keep in mind that there are people who want to keep visitor on site as long as it's possible.

I think some of my language was confusing. Both "source" and "read more" links really point to the same item. Maybe source link should not be displayed only on the page that organizes all item teasers, since that is where it adds nothing.

So trackback just shows how many and which other sites/pages point to node, right? Or just other nodes on the same site pointing to this node?
In any case it's not a job for aggregator2 module. If there's trackback module and adds links like those on the site You linked, they should be already visible on item nodes.

Trackback is not a Drupal term. It is the way for blogs to communicate. Drupal has a trackback module that renders on node page. However its counts are not shown on "view items" page. Seeing trackback presense at a quick glance increases likelihood a visitor will click to learn more.

I think some of my language was confusing. Both "source" and "read more" links really point to the same item. Maybe source link should not be displayed only on the page that organizes all item teasers, since that is where it adds nothing.

It's hard to implement without "hacks" :( For example taxonomy listing also shows just teasers, but not all of nodes have to be from the same feed.
Maybe just an option to show "source" link only on "full page view"?

Trackback is not a Drupal term. It is the way for blogs to communicate. Drupal has a trackback module that renders on node page. However its counts are not shown on "view items" page. Seeing trackback presense at a quick glance increases likelihood a visitor will click to learn more

Hmm... so trackback module shows counts only on "full page" view, right? Or does it show counts in "links" part teaser on other pages (like on taxonomy page)?
In any case it is most likely a something with trackback module, not with aggregator2, because all aggregator2 does is just load node, and show it on page - all through Drupal's own API, so there shouldn't be differenece between node view from aggregator2 page and from taxonomy page.