Solverat MySpace RSS Reader

There is little question to how many people are looking for MySpace layouts, “codes,” and other ways to modify their social networking profiles; the Google trends for “myspace layouts” and “myspace codes” have been on a fairly steady rise for the past year as more MySpace users want to modify their profiles for a more personal feel. This trend can certainly be reflected in my own metrics as well: the MySpace development series has been consistently ranked among the top-trafficked content on hyalineskies.

My MySpace development series, which focused on designing MySpace pages using some code hacks and professional, hand-coded XHTML/CSS, confused the majority of MySpace users looking for quick copy-and-paste “MySpace codes” (a term that I really hate, since it makes it seem like MySpace is a video game.) No matter how much I tried, a good amount of readers simply didn’t listen when I said that the tutorials were written for people with some web design experience, and I still get multiple e-mails weekly asking why the codes aren’t working. The MySpace tutorials I provided were far from a simple copy/paste job; that’s why you can get such an advanced layout out of the div overlay method.

Thankfully, however, there have been some people that have successfully built MySpace profiles using XHTML/CSS. These people have generally used my own profile code as a baseline and modified it to their own liking; however, some have gone the extra mile and seriously tweaked the code into something new. Stefan Hagspiel, an Austrian blogger, made a quick package of everything necessary to push RSS to MySpace based on my code and tutorials on solverat.com. Included in the package is an advanced RSS reader made in Flash, complete with source code.

The Solverat RSS reader offers multiple post display as well as scrolling capabilities, two features that the original reader widget didn’t. The reader also looks great without modification, making it a huge plus for those without the necessary skills to edit Flash files. Of course, if you can edit Flash files, the Solverat RSS Reader includes the .fla file for editing.

Installing the Solverat.com RSS Reader

While Hagspiel has a tutorial on his own blog for this, I’m making one here as well in the spirit of Pilot Training.

1. Download the RAR package from Solverat or the ZIP at the bottom of this page.

Stefan has made a RAR file available on his page in his tutorial; I’ve repackaged the files in ZIP format for those without the ability to decompress RAR files at the bottom of this page. Once you have the RAR or ZIP, extract the files to a directory and login to the server your WordPress installation is on.

2. Upload crossdomain.xml to your root directory ( / ).

You’ll want to upload the crossdomain.xml file to the root of your website (/). In my case, that would be http://hyalineskies.com/. This is where Flash checks for cross-domain restrictions when attempting to reference off-site XML.

3. Upload the rssReader.swf file to a directory of your choosing. Note its URI.

We will need to reference this file later on MySpace. This is the actual Flash reader file.

4. Upload flash_rss2.php to your WordPress root.

Place flash_rss2.php into your WordPress installation root. This file must be with the rest of your WordPress files to function properly. If you see files named wp_ and directories such as wp-content and wp-admin, you are most likely in the WordPress root directory. Place the flash_rss2.php file in that directory.

5. Paste this <embed> tag into your MySpace “About Me:”

You’ll want to change #FlashLocDir# to whatever directory you placed rssReader.swf in in Step 3 and #WordPressRoot# to the directory you placed flash_rss2.php in. Once you’re done, re-check and save your changes. If it doesn’t work, chances are you placed the file in the wrong directories or mistyped the directories in your <embed> tag.

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