RSS feed link doesn't open up reader or just dumps out raw XML

I developed an RSS feed following a tutorial and I think the .xml file itself is in order. However, I have two problems:

When people click on the RSS link, it doesn't automatically load into their RSS readers
For those that don't have an RSS reader, clicking the link results in a page full of code which is not very understandable

I was hoping that there might be some tips on how to easily realize this.

2012-04-04 06:22
by Vincent

Try to remove the <![CDATA[ and ]]> in the description tag.

I downloaded your xml, changed those lines, tested it on my server, and it worked in google's rss reader.

2012-04-04 06:34
by Tad

Hi Tad, thanks for answering. The RSS works when you manually load it into a reader, the problem is that somehow the link doesn't automatically open the reader. Is this a local setting or something I should manage server side?

Additionally, for those that don't have a reader, the browser just shows the code. It would be nice if I could find a solution to make that look better as well. Btw - I did remove the CDATA tags, just to make sure. But it doesn't change the problem I described - Vincent 2012-04-04 09:34

Whats the exact filename and URL of your xml-rss-file - Tad 2012-04-04 11:32

That should be http://www.startupeuvents.com/rssfeed.xml But you should get there by using http://www.startupeuvents.com/rs - Vincent 2012-04-04 18:11

Alright, your xml link above doesn't work.

There also seems to something wrong with your .htaccess file, because it links all links without the leading www. back to your front page. For example http://www.startupeuvents.com/city_special/paris-the-city-of-light-and-a-hotspot-for-startups works fine, but http://startupeuvents.com/city_special/paris-the-city-of-light-and-a-hotspot-for-startups redirects back to http://www.startupeuvents.com/.
You could check your feed with Feedvalidator or use FeedBurner for your rss-feed - Tad 2012-04-08 13:04

Thanks for finding the bug Tad - I'll look into the .htaccess fil - Vincent 2012-04-12 06:17

Thanks Tad! - Just uploaded it on Feedburner and the problem I had seems to be solved - Vincent 2012-04-12 06:28

This is a browser and user profile dependent issue in how the RSS link is going to react when clicked on.

If the user has the action set up to automatically load it into their feed reader of choice, it will do that.

If they don't, then it won't.

For those that just see a raw dump, it could be that they're using a browser that does not support RSS feeds and will dump out the XML as raw text. Google Chrome (at least still in version 18) without the use of extensions or add-ons will usually be the dump truck culprit here.

2012-04-11 03:33
by random

Thanks random - This was exactly the problem I was trying to solve. Tad's idea of using Feedburner seems to have solved the problem - Vincent 2012-04-12 06:29