Here is a follow up to John’s post:For New Tuelz owners
When you first start with Tuelz you will notice it is aptly named: there are a lot of tools. Unless you are an experienced bomber do not try to use them all at once.
Start off with the Newz Tuel first. The first thing you want to do is create one category on one subject. (I know Kurt says create 3 categories, but it is easier to start off with one.)
The second thing you want to do is find feeds. If you know how to find feeds, then go to it. But if you don’t know how to find feeds I would suggest using the keyword feeds, in Tuelz in the beginning.
In the Newz tool put in a keyword, then find keyword feeds for that one word in Daypop, Newstrove, Feedster. In the beginning I would suggest you choose the feeds for each of these separately, so you can see how Tuelz adds each feed.
As a beginner I suggest using zzTuel with your own html page next. Any html page will do. (As long as there is a place to put the feed.)
Before you start ZZ make a folder called ZZprojects. Then make two folders inside of that, one called Template, and the other Destination.
Take your page, any html page that you have already created or would like to use, it doesn’t have to be a special page.
Paste the following code into the html page where you would like the feed to appear: {{keywords=bbbbb&items=5&mode=all}} Replace bbbbb with the keyword you used for your Daypop and Newstrove feeds.
If you paste that code onto an html page in Design view in Dreamweaver like I did, it is probably going to screw up. (Dreamweaver adds extra code.) You have to paste the code into the code view. (To determine where you want to paste in code view put the cursor where you want to make the insertion in Design view, then switch to Code view, and look for the cursor.)
Now that you have pasted the code ( called a keyword tag) into a few places on the page, save the page in your template folder as page 1. Then do a save as, and save the page again as page 2, page 3 and save each of these pages in your template folder.
Now it is time to start up zz. This part has been covered before, but I will go lightly over it, to point out some mistakes I made. If I am at all confusing please refer to Kurt’s original post, called “Tuelz … getting started.”
First of all create a directory project, that is easier. Give the project a name and click create. Where it says templates, click on browse. Browse through your hard drive until you find the template folder, and select the template folder. (You won’t be able to see the pages inside of it.)
Next, under destination, browse through your hard drive until you find your destination folder, and select the destination folder. (again you won’t be able to see inside of it.)
Where it says formatting template for RSS content I like to change the number after description. The default is: {description=150}. I prefer description=500, or 1000, your choice. You can also change the number of characters in the title in the same fashion.
The next thing you are going to do is put a check mark in auto upload. This may seem obvious, but I wasn’t sure what auto upload was going to do, so I didn’t check it, and then when I tested of course nothing happened. Do not check upload all files in directory.
Now fill in your host name in this style: ftp.domainname.com Fill in your user name and password. Then click on the browse button to connect to your domain’s host server. Select the directory on your server that you are going to upload to.
Remember, if you are using cpanel, that you have to put the pages in public_html, or inside a directory inside public_html
Now click on test. Then enter 1 minute for number of minutes. Then click add project.
You should be taken back to the beginning page of zz, but now you should see the words zzTuel Directory Project, with the name of your project underneath it.
Click on test. Let the test run for a few minutes. Then click on pause.
You should see the pages that were created with zz in your destination folder. They should all be different. Look at the name of each page. Then go to your domain, www.yourdomain.com/ and add the name of each page after the slash to see if it is on your server (ie. www.yourdomain.com/page1.html) . If not backtrack and see what you did wrong.
To make an archive project is almost the same, except with one major difference. In an archive project you start off with one page. You copy the html code of your first page and paste that code into the template viewer screen in zz. I am not sure this is mandatory but it is the way I have found it to work.
Then where it says archive folder I browse on my hard drive to my destination folder and select it.
You can skip the linking strategy for now and just fill in the remaining details as you would for the directory project. That is, change the description number, if you wish, in the Format template for RSS box, select auto upload, fill in your host name, your user name, and password. Browse to your directory on your server. Click on test. Set the time to one minute. Click on add project.
When you return to the main page click on test.
What I like to do next is go to my destination folder and open it, then I watch the pages being created. At first there will be one, then two, then three, for as long as you let the test continue. What is cool, when you look at the pages, you should see all the pages are different. (Sometimes you won’t see differences if you do not have enough feeds.)
You may realize that if you had many feeds you could have many many pages that are different. This is not the way archive is really meant to be used. The intent is that the feeds should change every day. Nevertheless, if you think about it you may realize that with enough feeds you probably could have created a hundred unique pages like this. You may realize that if these pages were in a directory project instead of the archive you would have a hundred pages that would change every single day. And this will start you off looking for more feeds.
Check the threads on Blogbomb for sources of feeds. I would also suggest Yahoo search as a source. Select advanced beside the search button. Select file format xml/rss, select the language you prefer, and country, then click on search for your keyword.
That’s all. Please refer to other’s posts for any details I might have missed.
Kurt, my apologies for making a subject that you already explained very elegantly, more complicated. To anyone reading this please refer to Kurt’s thread ZZTuel, getting started guide, it is much more concise and succinct than my explanation and also tells you a lot more, but perhaps mine is a little easier if you don’t know anything. Kurt’s explanations will teach you a lot more. I cover some of the mistakes you could make. My main point is you don’t have to know everything in the beginning. It is better to start off very simply with one or two simple things, and work up to learning and understanding more.
I also apologize for the length of this post.
Castle
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