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The Future of Online News - The Future of Facebook & Co - Web Feeds, Web Feeds, Web Feeds

pluto library and command line tool - Auto-Build Web Pages From Published Web Feeds; Planet (Static) Website Generator

github: feedreader/pluto, rubygems: pluto, rdoc: pluto

What's Pluto?

A planet (static) website generator that lets you build web pages from published web feeds.

Getting Started

Step 1 - Add all web feeds to your planet configuration

Add all web feeds to add to your planet news site to your planet configuration file.

Example - planet.ini:

title = Planet Ruby

[rubylang]
  title = Ruby Lang News
  link  = http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news
  feed  = http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/feeds/news.rss

[rubyonrails]
  title = Ruby on Rails News
  link  = http://weblog.rubyonrails.org
  feed  = http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/feed/atom.xml

[viennarb]
  title = Vienna.rb News
  link  = http://vienna-rb.at
  feed  = http://vienna-rb.at/atom.xml

Step 2 - Auto-build your planet news site

Use the pluto command line tool and pass in the planet configuration file. Example:

$ pluto build planet.ini

This will

  1. fetch all feeds listed in planet.ini and

  2. store all entries in a local database, that is, planet.db in your working folder and

  3. generate a planet web page, that is, planet.html using the blank template pack in your working folder using all feed entries from the local database.

Open up planet.html to see your planet web page. Voila!

Bonus: Try different templates/theme packs

Don't like the look and feel of the built-in standard blank theme / template? Use a different planet theme or design your own.

See the Planet Templates site for more free themes / templates including:

  • Blank - default templates; more »
  • News - 'river of news' style templates; more »
  • Top - Popurl-style templates; more »
  • Classic - Planet Planet-Style templates; more »

top - Pluto Planet Template Pack

Try It Yourself - How To Use the Top Template Pack

If you want to try it yourself, install (fetch) the new template pack. Issue the command:

$ pluto install top

Or as an alternative clone the template pack using git. Issue the commands:

$ cd ~/.pluto
$ git clone https://github.com/planet-templates/pluto.top

To check if the new template got installed, use the list command:

$ pluto list

Listing something like:

Installed templates include:
   top (~/.pluto/top/top.txt)

Showtime! Let's use the -t/--template switch to build a sample Planet Ruby. Example:

 $ pluto build planet.ini --template top     or
 $ pluto b -t top            # auto-adds (defaults to) planet.ini

Open up the generated planet page planet.html in your browser. Voila. That's it.

digest - Pluto Planet Template Pack

Design and layout inspired by Alterslash - the unofficial Slashdot digest. Easy to read single page digest.

Try It Yourself - How To Use the Digest Template Pack

If you want to try it yourself, install (fetch) the new template pack. Issue the command:

$ pluto install digest

Or as an alternative clone the template pack using git. Issue the commands:

$ cd ~/.pluto
$ git clone https://github.com/planet-templates/planet-digest

To check if the new template got installed, use the list command:

$ pluto list

Listing something like:

Installed templates include:
   top (~/.pluto/digest/digest.txt)

Showtime! Let's use the -t/--template switch to build a sample Planet Ruby. Example:

 $ pluto build planet.ini --template digest     or
 $ pluto b -t digest         # auto-adds (defaults to) planet.ini

Open up the generated planet page planet.digest.html in your browser. Voila. That's it.

Create Your Own Templates w/ Embedded Ruby (ERB) - Template Reference

Pluto use "standard / plain vanilla" embedded ruby (ERB) templates. To create your own templates use the built-in variables site, feed, item, etc.

Site

Example: Planet Title

<%= site.title %>

Example: List all subscriptions

<% site.feeds.each do |feed| %>
  <%= feed.url %>  or  <%= feed.link %>
  <%= feed.title %>  or  <%= feed.name %>
  <%= feed.title2 %>
  <%= feed.feed_url %>  or  <%= feed.feed %>
<% end %>

Feed

Example: Lastest feed items

<% items = site.items.latest.limit(24)
     ItemCursor.new( items ).each do |item,new_date,new_feed| %>

  <% if new_date %>
    <%= item.published %>
  <% end %>

  <% if new_feed %>
    <%= item.feed.url %>  or  <%= item.feed.link %>
    <%= item.feed.title %>  or  <%= item.feed.name %>
    <%= item.feed.title2 %>
  <% end %>

  <% if item.title %>
    <%= item.title %>
  <% end %>

  <% item.content %>
  <% item.url %>  or  <% item.link %>
  <% item.published %>

<% end %>

Appendix A: Stay Static or Go Dynamic? Pluto Live Starter

Example planet starter site - a Sinatra (dynamic) web app using the pluto machinery.

class Planet < Sinatra::Base

  ##########
  # Models

  include Pluto::Models   # e.g. Feed, Item, Site, etc.

  ############################################
  # Controllers / Routing / Request Handlers

  get '/' do
    erb :index
  end

end

(Source: planet.rb)

Sample template snippet:

<h1><%= site.title %></h1>

<% site.items.latest.limit(24).each do |item| %>

  <div class='item'>

    <h4 class='feed-title'>
      <%= link_to item.feed.title, item.feed.url %>
    </h4>

    <h2 class='item-title'>
     <%= link_to item.title, item.url %>
    </h2>

    <div class='item-content'>
     <%= item.summary %>
    </div>
  </div>

<% end %>

(Source: views/index.erb)

Appendix B: Real World Examples - Who's Using Pluto?

Live planet websites include: