Better Comment System for Blogger? – Current options as a guide and review

I really like the Blogger platform because it is straightforward, stable, reliable and easy to manage as it is all under my Google account. However it can always improve and my latest want is a better comment system with the possibility of threaded replies, pictures etc which Wordpress users enjoy. The threaded comment option is my main want as most of us usually just have @”name” followed by the reply. So this post will explore the alternatives I could find and see if they are viable options. These are: Google Friend Connect, Intense Debate , Disqus and another Javascript based modification from Sham. I am assuming you have some experience in modifying your Blogger template. Out of the bloggers I follow, Yashi is the only one who is using a third party app, namely Disqus. However based on his recent post it seems he is having trouble with it.

How to sign in with Open ID

Firstly all the services I am going to write about have the ability to sign in with Open ID. The picture below shows you may have one already.

Google Friend Connect – Comments

First let us keep it in the Google family and look at Google friend Connect – Comments

From the Google Friend Connect home page select the Blogger blog you want to add the gadget to on the left hand side:

Click Social gadgets underneath the required site , scroll down until you see Comments:

Click get this gadget and you will be taken to a page where you can adjust options such the colours and layout. The important thing here is to select Page in the first option box. This will generate code which will be specifically for a post and not for your main page:

Scroll down, tweak the options as required and generate you code.

This will then need to be posted in your blogger template. I am assuming you know how to edit the template. So navigate to your blogger HTML template, expand widgets and find the right place to paste the code.

Now several guides for this process stipulate that the generated code should be pasted under the following line of code:

   1: <b:includable id='comments' var='post'>

However if you have your default blogger comments as embedded below the post as in my case you should paste the code before (this leaves the blogger comment form intact):

   1: <b:includable id='comment-form' var='post'>

Either way underneath a line which has both ‘comment’ and ‘post’; in it.

If all is well, save your template and you should now have the following under your posts:

To add comments you can Sign in using your Google account.

This is where we hit the first snag. What happens if you do not have a Google account? Sure the original Blogger comment system is still below the Google friend Connect – Comments form but that means no threaded comments. No matter, you really want to comment, so you register for a Google account, You can now click Sign In. Oh no! It now requires you to follow the blog:

No matter, you still want to comment, so you click to follow the blog. Finally you are able to leave a comment:

And you can get nice threaded replies:

I think above it shows unknown because I am commenting on my own blog as myself or some other error. Either way it should look nicer.

Pros: Relatively easy to install. Keeps it Google. Easy to Customise.

Cons: Requires your commentator to have a Google account and to follow your blog.

Intense Debate

Head over to Intense Debate and click the Sign Up button. Click on the sign up with OpenID button:

This will allow you to simply use your Blogger URL even if it is a custom domain to sign up.

You may be further asked for a username and email address but that should then be the sign up process complete. You will then be taken to the intense debate dashboard:

Click install intense debate now! and you will be to the screen where you insert your blog’s URL:

Click next and you will be taken to a page asking you to specify your platform, notice the text which says that Intense Debate does not work with Blogger Classic:

Click on Blogger and you will be taken to the installation page:

You can choose to install as a Widget or into your template. You can also choose to have intense debate on new posts or on all your posts. In my case this will be the Template install with only new posts as I am just trying out Intense Debate first. You will then be asked to download your blogger template. It even gives you instructions to download the template and then upload so we will not cover that and upload it to Intense Debate:

Once you have uploaded the template and clicked continue, you will be taken to the following screen:

The instructions are in the left hand bar which will ask you to navigate to the blog’s layout and the current HTML code which has been generated. The actual code generated by the program is in the tiny text box as shown below:

You can do the replacement of the code in the right hand pane inside Intense Debate and then save the template:

Once your blog has been saved I create a new post to see how the commenting will look:

Notice the Blogger embedded comment which I had originally is also left embedded at the bottom of the page unless you take it out. Intense Debate also gives you Admin buttons etc right on the page. Your readers can the post comments as Guest, by signing in with their OpenID, Twitter or Intense Debate Account. There is also an option for Facebook on the Intense Debate site although that required to be enabled using an API Key which we may cover later. In short the major forms of Logins to Comment options. For example commenting using my twitter account will load a pop up window asking you to Login to twitter or if you are already logged in it will ask you to allow access to the application:

You can then add your comment:

Which will appear as follows and notice the all important Reply option:

Pros: Threaded, Relatively Easy Install, Looks Good, Able to manage Comments using intense debate site, able to sign in and comment using Open ID, twitter, Facebook etc. Comment Moderation email, various settings for tweaks.

Cons – Requires modification of template even though Intense Debate does it for you. Slow! Sometimes very slow, to load comments ‘app’ and authenticate. Sometimes comments seem to not even make it through the system. I posted three comments and only one came through for moderation to appear on the page. The rest seem to have disappeared. Comments disappear or do not get registered.

Disqus

Visit the Disqus site and click the Get Started button:

You will need to sign up, but here again you can use Open ID, the button is found at the bottom left of the sign up form. Again you may still be asked for your username/email and password. Here I used my Google Account one, which would not work. No matte the Disqus sign up form is very short so I used that. You will get the usual email verification, although you are able to proceed immediately with Disqus, where you are asked for a website to integrate:

You will then be asked for the platform to install on:

Of course you choose blogger. You will then be taken to the instruction on how to install for the Blogger platform. This is very similar to the Intense Debate instructions, where you upload your current Blogger template to the site:

You will then be presented with a new template, with the required code already generated:

There are also further instructions:

This first asks you to paste the new template, making sure Expand Widgets is checked and disable Blogger’s original comment system. Notice Intense debate does not ask you to perform the latter. I wonder if Disqus will conflict with the existing Blogger Comments. We shall see.

However it is not quite straight forward. Disqus does not seem to work with a custom Blogger Template as in my case and as is the case for most people. So comes gameshogun.ws with a guide. But it was were quite complicated and seemed to apply to overly customised themes. So I found this post on woork. The post suggested using the generic code. In fact in my case the Disqus method for blogger had worked to a point i.e. the script had installed into the template but the actual comment form was not present. So I chose the reinstall and selected Generic, which can be found under tools for the site in the Disqus account:

You will then be taken to the following screen with code and instructions:

In my case it was simply a case of adding Code Snippet (#1) to my template where I would like the comment form to appear. In my case this is before (to leave the blogger comment form intact):

   1: <b:includable id='comment-form' var='post'>

This means you do nor require to Disable Blogger comments if you do not want to. And that was all that was required to install Disqus for me. The form then appears as follows:

Note you are required to enable the Facebook (including API), twitter and Open ID login options in the settings first.

The comments then appear as follows:

Pros: Looks good, works well. Able to manage Comments using intense debate site, able to sign in and comment using Open ID, twitter, Facebook etc. Comment Moderation email, various settings for tweaks.

Cons: Slow, sometimes requires a refresh to see you logged in when commenting using Facebook/twitter etc. May cause custom favicon to disappear for that post.

Sham’s Blog – Threaded Comments in Blogger

“The idea behind this came from the simple observation that most of us use @AuthorName to reply to comments posted by other users in 'single' threaded comments. So the JavaScript I wrote just parses the comment bodies for this author name (or comment ids) and then searches for appropriate comments to find parents of the reply comments.
Below is an image of how after I implemented this idea the comments section on my blog changed:

The instructions involve modifying your template are found on Sham’s Blog and I will not go through them here. I will however implement it on my blog with my theme colours etc and show you how it looks on my blog:

And then we come to the first disadvantage of this method:

To reply, you need to include @”User’s name” or @”users id number” to include in the first line of your comment/reply. It does provide these for you but that means copying the line and pasting it into your new post:

Pasting @username into the first line of your first post would be ok I guess but its no different from doing that in a normal comment. Notice that a non author comment is in white here. You may also be required to remove the previous comment form manually as in my case.

Pros: Easy enough to install, still uses Blogger’s own system which may be good or bad.

Cons: Not great eye candy. Requires to paste @”User’s name” or @”users id number” to reply. Hard to get right on the install.

Conclusion

After all of that I have decided to go back to back to my original setup. It may not be the best and has no threaded reply system but it was the most stable. So its back to using the same old built in blogger comment system. My only suggestion is to keep pestering Blogger/Google to improve the comments options on Blogger. To do so navigate to http://www.google.com/support/blogger/?page=contact and choose Suggest a feature:

So tell me what you think? Do you have a preference for the comments section in blogger. Or do you use something I have not covered here? Can Blogger do something else to improve?

Lufthansa = There’s no better way to fly? Maybe, but better fly easyjet

                                                    

So after various circumstances outwith  my control, I found myself requiring a change of date and time for my flight home, twelve days before I am actually due to fly. My friend Abdul was in a similar situation but he had a month or more to change his flight, so he had sauntered along to the Lufthansa desk at the flughafen (airport) in Nuremberg, changed his date and flight time, paid the 100 Euros stipulated in their terms (50 Euros per flight, two flights to get to Edinburgh, Scotland from Nuremberg).

So off I go to the same desk today and the first thing the lady at the desk tells me: “your flight has been changed already, see here” and she showed me on her screen. Eh? “yes there is no actual flight at your booked time so you have been changed to an earlier flight”. When were they actually planning on telling me this? No matter, I need to fly at an earlier date anyway. So can I have a flight on Tuesday at this time (same time as Abdul). Sure they’ll check. So that will be £429 to change. How much?!?!? “£429.” Why? “Oh it was a special fare”. Special fare obviously. I should have thought of that. (Big dose of sarcasm to myself). Still my original ticket was not cheap at nearly £300 return and also I flew the same route for £150 about two months later at a busier time, so how was £300 a special fare? Oh and let’s not forget the 50 Euro flight change cost as per the terms on top of that as well. Now that I check the terms again:

To change or cancel a flight award a charge of €50 or CHF70 / USD60 is payable (€150 or CHF220 to change to a Same Day Award). This amount may vary or be waived for certain awards. A change of booking is only possible in respect of the date and time of the flight. A change of route is not possible.

Anyway Selective Apathy, I need to get home, I’ll find another way. So I jump on a waiting UBahn to get to my Nuremberg residence to search for another flight. But wait, some airlines will give you a partial refund if you cancel your flight! So I get off the train and race back up to the desk, where I posed that query. “No, No, you have to pay more to cancel”. Say what? “Yes and new fare is 700 Euros”. And very big laugh from her and her colleagues. Now I’m not the type to take offence at such things, and left straight away, managing to catch that same waiting UBahn. On reflection, there was no need to be laughing at my predicament.

                                                 

So back home at look at my options: easyjet from Munich or Ryanair from Frankfurt-Hahn. Both of which are not too far from Nuremberg.

I had flown easyjet from Munich during the recent family emergency. My return home on the same day I had planned would cost 87 Euros + Luggage charge + Card charge = 103 Euros. Add to that a train to Munich which would be 55 Euros by Intercity Express (ICE) Second class, which only takes one hour. Say 160 Euros, far cry from £429. If I took the flight a day later it was even cheaper and would still fit in my schedule. But I want to get home as soon as possible and I found nothing wrong with my previous easyjet flight.

Ryanair was even cheaper at 23 Euros for a flight a day earlier than planned or same for a day later (no flights on my chosen date). But was at a timw which meant I had to be in Frankfurt way too early in the morning which is difficult.

I don’t personally have any gripe with the Lufthansa flight service as they were quite professional but their ground service (i.e. the flight desk) is a bit wanting, there was really no need to laugh at my predicament. Also £429 for a change of flight on a route which is rarely busy! One of the flights I was on to Nuremberg earlier had less than 10 people (for a plane with capacity of at least 100). Now I understand the moans and calls to boycott in forums and on sites around the web directed at Lufthansa.

That charge was just too outrageous. Maybe they think the German ‘quality’ service must come at a price like their cars and electronics etc. but I’ll take the easyjet cheap and cheerful with their you have to pay for any extras (which you don’t need on a flight of less than two hours as in my case), and importantly their professional staff and quite new jets. I’m just glad I found a viable way to get home.

There’s no better way to fly? Maybe, but better fly easyjet.

P.s I’ll put an update to this post if they ever notify me (by email) of my original flight change to the earlier time or not, as I have not cancelled that flight.

An Update and My Every Day Carry (EDC)

Firstly my apologies at the long absence. Regretfully there has been the recent passing of a close family member, which meant I had to rush home to Dundee. This also came right at the time of my thesis hand in date which meant I was really busy over this last month or so. I am now back in Nuremberg for a week or so to tie up things here before going home to Dundee. I feel that I need to stay home for a while so I have decided to do another Masters Degree in Information Technology and International Business at the University of Dundee. If I get in (which I should) and complete the course, that could be three degrees to my name. A bit overkill and many think I should not be taking this path but rather than staying home and working a Nine to Five I may not enjoy in Dundee i.e. not in my chosen field, I prefer to do this course. Also my stint at iSyst here in Germany has showed me that the Electronics industry is after all a Business, and Business concepts is something I am not acquainted enough with as is all the IT, in terms of software which form an essential aspect of the industry. Thus I believe this is the right step.

Anyway today I would like to talk about Every Day Carry (EDC) objects. As the name suggests these are objects which you have or carry on your person everyday or in Wikipedia speak: “refers to various items, usually small, that are worn or carried by a person on a daily basis for use in everyday tasks from the mundane to the unexpected”. This range from keys, mobile phones, pens, to survival gear and tools.

My current EDC is quite minimalist, I have two mobile phones, one for each front jeans pocket: my main phone, currently a Blackberry Pearl 8100 and my secondary phone a Sagem my220X (Stylishly Black with Gold Rims) shown in below. Apologies for the poor pictures. I left the camera back in Scotland and had to use the Blackberry’s camera.

                      

The main phone changes quite often, it was recently a Benq E72 Windows Mobile Smartphone and will be hopefully replaced by a Nokia E72 later this year. This is my contract phone although not the actual one I got from the contract, long story behind all of that which is not important. The Sagem, I bought for only £5 brand new. It is a bare standard phone – no camera or anything else. I bought it as a secondary phone as it is really slim (10 mm) and in my opinion stylish. Notice the cracked screen due to an accidental drop but it is still usable. I use it with a Lebara SIM card which allows me to send cheaper text messages to Mauritius.

Next, in one back pocket, we have my tattered wallet. It is a leather Card wallet from China which I have had for some years after a long search for a small Card wallet with an additional slot for notes (this has two under the card compartments).

                               

The wallet holds a lot of cards (I have five or six bank card alone and this was a better option as I don't carry much cash). It also has a SwissCard Lite in Ruby as below, which bulks it up a bit. Also although this is a credit card size multi tool with screwdriver, knife, tweezers, light, pen, scissors etc, it is not really suited for a wallet in your back pocket. Mine has cracks and broken plastic bits due to my sitting on it.

                                                         

In the next rear pocket we have a Black & Red notepad (also very tattered). This is pictured with my newest addition: a Fisher xmark Bullet Space Pen, which usually rides in a front pocket.

                            

These two are essential. I lose count of how many time I am left without something to write on or to write with and a great thought, idea, suggestion or other note is lost. The Space Pen is quite expensive for a single pen at £15-£20 but it is the best pen I have ever owned. It is really small, perfect for the pocket but extends to full size for writing as shown above. And no leaks! My previous pens all leaked at one time or another, which is a nightmare for your pockets.

Next we have the Watch and the ipod Shuffle.

                                                       

These are both Product Red items:

The watch is an Product Red Armani AR0567 which is not for the UK market and meant I had to get it from the USA. The ipod is a Product Red second generation ipod Shuffle with Selective Apathy.. engraved on the back. The ipod is paired with white Sennheiser Cx-300 earphones which are great.

Finally we have my keys shown below, with a USB memory stick and of course the Mauritius Keychain. I also carry some change and very little cash in my pockets alongside loads of receipts and bits.

                                                      

However with my SwissCard breaking up I was looking at replacing it with something more solid. After a lot of research I settled on a Swiss Tech Micro Plus 8-in-1. At 45.35 grams and a small size this would be small enough for my pockets. It also has no blade and with the tough UK blade laws, it is just fine.

                           

But this meant no light and although Swiss tech had products with a light all reviews deemed them rubbish and the Swisscard LED light was also rubbish in the first place. So I found a Gerber Sonic LED Key Ring light on sale in Silver. The Gerber Sonic is shown below. These are reviewed as being much better than the similar Maglite Solitaire. I wished they had had a red one in the sale…

                           

Then I decided that I now had too much stuff to fit in my pockets, especially with the Swiss Tech Tool which would probably quickly bore holes in my pockets. So what I would need would be like a Belt/Waist Pack/Pouch/Holster etc. which could hold a good bit of my gear, you know like the phone belt carriers. I did not want one that is too obvious and bulky however but I would want it to hold the multi tool, the light, the Blackberry or any future phone I may have, and also my keys which are another hole creator in the pockets and also the pen. After much searching I settled on a Maxpedition Rat Wallet. Yes it is being called a wallet but all reviews and opinions note that it is not and may even be too big as a Belt Pouch.

                     

                      

                      

I got mine in black and as the pictures above from the Gadgeteer and the Maxpedition website show, it does bulk out quite a bit when loaded, but hopefully it will not be too obtrusive. Hopefully it will also allow me to stop carrying around my own wallet. Now an obvious and pointed out problem with the Rat Wallet is that any loose cards put in it are likely to fall out. So based on some online recommendations I added another purchase – Jimi Wallet.

       

“The Jimi™ wallet is a compact, colorful, and water resistant answer to the stodgy outdated leather wallet. It’s designed to slip into your front pocket, purse, or around your neck on a lanyard.” It is able to hold four credit cards in one side and has a clip for notes and maybe three more cards in the other side. Should be perfect for my needs and should fit in the Rat wallet too.

This has turned into quite a shopping spree. I will hopefully put a post up when all these come together and my thoughts on them, with some better pictures as I will not have my purchases until I return home.

So tell me What are your Every Day Carry objects, what do you think of mine or is there an object which you may not carry every day but can’t live without. Add some comments!