Help - The Davis Enterprise - Impossible?

[BigHeadRed]

Hey all,

I'm wondering if some wonderful, intelligent code gurus could take a peek at the website for my local newspaper, and tell me whether it is insane for me to try to make a recipe for it.

Here are the obstacles, or, shall we say, challenges:

It would be my first recipe, I don't know python (but can probably muddle through it, as I know other languages), the newspaper has no RSS feeds, it doesn't allow articles to be viewed except by subscribers who have logged in (I have a subscription and can log in) and it is absolutely hideously choked with ads and other crap I'd need to filter out.

The good news is that articles have a "printer friendly" link.

This is the site:
http://www.davisenterprise.com/

First off, is this possible, second off, given my absolutely novice abilities, am I insane for even trying? Will this take me weeks?

Third off, and this is a totally self-interested request, if anyone happens to notice that the site corresponds closely to an already existing recipe (I doubt it), I'd love to know, because it would save me a lot of work.

Gratefully yours,

Big Head Red! (The name of my dog)

[Starson17]

Hey all,

I'm wondering if some wonderful, intelligent code gurus could take a peek at the website for my local newspaper, and tell me whether it is insane for me to try to make a recipe for it.

Here are the obstacles, or, shall we say, challenges:

It would be my first recipe, I don't know python (but can probably muddle through it, as I know other languages), the newspaper has no RSS feeds, it doesn't allow articles to be viewed except by subscribers who have logged in (I have a subscription and can log in) and it is absolutely hideously choked with ads and other crap I'd need to filter out.

The good news is that articles have a "printer friendly" link.
This is the site:
http://www.davisenterprise.com/

First off, is this possible,

Yes.

second off, given my absolutely novice abilities, am I insane for even trying?

No. It's not the easiest, but if you stick with it, you can probably get there (provided you find no more obstacles.) The biggest one you face is that there is no feed. You have to construct it yourself.

Will this take me weeks?

Possibly, but I doubt it.

Third off, and this is a totally self-interested request, if anyone happens to notice that the site corresponds closely to an already existing recipe (I doubt it), I'd love to know, because it would save me a lot of work.

We can't tell without some work. There are 2 parts I see. The first is to build the feed. The second is to pull the articles from the print link. We can only work on the first, without your PW.

[BigHeadRed]

Ah hah! Thank you so much Starson.

I got the heads up from one of their reporters that they'll be remaking the entire website, to be launched later this week, and base it on a wordpress platform. So all of my work has been for naught, but thankfully the new format will be easier to make a recipe for.

[BigHeadRed]

Haha! Their new format allows me to just plug in their rss feed into the generic news downloader template and it works beautifully. Thanks a bunch for your help Starson 17!