Stuff I like: Listgarden

I've been looking for a tool to fill a hole in creating RSS feeds. The problem: blogging tools all create RSS feeds, but I wanted to have feeds for pages on the site that aren't blogs (my employer's site, not this one). Eventually this will be automated with a new system, but I wanted something for the short term--meaning cheap to free, with a very gentle learning curve, that can fit into the existing work process. I don't want people creating content once in HTML and all over again in RSS. And it had to be cross-platform and Mac friendly.

I found what I wanted in Listgarden from Dan Bricklin's Software Garden. He's the guy who jump-started the PC revolution by creating VisiCalc, the original spreadsheet. This tool--unlike a lot of open source stuff--is made for non-programmers. Some tech ability helps if you want to customize the output, but you really don't have to know anything other than how to follow well written directions.

In Listgarden, you add item headlines and descriptions, and the program generates both an HTML page and and RSS file. One well thought-out feature breaks the HTML template into 3 parts, so you can just use the middle (no head tags, etc) to create a server-side include. Then tweak the CSS a little and you can feed content to your existing HTML page while creating the feed. Another setup I'm considering is to use Listgarden to create email newsletters in HTML, with an RSS feed as an alternative.

The only drawback is that it's a pain to set up on a Mac because it requires the X-code Developer Tools to be installed (a gigantic download if you don't have it) so you can run Perl. The steps are easy to follow and work like a charm, but it will be a barrier for some people. The Windows version is nicely compiled into an executable. I emailed tech support about this and got a nice note back from Dan Bricklin himself (how's that for service?) explaining that he had a nice packager for Windows but not Mac, and if I find a good one let him know.

Free software with better customer support than anything I've paid for. Gotta love it.