Google News Images Not Appearing in Blidget but other Images do!

Dave,

What does that mean? Look at this:
http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/North-Hu...
That's the same feed supplied by RSSInclude rather than by Widget box.
They manage to include the Images.
Does this mean that you can't be bothered to change your code in order to include them?
Cheers,
John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

John

For images to be shown in a blidget, they must be in CDATA in the description or in a media:thumbnail file. It doesn't mean that it's impossible for a website to pull the images out in some way shape or form, but it's not possible for the blidget for performance reasons. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Ah, Ok, I'll ask Google to change the way that they provide the data then. They must be Rubbish!

Cheers,
John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

They're not at all rubbish. But their feeds aren't formatted for ease of pasing in a flash object. That's just not their priority. Plus they have a service called feedburner where you can proxy their feed and customize the layout if people have different needs. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Hi Dave,

Does that mean that there is a workaround if I use feedburner? If not, is there anyway I can achieve the result I want, i.e. to see the news story summary with an image, from Google by using Widgetbox? If so, how?

Cheers,

John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

John,

Feedburner changes features all the time. I know at one time you could proxy a feed and customize it how you like, but i don't know what services they still offer. You'd have to dig into Feedburner to see if you can insert the images into a media:thumbnail element. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your help.

But by going 'PRO' I thought that I could abandon RSSInclude and stick with the much more aesthetically pleasing Widgetbox and also use Tabs to include the feeds I wanted into 1 blidget. I've now tried 4 News feeds and only 1 of those displays images in Widgetbox but 3 display images in RSSInclude.

What would you do?

Cheers,

John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Hi John,

The reason that we let people try the Blidget Pro before they purchase it is so that you can see what you'll be getting in relation to how your feeds work.

I'd suggest hosting your own feeds if google's feeds aren't working for you. Or you could try Feedburner, Yahoo Pipes, Dapper, or any other number of services that let you customize the feed. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Hi Dave,
I'd suggest to you that Blidget/Widget Pro could be a phenomenal product but that this is a bug/oversight/drawback/restriction... fix it and you could be onto a winner. But this sort of issue is holding you back. Other's have overcome it, why can't you?

Sorry to have to say that... just think that you're holding yourself back and should be trying to rectify the problem rather that telling me that I shouldn't have gone 'PRO'

Cheers,

John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

John,

I'd really prefer not to make this a lecture in the differences between client-side data processing versus server-to-server if possible. The short answer is that you can do lots more when it's server to server as your example showed than you can if you want a flash application that can be embedded anywhere on the internet. With the millions and millions of users, a fraction of a fraction of a percentage aren't getting what they need, ya know? ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

Ok Dave,

Thanks for your efforts! I'm now off to piss-off the guys at Google instead!

Sorry to be a pain,

John. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )

No worries, John. You may have trouble talking to anyone there, as if I recall correctly, they don't do any direct user support (only forums).

Give feedburner a try first. You may be able to accomplish your goal with that. ( Delete or Edit for 15 minutes )