RSS to PDF Newspaper
About
This is a free software project to let people create printable PDFs from content found on the web. It is a free alternative to HP's Tabbloid service. It is being developed as part of the Five Filters project to promote alternative, non-corporate media.
Compare
| FiveFilters.org | Tabbloid.com | FeedJournal.com | Feedbooks.com | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDF library | TCPDF (free) | PDFLib (not free) | iTextSharp (free) | PrinceXML (not free) |
| Free software (FLOSS) | Yes (see below) | No | No | No |
| Output #1 (source feed) | Last Hours (text only) | Last Hours | Last Hours (text only) | Last Hours |
| Output #2 (source feed) | CrimethInc. (text only) | CrimethInc. | CrimethInc. (text only) | CrimethInc. |
| Output #3 (source feed) | Ceasefire (text only) | Ceasefire | Ceasefire (text only) | Ceasefire |
Source Code and Technologies
Source code available.
The application uses PHP, TCPDF, HTML Tidy, HTML Purifier, SimplePie and SmartyPants.
Installation and System Requirements
This code should run on most hosts running PHP5. I have it running on NearlyFreeSpeech.NET (a great host with a smart pricing model) but I've also tested it on Windows using WampServer. The instructions below will install the code in a folder called 'rss-to-pdf'. The instructions have been tested on a NearlyFreeSpeech account but should work on other hosts which offer shell access and have the Bazaar client installed.
- Log in to your host using SSH
- Change to the directory where you want RSS to PDF Newspaper installed
- Enter bzr branch lp:fivefilters rss-to-pdf
It should finish by saying something like Branched x revision(s) - Now enter chmod 777 rss-to-pdf/cache/
- That's it! Try accessing the rss-to-pdf folder through your web browser, you should see the form asking for a feed URL.
If you'd like to generate PDFs without going through the form first, you can simply pass the feed URL in the query string to makepdf.php. For example:
http://example.org/rss-to-pdf/makepdf.php?feed=http://schnews.org.uk/feed.xml
If you'd like to change the title image, replace images/five_filters.jpg with an image of your own (keeping the same filename).
Todo
Image support(partial)Prevent headlines wrapping to next column/pageDisplay date- Display source
- Test support for other languages
- More testing
- Develop web app
- multiple feeds (see tabbloid/feedbooks' newspaper feature)
- multiple output formats (for ebook use)
Support
I'm happy to help activists/anarchists/progressives set this up for their own content. I can either help you set it up on your own server, or create a customised look (e.g. different title image) and host it here. If you fall in this category, get in touch.
If you don't fall in this category, I offer paid support.
Bug reports and questions welcome.
License
This web application is licensed under the AGPL version 3 (find out why). The bulk of the work, however, is carried out by libraries which are licensed as follows...
Donate
I'm a student and I work on this in my spare time. Donations very welcome...
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Author
Created by Keyvan Minoukadeh for the Five Filters project.
Email: keyvan (at) keyvan.net