Demos for various…
3rd Party RSS Feed WordPress Plugins
Below are the ways we can “easily” display the RSS feed provided into a WordPress site. There are certainly many plugins for WordPress surrounding RSS display. The ones below are some of the best free options and intended to serve as at least a starting point for our discussion about migrating the events to the new site, and how we can reconcile that with the design documents.
WordPress RSS Block
https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/rss-block
- Built into WordPress
- No flexibility or additional options.
WP RSS AGGREGATOR
https://www.wprssaggregator.com
- Uses shortcode to generate list.
- Limited flexibility.
- What you see is basically what it can do.
Example:
- Toddler Story Time
- Creative Writing Club
- Preschool Story Time w/Activity Stations
- Story Emporium Used Bookstore
- Toddler Story Time
- Preparing For A Financial Emergency
- Yo-Yo Club
- Story Emporium Used Bookstore
- Book Trivia
- Story Emporium Used Bookstore
- The Toddler Lounge
- Genre Book Club
- Chair Yoga
- Kids Yoga
- WCPL Rummage Sale
FEEDZY RSS FEEDS
- Uses Block to generate list.
- More flexibility, but mostly locked behind a $100/yr Pro version.
- Similarly, this is about what this can do. At least we get images.
Example:
Warsaw Community Public Library RSS Feed RSS Feed for Calendar
- The Toddler Lounge
on March 9, 2026 at 7:26 pm03/10/26 @ 10:00am – 03/10/26 @ 12:00pm Meeting Room A/B Warsaw Community Public Library This program is designed for children and accompanying adults. Please plan to attend and be engaged with your child for this program. Drop offs will not be permitted. We often take photos at events. Please tell a staff member if you do not want your photo used in WCPL media. Introducing the Toddler Lounge!As you walk into Room A/B, you’ll notice that there is an area with toddler toys that your children can play with at their leisure, a coloring station for all ages, and a book nook for a little “book time”. In one corner of the room will be a ‘resource table’ where an organization from the community will be available to answer any questions you might have about the services they offer. You’ll also find an area were you, the caregivers, can gather and share the latest news or catch up with friends. Be sure to bring your favorite cup of coffee to enjoy while relaxing. This is an unstructured style of event that is meant to help with finding time to spend with others. Cheerios and water will be available for the little ones to nibble on while attending. Stay for a few minutes or the entire time!
- Euchre
on March 9, 2026 at 7:26 pm03/10/26 @ 2:30pm – 03/10/26 @ 4:00pm Meeting Room A/B Warsaw Community Public Library We often take photos at events. Please tell a staff member if you do not want your photo used in WCPL media. Euchre is back! Join us for this fun come and go event.
- Story Emporium Used Bookstore
on March 9, 2026 at 7:26 pm03/10/26 @ 4:00pm – 03/10/26 @ 7:00pm Stafford Book Sale Room Warsaw Community Public Library The Friends of the Library used bookstore sells books, movies, sound recordings, and video games. All proceeds support WCPL.
- Creative Writing Club
on March 9, 2026 at 7:26 pm03/10/26 @ 5:30pm – 03/10/26 @ 6:30pm Meeting Room A/B Warsaw Community Public Library We often take photos at events. Please tell a staff member if you do not want your photo used in WCPL media. If you would like to join a group if people who love writing, or are experimenting with the craft, join our group. Any adult is welcome and all styles are welcome. This month we are writing about Good Fortune/ Blessings.
- Music Bingo
on March 9, 2026 at 7:26 pm03/11/26 @ 4:30pm – 03/11/26 @ 5:30pm Meeting Room A/B Warsaw Community Public Library We often take photos at events. Please tell a staff member if you do not want your photo used in WCPL media. Join us for a twist on classic bingo where the songs are called and small prizes are won. This event for adults is great if you love songs from all eras.
Notes on the RSS Feed Itself
Here is a single “item” in the RSS feed. I have a few notes on this feed, and can’t help but wonder if we can customize the contents of this feed from the LibraryCalendar.com side?
Firstly, the starting and ending dates for these Event “Items” are non-standard XML.
In a “standard” XML document each metric would have its own field. This makes it more difficult (though not impossible) to create custom solutions that would use the start/end date for any kind of sorting / filtering. (This task is compounded by the US date format)
The date info does seem to be output as the first item after the closing CDATA tag. If we could count on it staying there, and its format staying in MM/DD/YY @ HH:MMam, we could parse that into useable dates, but a custom solution based on that would not stand up well to any changes to the feed from the LibraryCalendar.com side.
Indeed, no 3rd party plugin above is capable of parsing these dates since they are “non-standard” XML. Note all the entries in the Feedzy output show January 1, 2000. That’s because they can’t find the start/end date from the RSS feed.
I can only postulate that other solutions that are better using the dates, and have better UI have either:
1. Written their own custom solution using ACF and an ACF block to customize the exact parsing of the feed on the backend, and the exact display of the resulting UI on the front end.
2. Have customized their RSS feed to a more standardized format, which could then be better consumed by some other 3rd party WordPress plugin and/or simple embeddable web content.
<item>
<title>Story Emporium Used Bookstore</title>
<link>https://warsaw.librarycalendar.com/event/story-emporium-used-bookstore- 16</link>
<category>Book Sale</category>
<category>All Ages</category>
<description>
<![CDATA[ <img src="https://warsaw.librarycalendar.com/sites/default/files/2024-06/Apr%20Bookstore%20%28square%29.jpg" /> ]]>
08/03/24 @ 10:30am - 08/03/24 @ 1:00pm Stafford Book Sale Room Warsaw Community Public Library <p>The Friends of the Library operate the Story Emporium Used Bookstore & all profits benefit the Warsaw Community Public Library. The bookstore is located in the library at 310 E. Main Street, Warsaw, IN 46580. </p>
</description>
<guid>https://warsaw.librarycalendar.com/event/story-emporium-used-bookstore-16</guid>
</item>Notes on FeedWind
I don’t think FeedWind offers any plugins for WordPress. Though its output and functionality looks fairly similar to “Feedzy” from above. Basically, attach it to an RSS feed and then output a Widget.