I’ve just released version 1.11 of the DualFeeds plugin for WordPress.

What is DualFeeds?

For those of you who don’t know what DualFeeds is, its a WordPress plugin that allows you to offer BOTH Full Post AND Summary feeds, so your readers can choose the format which suits them best.

What Are The Changes?

This update only contains a few minor changes, as follows:

1. I’ve added the alt attribute to the image tags for better accessibility / validation. This only affects you if you use the sidebar widget or the RSS icons at the end of each post. It does not affect the functionality of the images, just provides better accessibility / validation.
2. I’ve removed an extra space in the feed autodiscovery link for the Comment feed. This does not affect the functionality of the plugin - it just makes the Comment feed line up better with the other feeds (when the Autodiscovery button is clicked in a web browser).
3. I’ve made the Subscribe.png image 170px wide instead of 180px, so that it doesn’t break narrow sidebars. This image is only used when the Show Text Instead Of Image parameter is selected. All other sidebar images remain 180px. At some point in the future, I am going to overhaul the presentation element of DualFeeds, but this may help people in the meantime.

Where Do I Get It?

DualFeeds 1.11 can be downloaded from the DualFeeds plugin home page. Further information about the plugin and it’s features, including upgrade instructions, is also available on the plugin home page.

I’m pleased to announce the release of DualFeeds v1.1 for WordPress.

This version includes many new features, including better support for FeedBurner, support for feed autodiscovery, improved summary feed and presentational elements to help promote your feeds.

What is DualFeeds?

DualFeeds is a WordPress plugin allowing you to offer BOTH Full Post AND Summary feeds, so your readers can choose the format which suits them best.

WordPress 2.3 Compatibility

For those of you wondering whether it’s compatible with WordPress 2.3, the answer is yes! Both version 1.1 and 1.0 are compatible with WordPress 2.3.

Major Changes

• Better FeedBurner support: DualFeeds can now redirect feed requests for your first, second and comment feed URLs to the appropriate FeedBurner URL. This can be used with or instead of FeedSmith.
• Option to turn on feed autodiscovery links for your Full Post, Summary and Comments feeds, so modern browsers can autodiscover your feeds.
• Improved truncation of entries in the summary feed if there is no excerpt or more tag. Instead of being cut off mid-word, they are cut off after the last full word (within the Maximum Summary Length).
• Summary feed now includes a "visit site to read more" link at the end of each entry. Requested by RT from Untwisted Vortex.
• Prominent sidebar widget linking to the Full Post, Summary & Comments feeds. No need to edit your theme to set up links (unless you want to!). 
• Option to display links to the Full Post, Summary and Comments Feeds at the end of each post / page.

These are just the major changes. Visit the ChangeLog for the full list of changes.

Where Do I Get It?

DualFeeds 1.1 can be downloaded from the DualFeeds plugin home page. Further information about the plugin and it’s features, including upgrade instructions, is also available on the plugin home page.

I’ve been quiet for the last week or so, as I’ve been busy working on an update to the DualFeeds plugin. It’s almost finished. I told someone it would be ready in a week - that was two weeks ago! I’ve ended up adding a lot of new features, so I thought I’d give a quick rundown of them here.

Easier To Use

One of my focuses has been to make using DualFeeds easier for the average user. To this end, the following features have been included:

• Sidebar Widget calling attention to your feeds, with links to Full Post, Summary and Comments feeds. No need to edit your theme to set up links (unless you want to!). You can see it in my sidebar - 13 different images or use text formatted using your sidebar style.
• Feed Icons, with links to Full Post, Summary and Comments feeds, immediately after the body of each post. Can be enabled / disabled on posts, pages, front page and on category and archive pages.
• The option to turn on feed autodiscovery links for Full Post, Summary and Comments feeds, so browsers such as Firefox can autodiscover your feeds. No need to edit your theme to set this up.
• The Options page now lists the URLs for both feeds for your site (you don’t have to work it out yourself).
• The Options page now dectects whether the Syndication Feeds parameter on the Options -> Reading page is set to Full Text and warns you if it’s not.

Note: First 2 points inspired by Glen Allsop’s Increase Your RSS Subscribers with Simple Tweaks, although I’ve done things slightly differently.

Better FeedBurner Support

Although DualFeeds 1.0 works with FeedBurner, there is a potential issue with plugins such as FeedSmith (as outlined in Guide To Using DualFeeds With FeedBurner). FeedSmith is not aware of the ’second’ feed created by DualFeeds, so cannot redirect it properly.

The upcoming version of DualFeeds has FeedSmith-like functionality built in, so that DualFeeds can redirect feed requests to the normal feed URLs (for first, second and comment feeds) to the appropriate FeedBurner URL.

If you want, you can continue to use FeedSmith for the first and comment feeds, and use DualFeeds to redirect the second feed only, or you can use DualFeeds for all three feeds.

Other Improvements

• It was brought to my attention, by RT Cunningham at Untwisted Vortex, that in version 1.0, the summary feed didn’t have a link to the full article at the end of each entry. This has now been added.
• The truncation of entries in the summary feed (if there is no excerpt or more tag) has been improved. DualFeeds 1.0 cuts entries off mid-word. The new version rolls back to the last complete word.

There a few other minor changes, which will be listed in the Changelog.txt distributed with the plugin.

The Final Word

The plugin is essentially finished now, apart from adding a check for update option, tidying the code and writing some documentation. There are other things I’d like to do (including subcribe to feeds via email), but I’ve had to draw the line here for this version.

The new version will be released in about a week. If anyone is interested in Beta testing it now, leave a comment below and I’ll email it to you.

Note: This post has been superceded by the Using DualFeeds With FeedBurner article.

People have asked if the DualFeeds plugin can be used with FeedBurner. DualFeeds does work with Feedburner, although there is a potential issue if a plugin such as FeedSmith is in use. This is a guide to using DualFeeds with FeedBurner, including an explanation of the FeedSmith issue.

Adding The Second Feed To FeedBurner

To use DualFeeds with FeedBurner, you will need to add the second feed to FeedBurner. You must know the URL of the second feed to do this. This is explained fully in the Usage section of the DualFeeds plugin page, but here is an example (remember to replace yoursite.com with your domain):

• http://www.yoursite.com/feed/?dualfeed=2 (if you use permalinks)
• http://www.yoursite.com/?feed=rss2&dualfeed=2 (if no permalinks)

To add the feed, go to FeedBurner’s home page and enter the URL for the second feed in the space provided, then click Next. Alternatively, if you are already logged in to Feedburner, you can use the Burn a feed right this instant field from the My Feeds screen.

You will then be walked through adding the feed. Make sure you use a different Feed Title and Feed Address than you used for your first feed. When you complete the process, you will be provided with a FeedBurner URL for the second feed.

Making The Second Feed Accessible To Readers

You should now have 4 feed addresses: the default WordPress URL and a FeedBurner URL for both the normal feed and the ’second’ feed.

The normal feed should already be available to your readers on your site. How you make the ’second’ feed available to your readers will depend on how you chose to make the normal feed available.

If You Don’t Use FeedSmith

If you do not use a plugin such as FeedSmith, then you probably edited your theme manually and changed the URL (for the normal feed) from the default WordPress one to the FeedBurner one. If this is the case, you simply add the second feed below the normal one.

Instructions on how to do this can be found in Adding A Link To The Second Feed on the DualFeeds plugin page. Just use the FeedBurner URL for the second feed instead of the default WordPress one and you’re done!

If You Do Use FeedSmith

If you use FeedBurner’s FeedSmith or a similar plugin, such Flagrant Disregard’s Feedburner Plugin, things are slightly more complicated.

You probably didn’t change the URL for the normal feed to the FeedBurner one, meaning your site still provides users with the original WordPress URL. The FeedSmith (or similar) plugin will pick up feed requests to the WordPress URL and automatically redirect them to the FeedBurner URL.

It is possible to setup the second feed manually using the FeedBurner URL, as described above in the If You Don’t Use FeedSmith section. This will work right now, but means you are providing one feed using the normal WordPress URL and another using the FeedBurner URL.

It would be better to be consistent and use the normal URL for the ’second’ feed (eg http://www.yoursite.com/feed/?dualfeed=2), as per Adding A Link To The Second Feed on the DualFeeds plugin page.

The problem is that at present, FeedSmith and similar plugins are not aware of the ’second’ feed that DualFeeds creates. They will redirect any feed requests made via the normal WordPress URL, including those for the second feed, to the FeedBurner URL for the first feed.

I am looking into ways of making DualFeeds work with such plugins, so that requests for the second feed are correctly redirected to the FeedBurner URL for the second feed. I hope to release a new version of DualFeeds, which addresses this, in the near future.

The Final Word

The DualFeeds plugin does work with FeedBurner. If you don’t use FeedSmith or a similar plugin, then there is no problem.

If you do use FeedSmith or something similar, when you set up the link for the second feed, you have the choice of:

• Using the FeedBurner URL (works now).
• Using the WordPress URL (more consistent, but you will need to wait for the next release of DualFeeds).

I have just released a new WordPress plugin called DualFeeds, which allows you to offer your readers both full post and summary feeds.

WordPress only allows you to offer your readers one format. The problem is that some people prefer to have the full post to read now, while others prefer to have summaries they can skim through now and follow up later.

DualFeeds allows your subscribers to choose the format that suits them.

If the full post feed is chosen, the <!–more–> tag will be stripped from the content, ensuring the subscriber gets the full post.

The summary feed uses the extract (if it exists) or the more tag (if it exists). If neither exist, it cuts the post after a user definable number of characters.

See it in action: try Entries RSS (Full Post) and Entries RSS (Summary) in the Meta section of my sidebar (near the bottom), or try the following links:

• Main Site Feed (Full Post)
• Main Site Feed (Summary)
• WordPress Category Feed (Full Post)
• WordPress Category Feed (Summary)

By default, the normal feed is the full post, the ’second feed’ is the summary, but you can switch this to minimise disruption to current subscribers.

DualFeeds works for all post feeds (category, author, etc), not just the main site feed, and does not affect comment feeds.

Full details on the plugin can be found at the DualFeeds home page.