Posts with tag rss

Blizzard has added some nice new features to the World of Warcraft Armory, including a few players have been asking for in the past. The most exciting change is something that doesn't seem to be working quite correctly yet -- they're including a Flash-based model viewer for characters that will let you see what a toon looks like without ever logging into the game. So says their updates page, but as of this writing, the whole system is going up and down, and we couldn't get it to work correctly on any of our PCs. Should be done soon, though.

Other updates include character activity feeds -- there are now RSS buttons all over your profile that will let you track achievements, items, and other specific character information via RSS. And Blizzard has also built in calendar feeds that will let you output guild and player calendars to Outlook, Google Calendar, or other calendar applications. That means your out-of-game calendars will update automatically if your raidleader happens to change up the raiding schedule. And finally, character profiles have been redesigned and streamlined -- they look a little different with all of these new features. The date on all of these changes actually says January 1, 2010, so Blizzard may have implemented them a little early, but sooner or later we'll see these welcome changes all active on the Armory.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Update: The Armory is offline for maintenance now. These changes were seen in action, so they're real, but as we say above, they're officially dated for January 1st. So they may not be in effect just yet.

This past Friday, web browser developer Opera announced that they had teamed up with respected theory crafting website Elitist Jerks to create a new browser. The Elitist Jerks browser, as it is titled, is designed to cater to the needs of the World of Warcraft online community, with an array of customized features, pre-selected options, and a sleek skin reminiscent of the site it's named for. The pitch interested me enough that I decided to put away my beloved Firefox for the weekend, and give Opera's Elitist Jerks browser a thorough test.

Obviously it would be somewhat insane to expect that this is an entirely new browser built from the ground up. At its core, the browser is Opera 9. So if you've got a strong aversion to that browser, you're not going to find anything here to redeem it. However, if you're ambivalent towards Opera, or if you've never even tried it, the Elitist Jerks browser is definitely worth checking out. It's got all the features we as consumers have come to expect from a browser over the last few years, along with the polish that Opera is known for.

I am pretty notorious for not updating my addons often enough (I think some of the versions I have must be years old by now), but maybe with this, I'll be better: Reader Fin runs a website that tracks RSS updates of addons from most of the database sites, so all you need to do is hook that feed up to your reader of choice, and then whenever a new addon drops (either one that you're waiting for, or all of them, if you just want to watch them go by), you'll see it pop up in your reader, ready for inspection or a download or whatever you like.

He's also hooked it right up to a Twitter feed, so you can also tune in on Twitter and watch the new addons go past. I thought there might be too many going out, and that all those addons might spam up your Twitter feed, but actually if you've got a full slate of follows already (I've got about 200 talkative folks), it's not bad at all -- enough to keep you interested, but not so many that you feel flooded.

Of course, this probably still won't help me get my addons updated -- only putting an extra hour or two of free time in the day will help me accomplish that one. But it'll nice, at least, to know they're out there.

A lot of you have noticed some issues with our RSS feed this afternoon (and a little bit last night) and trust me, we know that you know. Our inbox has been absolutely flooded! So to try and help the confusion (and slow the flood of e-mails), here's what happened: Our network (us, Joystiq, Massively, Engadget, etc) was hit with a few database problems over the last 24 hours.

It's nothing to worry about, everything is fixed now and should be just fine. In the process of making things fine, our RSS feed was pinged with all sorts of 'new' information, causing the duplicates that a lot of you saw. Seven postings of the latest Around Azeroth? WTF? Yeah, sorry about that. We definitely keep an eye on our own RSS feed to make sure everything is going smoothly, so if it isn't, we'll know about it pretty quickly.

Again, we're sorry about the spam to you guys using our RSS feed. To those of you that aren't using our RSS feed... why aren't you using it!? Google Reader is probably one of the most convenient things ever. You can find out about our various feed offerings over here.

You readers are awesome -- yesterday, when I posted the link to the online server alert page (which, yes, wasn't all that new, but lots of us hadn't seen it before), I suggested that it get hooked up to Twitter somehow, and sure enough, Scyntinth and blkmasta55555 wasted no time creating @WoWStatusUS and @WoWStatusEU, respectively (Ed also pointed out the EU status page). Tsaavik created an RSS feed for the alert as well, if you'd rather use that. And those aren't the only way to track Blizzard's realm status on Twitter -- looks like @wowalerts has been in action for a little while, and @pikestaff pointed out to me that @wowrealms tweets about realm downtime as well. And, hey, even your friends here at WoW.com are on Twitter keeping you up to date with the latest at @WoWInsider.

So yes, there are tons of ways to track what's happening on your favorite realms via Twitter or any number of updating services.

