Enable RSS Readers for Hugo Sites
A RSS reader, old but like rivets, still useful
Some readers of my blog prefer to recieve updates about content via their existing RSS reader. Many popular RSS readers exist, I did a bit of research to enable RSS readers to properly interact with the site.
RSS readers will periodically read a feed url. In my case I used the URL index.xml. We need to do a few things to enable RSS readers.
- Enable auto generation of a feed url. Be mindful to not have invalid characters in article titles, as xml will not pass lint.
The output below line 3 tells hugo to use the template index.xml for the home sections. You will notice I also create json, the json template enables search via lunr.js
| |
Enable the XML template.
Reading the fine documentation for hugo. You will find a section about Template Lookup Order. The template order is a powerful and easy way to make sure that modifications can be made to the site from multiple locations. Think 3rd party templates or local templates in testing/beta. The link tells us that we need to create a index.xml in our layouts directory. You will notice logic statement in the template file encased in “braces” {{- -}}. I like to use the - inside braces as it prevent additional whitespace on output. Although preventing whitespace is not important in all cases, it is a good style component for me so I dont forget it when whitespace should be limited.
- customize xml to include proper sections
{{- $pctx := . }}
{{- if .IsHome }}{{ $pctx = .Site }}{{ end }}
{{- $pages := slice }}
{{- if or $.IsHome $.IsSection }}
{{- $pages = $pctx.RegularPages }}
{{- else }}
{{- $pages = $pctx.Pages }}
{{- end }}
{{- $limit := .Site.Config.Services.RSS.Limit }}
{{- if ge $limit 1 }}
{{- $pages = $pages | first $limit }}
{{- end }}
{{- printf "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>" | safeHTML }}
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<channel>
<title>{{ if eq .Title .Site.Title }}{{ .Site.Title }}{{ else }}{{ with .Title }}{{ . }} on {{ end }}{{ .Site.Title }}{{ end }}</title>
<link>{{ .Permalink }}</link>
<description>Recent content {{ if ne .Title .Site.Title }}{{ with .Title }}in {{ . }} {{ end }}{{ end }}on {{ .Site.Title }}</description>
<generator>Hugo</generator>
<language>{{ site.Language.LanguageCode }}</language>{{ with $authorEmail }}
<managingEditor>{{.}}{{ with $authorName }} ({{ . }}){{ end }}</managingEditor>{{ end }}{{ with $authorEmail }}
<webMaster>{{ . }}{{ with $authorName }} ({{ . }}){{ end }}</webMaster>{{ end }}{{ with .Site.Copyright }}
<copyright>{{ . }}</copyright>{{ end }}{{ if not .Date.IsZero }}
<lastBuildDate>{{ (index $pages.ByLastmod.Reverse 0).Lastmod.Format "Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 -0700" | safeHTML }}</lastBuildDate>{{ end }}
{{- with .OutputFormats.Get "RSS" }}
{{ printf "<atom:link href=%q rel=\"self\" type=%q />" .Permalink .MediaType | safeHTML }}
{{- end }}
{{ $pages := where site.RegularPages "Type" "in" site.Params.mainSections }}
{{- range $pages }}
<item>
<title>{{ .Title }}</title>
<link>{{ .Permalink }}</link>
<pubDate>{{ .PublishDate.Format "Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 -0700" | safeHTML }}</pubDate>
{{- with $authorEmail }}<author>{{ . }}{{ with $authorName }} ({{ . }}){{ end }}</author>{{ end }}
<guid>{{ .Permalink }}</guid>
{{- if .Page.Params.description -}}
<description>{{ .Page.Params.description | transform.XMLEscape | safeHTML }}</description>
{{ else }}
<description>{{ .Summary | transform.XMLEscape | safeHTML }}</description>
{{ end }}
</item>
{{- end }}
</channel>
</rss>
Once the two steps above have been completed validate your xml with a linter.
Validating your content in a RSS reader is also a good idea.
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