RSS Block

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An RSS feed is a machine-readable version of the content of a blog or a website.

With the RSS block, you can display content from any site’s RSS feed on your website. You can choose to display the Title, Author, Date, and Excerpt for each item in the feed. You can display the items in a list or as a grid in a set number of columns.

Steps to embed an RSS block

1. First, you need to know the URL of the RSS feed that you want to embed. Some websites display an orange icon with the link of the feed. You can usually find this icon together with social network icons.
   Our example uses the feed of the News section on ww.wp.xz.cn.  https://ww.wp.xz.cn/news/feed

2. Click the Block Inserter (+) icon to add an RSS block to your WordPress page/post. Alternatively, you can type /rss and hit enter in a new paragraph block to add one quickly.

Detailed instructions on adding blocks

3. Paste the link of the RSS feed into the text box and click on the Use URL button

The RSS block now displays the titles of the feed items. 

If you use an URL that can’t be embedded, the block shows the message “RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: A valid URL was not provided.”.

Use the options in the Block Toolbar and the controls in the Block Settings panel in your editor’s sidebar to fine-tune the display.

Block Toolbar

Besides the Mover and Drag & Drop handle, the Block Toolbar for the RSS block shows six other buttons:

• Transform To
• Change alignment
• Edit RSS URL
• List view
• Grid view
• More options

Transform to

You can transform the RSS block into Columns or a Group. Transforming to a group would give you the ability to change the background color around the embed.

Change alignment

• Align left – Make the block left-aligned.
• Align center – Make the block alignment centered.
• Align right – Make the block right-aligned.
• Wide width – Increase the width of the block beyond the content size.
• Full width – Extend the block to cover the full width of the screen.

The “Wide width” and “Full width” alignment settings must be enabled by your WordPress theme. 

Edit RSS URL

Via the edit URL, you can change the RSS feed URL in the block. Overwrite the existing URL and click on the Use URL button.

List view

The List view option displays the feed items in an unordered list. Use the Block settings controls to customize the List view.

Grid view

Display the feed items in a grid. Use the Block settings controls to adjust the number of columns and the other display options. 

More options

These controls give you the option to copy, duplicate, and edit your block as HTML.

Detailed instructions on adding blocks

Block Settings

Every block has specific options in the editor sidebar in addition to the options found in the block toolbar. If you do not see the sidebar, simply click the ‘cog’ icon.

Settings

Number of items: Slider and number box to adjust the number of feed items you’d like to display. To change the number move the dot on the slider or update the number in the box next to it.

Display author: Switch on/off the display of the author’s name 

Display date: Switch on/off the display of the published date of the feed items

Display excerpt: Switch on/off the display of an excerpt from the feed items’ content. 

Max number of words in excerpt: Slider and number box to choose the maximum number of words that can be displayed in the excerpt. The minimum number is 10. This section is not visible if Display excerpt is in the OFF position. 

Columns: Slider and number box to control the number of columns for the grid view. This option is only visible when you select the Grid view on the Block Toolbar.

Advanced

The advanced tab lets you add a CSS class to your block, allowing you to write custom CSS and style the block as you see fit.

Resources

• Learn more about RSS on Wikipedia
• Learn more about WordPress Feeds