Well, it's here -- we've been waiting for the Wrath beta and all the information that'll come with it for a long time, and soon we'll all be headed to a pre-release Northrend to see what there is to see. But how much is too much? Iris asks on WoW Ladies, and we're asking too, "How much do you want to know about the Wrath beta?"

A few people have already asked us for a non-Wrath RSS feed, and we're working on asking our tech guys if that's possible (it's very possible to get RSS feeds of any of our categories by adding "rss.xml" to the end of any of our Category listings, but it's not so easy to get a feed if everything but a certain category), and we're doing as much as we can to keep major spoiler information behind the breaks and out of sight if possible. But the information's out there, and just like the Burning Crusade beta, odds are that you'll have heard a little bit about what's happening in Northrend if you read any WoW sites at all.

The good news, of course, is that Blizzard always keeps a few aces up their sleeve -- even if you drowned yourself in the latest and greatest Wrath leaks and information, it's a guarantee that you'll find at least something in the live version of Northrend that you didn't hear about before. But until then, just how much do you want to know? Are you planning on playing the beta nonstop in the hopes that you do so much you don't have to buy the actual game, or are you keeping ears and eyes closed for the next few months in hopes that you'll enter a completely new and unfamiliar world whenever you install the next expansion?

An ode: Wowhead tooltips, O how I heart thee! I wish...eth I wouldst to be able to carry thou aroundst in mine pockets. (Did people even have pockets back when they went around saying thee and thou? Mine coineth purse?) Anyway, the point is: we love Wowhead tooltips because all it takes is a mouse-hover to find out everything you want to know about an item mentioned on WoW Insider or other websites. And now that you've gone ahead and put WoW Insider on your Google Reader, you can take the next step to get the nifty little tooltips in to show up in your RSS feeds.

Here's how:

The single most informative resource out there for Shadow Priests, shadowpriest.com, has recently undergone a makeover! They've launched a custom theme tailored to their logo's color scheme, and a few new features have come with it. In addition to the awesome new look, they've added a couple of (unobtrusive) RSS feeds to the sidebar. LightNatured (their sister site for healers) is one of them, and WoW Insider is another! That's always a good thing, eh?

I'm sure I've said it a few times since I've joined the WoW Insider team, but if you're a Shadow Priest and don't stop in at ShadowPriest.com once in awhile, you're doing yourself a disservice. Even the bleedingest of bleeding edge players have room for improvement and can learn new things once in awhile. ShadowPriest.com goes well alongside Elitist Jerks for all of your gear, strategy and theorycrafting needs. Especially with all of the discussion that will inevitably crop up when the Wrath Beta rolls around, you definitely owe it to yourself to take a look.

[ Thanks, Matt! ]

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About Google Reader

Google has developed an online tool that coalesces all your RSS feeds into one source. It's a very handy tool, and is one of the windows that I always have open. For me, it helps me stay abreast of everything happening in the world in one easy spot. One of the best things about Google Reader is that you can search through news with ease, and you can search through lots of news in just seconds.

How to add WoW Insider to your Google Reader


1. Logon to Google Reader.
2. As you can see from the above screenshot, I already have WoW Insider in my reader's list. However, you probably don't. What you want to do is click the green "Add subscription" link.


3. This will open up a window as shown above. Type in "wow.com" and click the "Add" button.


4. WoW Insider is now added to your Google Reader! You can see it on the list of subscribed sites to your left.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About Windows Vista

Love it or hate it, eventually you'll probably end up using it. One of the neat features of Vista is the Sidebar, which is a place where you can put widgets that do different things, like tell the time, show what your EVE Online character is training, or tell you what the weather is like outside.

How to add WoW Insider to your Windows Vista's Sidebar.


1. Right click on your Sidebar and choose "Add Gadgets..."


2. This will open up the gadgets window. Double click the "Feed Headlines" gadget.
3. Close the gadgets window.


4. You'll now see the new gadget added at the top of your sidebar.


5. Open up Microsoft Internet Explorer and go to http://wow.joystiq.com/rss.xml
6. Click the "Subscribe to this feed" link.


7. A window will open up. The default settings will be fine. Click the "Subscribe" button.
8. Position your mouse over the feed gadget on your side bar and click the little wrench icon. It'll appear towards the upper right hand side of the gadget.

9. A window like the one above will slide out of the gadget, asking you what feed you want to display.
10. Choose to display "WoW Insider", and set the number of headlines to whatever you want.
11. Click the "Ok" button.

12. You're done! Left click on a feed headline to read the WoW Insider article.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About blogger.com

This site is owned and operated by Google, and has a lot of popular features. It's very popular and easy to use. You can be rest assured that while the site looks, and is, easy to use, there is still a lot of power with it, just like anything else the folks over at Google produce.

