How To View RSS Feed In XML Format With Firefox

Similar to IE7, Firefox 2.x built-in Feed Reader that understand RSS and Atom protocol.

By default, both IE7 and Firefox are set to render the XML format of RSS / ATOM feed in human readable form.

Although the default reader works well for majority users, developers might sometimes expect turn it off to inspect the underlying XML structure of a Feed.

IE7 comes with an option to turn off or disable Feed preview function. However, Firefox 2.x doesn’t have such explicit option to do so!

Though, Moggylaceous posted a simply hack or trick to disable the Feed preview function in Firefox 2.x too.

All you need to do is edit the FeedConverter.js, a JavaScript file that comes with Firefox installation.

In my Windows Vista Ultimate, this FeedConverter.js is located at this path

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\FeedConverter.js

Open the FeedConverter.js, search for this block of code and remark it to become comment (refer to the screenshot below for reference)

if (result.doc && (!this._sniffed || (result.doc.title && (result.doc.link || result.doc.id)))) {

and add a new line, i.e. if (0) {, as a replacement to the remarked block of code.

For Windows Vista, saving the FeedConverter.js file might be rejected with an error message that similar to “Please check whether if this file is opened in another program.”

In this case, you might wonder what other application using FeedConverter.js file while there is no active Firefox is running.

Well, it’s not because of Firefox, but this is likely due to Windows Vista UAC security feature! I’ve successfully save the change by using Notepad++ that was executed in an elevated Command Prompt window!

Once the changes are saved, restart Firefox to get it renders the underlying structure of a Feed. (Though, this hack doesn’t work with ATOM feed).