How To Build A Web Site with Free Stuff - Syndicated Content
January 24, 2000
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In this, the fourth part in
the series,
we look at some third-party or 'syndicated' content.
This is content that is generated or provided elsewhere,
i.e. on somebody else's server rather than your own.
One example is free
news headlines;
they will appear on your web page by means of some form of
inclusion mechanism, but when the user clicks on
one of them, they will get a page from another server.
Another example is
cartoons,
which are typically embedded in your page by having an
IMG tag
refer to the image on another server (this is an example of an
exception to the
admonition to not link to images
on another server
- as long as the cartoonist permits it!)
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Note the differences between these examples - in the case of free
news headlines, you may lose your visitor to the other site if
they click through to read the actual news article; but in the
case of cartoons, you'll only lose them if they get curious
about what else the cartoonist has to offer.
This brings us to considering the pros and cons of using free
syndicated content:
Advantages
- You get some free content.
- You don't have to maintain it.
- It gets updated regularly.
- Visitors might come back for more.
- You can use it as a trial run for a more expensive version.
These overlap to some degree, and how much of a benefit a free
service brings to you will of course depend on your specific
goals and circumstances. Having free headlines or cartoons on
your site might seem like a cool thing to do, but you might
want to consider the potential disadvantages described below,
before plunging in.
Disadvantages
- Visitors may leak away from your site.
- You have no control over the content quality.
- You might end up with broken links if the service ceases abruptly.
- Content from another server might slow down the loading of your page.
If you have just a couple of pages with syndicated content,
you might want to check them frequently. I've known a couple of
services to disappear without warning, leaving embarrassing holes
in my pages. If you have many pages with syndicated content on them,
you might prefer to create one large single page with them all on,
just for checking purposes (not necessarily visible to your visitors).
I have provided the HTML needed to implement many of the examples
given, which you can cut and paste to get a result immediately.
But I strongly advise you to check the hosting site for
conditions of use, updates, etc., before publishing your new
page. And as always - don't forget to give credit and a link
back to the creator or host of the original content!
Contents:
News Headlines
Cartoon Strips
Tips and Fun Stuff
Weather, Maps, and Stock Quotes
How To Build a Web Site with Free Stuff Table of Contents
News Headlines
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