How to syndicate WoW Insider on your blogger.com blog

1. Log on to your blogger.com blog and head over to the Dashboard. This is where you write your posts.
2. Click on the Layout tab. It's located right under the name of your blog, in the upper left hand corner of the webpage.
3. While in the Layout tab, click on the "Add a Page Element" rectangle in the middle of the webpage.

4. A window called "Choose a New Page Element" will come up. Scroll down until you see the Feed element and click the big blue "Add To Blog" button.

4. Enter the RSS feed URL as seen in the above screenshot. It's http://wow.joystiq.com/rss.xml
5. Click the orange "Continue" button.

6. Title the feed, and choose the options you want. You can see what the feed will look like on your site in the preview box.
7. Click the orange "Save Changes" button.

8. You will be returned to the Layout tab of your Dashboard. You can see that WoW Insider is now listed in your side page elements.

9. Click the orange "Save" button. You're done! You've now added a WoW Insider feed to your blogger.com site!
   

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About PHP and RSS

PHP is a very fun programming language. Just like World of Warcraft, it is easy to learn, and difficult to master. The idea behind PHP is that you enter a script, located within your webpage, and the server processes the script as it send the webpage to your visitor's web browser. PHP and things like it literally power the web – everything from WoW Insider, to Google, to Amazon. For more information on PHP, I highly recommend O'Reilly's book Learning PHP.

How to get syndicate WoW Insider using Magpie RSS

The easiest RSS syndication addon for PHP I've found is Magpie RSS. It's quite simple to use, and can easily integrate itself into existing page architecture. A sample Magpie script that would syndicate WoW Insider would look like this:



Of course, the above is just a rough template and doesn't include any formatting or bulleting or anything like that. Where other sites and tools listed above will provide you with lots of bells and whistles off the bat, PHP is bare bones – you have to make everything from scratch. Luckily there's a lot of great information out there and most of the work has already been done. However, that work is beyond the scope of this guide.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About Guild Launch

Guild Launch is a popular site that hosts guild's websites. It's popular because it has advanced forums, integrated wiki's for each guild, easy administration, and lots of space for file storage. It's also not to hard to use, and the free version is pretty good.

How to syndicate WoW Insider on your Guild Launch website


1. Log in as an administrator.
2. In the Site Admin area of your sidebar on the left of the webpage, click "Sidebar Widgets". For me, it's the last option.


3. Choose a widget, in this case an "RSS Feed" widget. You can also specify where you want the widget to go.
4. Click the "Add Widget" button.


5. You'll now see that you've added an RSS Feed to your site's layout. Click the little pencil in the RSS Feed box.


6. Fill in the settings as you see above.
7. Click the "Submit" button.


8. You'll see now that the settings reflect the changes you've made, and you're ready to go! You've just added WoW Insider to your Guild Launch site!

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About vBulletin Board

vBulletin Board is a very advanced piece of software that has to be installed on a website. It uses backend technology to make a very nice forum website. Ask your web provider if they have a vBulletin Board system setup for you already. If not, you might have to go through installing it and setting up the basic functionality. While this process is not too hard, it is beyond the scope of this guide. However, once everything is all setup, getting WoW Insider syndicated on your vBulletin Board site is easy.

How to syndicate WoW Insider on your vBulletin Board website


1. Log in as an administrator.


2. Scroll down the left side administrator tools until you see "RSS Feeds". Expand that topic, and select "Add New RSS Feed".


3. Fill in the information as shown above, and select the options that fit your needs.
4. Scroll down and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.


5. That's it. You're now syndicating WoW Insider on your vBulletin Board site! Give it five to ten minutes to grab the news from WoW Insider, and you'll soon see it on your site's forums.

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About Microsoft Outlook

Outlook is a staple of many businesses. While the program itself does have its problems, no one can deny its overwhelming acceptance in the work place. Because of this, people often spend hours a day in Outlook – answering emails, scheduling with the calendar, and managing contacts. One of the features that Microsoft has included in Outlook is an ability to subscribe to RSS news feeds. By adding WoW Insider to your Outlook news feeds, you can conspicuously stay abreast of WoW news while at work.

How to add WoW Insider to Microsoft Outlook

1. Open up Microsoft Outlook
2. Right click the "RSS Feeds" item located on the Folders bar on the left hand side of the screen.


3. Select "Add a New RSS Feed..."


4. This will open up the "New RSS Feed" window. Enter WoW Insider's RSS feed address, which as pictured above, is http://wow.joystiq.com/rss.xml .
5. Click the "Add" button.


6. Outlook will likely ask if you want to add the feed, and ask if you trust WoW Insider. Click the "Yes" button.


7. You're done! WoW Insider posts will appear just like other emails will in the preview pane of Outlook. This is great for work environments!