Tech Forum

I have trouble remembering to read scriptures every day, so I looked for a website that would provide an RSS feed to let me know what chapters I should read each day.

I found several different sites, but all were missing a feature or two that I'd like, so I created my own and was hoping for some suggestions on what I could do to make it better:
http://www.standardworks.org

There are four main features that make mine different from others out there:

1. You can choose which volumes of scripture you want to read and what order you want to read them in. For example, maybe you want to read the OT and then switch to the BofM.
2. You get to pick when you want to start and when you want to finish.
3. Your daily reading is split up based on word counts, not chapters. You will have at least one chapter to read each day, but some days you may have more than one if they are short chapters. This makes the real amount of daily reading a little more consistent and easier to plan for.
4. Last, the webpage shows you an estimate of how many pages you'll need to read a day based on your reading list, when you want to start reading and when you want to stop reading.

What features would you add to make this more useful?

Thanks zulugrid, I have been looking for something to help me read more consistently and I think this might be it

TylThal wrote:Thanks zulugrid, I have been looking for something to help me read more consistently and I think this might be it

Very cool indeed.

I have an RSS reader named Attensa that is an Outlook plugin. It is having trouble parsing the feed. Do you have any ideas what might be causing this?

I haven't seen this reader reject very many feeds, so I assume it's pretty flexible and forgiving. Do you have all the standard RSS fields populated?

Thanks for a great idea and implementation.

mkmurray wrote:Very cool indeed.

I have an RSS reader named Attensa that is an Outlook plugin. It is having trouble parsing the feed. Do you have any ideas what might be causing this?

I haven't seen this reader reject very many feeds, so I assume it's pretty flexible and forgiving. Do you have all the standard RSS fields populated?

Thanks for a great idea and implementation.

The feed is in RSS 2.0. While it was technically valid, the W3C validator gave some suggestions to make it more widely compatible. I've updated the RSS feed to incorporate those suggestions.

I installed a demo of Attensa on my computer and it is able to read the feed, so perhaps these changes fixed it?

I like it! This is great! I've got my RSS feed set up. I appreciate the innovative thinking. My only suggestion/feedback is it would be great to base it on a "subject study" versus "pages per day." Thanks for sharing Zulugrid.

birdld wrote:I like it! This is great! I've got my RSS feed set up. I appreciate the innovative thinking. My only suggestion/feedback is it would be great to base it on a "subject study" versus "pages per day." Thanks for sharing Zulugrid.

Glad you like it!

Could you elaborate on what you'd anticipate being included in a "subject study" RSS feed? Are you thinking something like tithing one day, prayer the next, etc etc?

zulugrid wrote:Could you elaborate on what you'd anticipate being included in a "subject study" RSS feed? Are you thinking something like tithing one day, prayer the next, etc etc?

Yes. Some like to read page by page, some like to do a daily study based on a subject that has meaning at that time in their life. I'm certainly not savvy enough to know what that would take from a programming side, or what the possibilities are, but I personally appreciate the efforts innovative thinkers are making. God speed in your efforts!

zulugrid wrote:The feed is in RSS 2.0. While it was technically valid, the W3C validator gave some suggestions to make it more widely compatible. I've updated the RSS feed to incorporate those suggestions.

I installed a demo of Attensa on my computer and it is able to read the feed, so perhaps these changes fixed it?

Darn, it didn't work. The version of my Attensa for Outlook plugin is 2.6. Is that what you used?

mkmurray wrote:Darn, it didn't work. The version of my Attensa for Outlook plugin is 2.6. Is that what you used?

Wow, the version I was able to find online is very out of date: v1.2. I wasn't able to find a newer version to download.

Do you know where I can get a copy to install so I can troubleshoot the issue?

I've modified my RSS creator so it can output ATOM in addition to RSS 2.0. To get an ATOM feed, add format=ATOM to the end of the RSS feed URL. Example:
http://www.standardworks.org/rss.php?st ... ormat=ATOM

(I'll update the website later to create a link to the ATOM feed, in case anyone else runs into issues..)

I like the simple and clear look of standardworks.org and I shall definately use it.

So far I have used http://www.scripturecast.net/