I’m having trouble with my RSS feed in Gmail. It’s not showing the description tag properly. I’ve set up an ASP.NET server on IIS 5 (Windows XP) with the RSS feed at 217.76.185.140/18.rss.
When I add a feed like the one from BrainyQuote to Gmail’s WebClip, it works fine. But my own feed doesn’t display the description tag.
I want to:
See the request headers Gmail sends to my IIS server
Use Fiddler to send the same request to BrainyQuote’s RSS
Compare the responses and adjust my feed accordingly
Questions:
How can I log or trace requests to IIS 5 on Windows XP?
Is there a way to view Gmail’s requests to my site?
Does anyone have a sample RSS that works well with Gmail?
I’ve dealt with similar RSS feed issues before, and it can be frustrating. For logging requests in IIS 5 on Windows XP, you might want to try enabling IIS logging in the properties of your website. It’s not as detailed as modern logging, but it can give you some insights.
As for viewing Gmail’s requests, you’re on the right track with Fiddler. You could also try using a packet sniffer like Wireshark to capture the traffic between Gmail and your server. This might give you more detailed information about the requests.
In my experience, the key to getting RSS feeds to display correctly in Gmail often lies in the content type header. Make sure your server is sending the correct ‘application/rss+xml’ content type. Also, double-check your RSS XML structure - even small errors can cause display issues.
Lastly, I’d recommend using the W3C Feed Validation Service to check your RSS feed. It’s caught issues for me that weren’t immediately obvious. Good luck troubleshooting!
From my experience, RSS feed issues with Gmail can be tricky. Have you checked your server’s MIME types configuration? Ensure ‘application/rss+xml’ is properly set for .rss files. This often resolves display problems.
For logging in IIS 5, consider using ISAPI filters or a third-party logging tool. They provide more detailed request information than standard IIS logs.
Regarding Gmail’s requests, you might want to use a reverse proxy like Nginx in front of your IIS server. It can log incoming requests in detail, helping you analyze Gmail’s behavior.
As for a sample RSS, try looking at major news sites’ feeds. They usually follow best practices and work well across platforms. Remember to validate your feed structure regularly to catch any XML errors that could cause display issues.
hey man, i’ve had this problem b4. try using fiddler to intercept the traffic between gmail and ur server. it’ll show u exactly what headers gmail is sending.
also, double check ur content type. make sure its set to application/rss+xml in ur server config.
if that dont work, try validating ur rss feed with an online tool. sometimes small errors can mess things up.