Looking for the perfect commenting system
Every day about 3 thousand new sites are created in runet. Owners strive to promote their website as soon as possible and get into the tops. For this there are different ways and one of them - comments. Comments allow you to create a community, a permanent audience, which eventually begins to attract new customers. Today there are many commenting systems, but how to choose the most suitable for your site?
I chose some of the most popular commenting systems, compared them across a variety of parameters, and reviewed each.
Were selected for comparison: Comments Widget VKontakte, Facebook Comments, Disqus, Cackle, Livefyre and IntenseDebate. These are the most popular systems that I meet on sites or in search engines.
The overview table of all the main features looks like the following:
Let us examine some of the features in more detail.
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To analyze the speed, I made a site, on the main page of which all commenting systems are placed. When the page loads, in javascript, a timeout function is launched that checks the height of the container with each commenting system. If the height is more than 300px, then the commenting system is loaded, the message about this goes to the server and is added to the previous value. As a result, after running Selenium IDE on several machines, it was found that:
This testing does not claim to be absolutely correct, since it depends a lot on the connection speed, but on average it reflects real results. The site http://www.kommenti.com and the report itself http://www.kommenti.com/summary .
It's simple, insert a link to the image (png, jpg) and several links to videos from YouTube, Vimeo, VKontakte. In this test, Cackle pleased, he recognized all the pictures and videos, even RuTube.
Fitting the widget to the size of the container did not cause any problems with Disqus, IntenseDebate and Cackle. The remaining systems require specifying the width (when creating) or go beyond the frame.
Often there is a situation when the user wants to leave a comment, but he does not have an account in the social network or he does not want to transfer his data. In this case, he can log in as a guest and leave comments without re-entering his data. Disqus, Livefyre and Cackle allow you to do this, but the latter requires Google ReCAPTCHA to recognize it, which is undoubtedly a minus.
Commenting systems that work through iframe, and this is VKontakte, Facebook and Disqus, do not allow changing css. Livefyre does not have a corresponding field in the administration panel. The two remaining IntenseDebate and Cackle have no such problems, you can customize css via FireBug or save it in the administration panel.
PS: UI css editor is not in any system except Cackle, but it is paid.
Whitelabel is the ability to use the product without copyright (links, banners or company icons). There is only in Cackle, but for a fee.
To date, Google has learned to index Facebook comments. Also on the Disqus website, one of the possibilities is indexing in Google out-of-the-box, that is, without any additional work oncrap . But it seems that in reality this does not work, at least after the launch of Disqus 2012, comments on the main page (disqus.com) have not yet been indexed. In other systems, such as Cackle, you will have to save comments, via the API, to your database and draw in HTML.
Single authorization, that is, the ability to authorize and comment users registered on your site. I was pleased with Livefyre, it provides this opportunity absolutely free, unlike other systems.
Now not much more about each system.
These are two very similar and probably the most common widget comments. Despite the rather meager functionality, these systems have a number of indisputable advantages over others:
The last item is only valid for the widget's VKontakte, but my Facebook does not always load.
This is probably the oldest commenting system, was founded in 2007. It has a fairly wide and powerful functionality. With their API, you can implement almost any integration.
Of the shortcomings are frequent glitches. For example, after saving the settings, they are not applied immediately, or comments after deletion remain on the page.
It is worth noting that in 2012 a new version of the widget was released. The guys transferred Disqus to the iframe, thus making it impossible to redefine the design (css), which of course is a big disadvantage for webmasters.
Excellent system, the free version has many features. For example, SSO (Single Authorization), Callback posting a comment (when publishing, a third-party service is called). Also in my opinion Livefyre is not a bad design.
The main idea of Livefyre is a paid integration into large Internet portals (they have no tariffs). The price starts from $ 3000 per month.
An interesting feature is that in order to create a widget, your website must be online, that is, it will be pinged during creation.
I know quite a bit about this service and honestly not the best. For example, the fact that it is very slow, does not support Realtime, does not recognize images and video. Why Alexa has a fairly high rating remains a mystery.
Although there are some nice features here. For example, in the widget settings, you can add or cancel almost any feature - rating, subscription, RSS, login buttons.
The Cackle commenting system appeared recently (2011), but in almost 1.5 years, it was able to conquer a large part of the runet. According to public data, the system is used by more than 17,000 sites. The main advantage over the others is almost all authorization providers, both Russian and foreign.
One of the advantages should be noted flexibility, ease of configuration and installation, the ability to easily change the design (for example, their css can be canceled altogether by passing the parameter var mcNoStyle = true to the widget).
In conclusion, for completeness, I offer you a small survey.
I chose some of the most popular commenting systems, compared them across a variety of parameters, and reviewed each.
Main features
Were selected for comparison: Comments Widget VKontakte, Facebook Comments, Disqus, Cackle, Livefyre and IntenseDebate. These are the most popular systems that I meet on sites or in search engines.
The overview table of all the main features looks like the following:
| Opportunity | VK comments | FB comments | Disqus | Livefyre | IntenseDebate | Cackle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download speed | quickly | slow | the average | quickly | slow | quickly |
| Like button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inserting images, video | Yes | not | Yes | Yes | not | Yes |
| Add. moderators | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Realtime update | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | not | Yes |
| Size fit | not | not | Yes | partially | Yes | Yes |
| Treelike | not | not | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-moderation | not | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Akismet (spam protection) | not | not | Yes | not | Yes | Yes |
| User Ban / IP | only user | only user | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous authorization | not | not | Yes | Yes | not | Yes |
| Different topics | not | not | partially | not | partially | Yes |
| CSS editing | not | not | not | partially | Yes | Yes |
| UI CSS editor | not | not | not | not | not | paid |
| HTML editing | not | not | not | not | not | not |
| Header editor | not | not | not | not | not | Yes |
| Whitelabel | not | not | not | Yes | not | paid |
| Indexing by search engines | not | Yes | partially | not | not | partially |
| SSO | not | not | paid | Yes | not | paid |
| API | not | not | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Moderation on the site | not | not | partially | Yes | partially | paid |
Let us examine some of the features in more detail.
')
Download speed
To analyze the speed, I made a site, on the main page of which all commenting systems are placed. When the page loads, in javascript, a timeout function is launched that checks the height of the container with each commenting system. If the height is more than 300px, then the commenting system is loaded, the message about this goes to the server and is added to the previous value. As a result, after running Selenium IDE on several machines, it was found that:
- Vkontakte loaded on average a second
- FB comments about 1.6 seconds
- Disqus 1.4 seconds
- Livefyre 600 milliseconds
- IntenseDebate just over 2 seconds
- Cackle 850 millisecond
This testing does not claim to be absolutely correct, since it depends a lot on the connection speed, but on average it reflects real results. The site http://www.kommenti.com and the report itself http://www.kommenti.com/summary .
Insert pictures, video
It's simple, insert a link to the image (png, jpg) and several links to videos from YouTube, Vimeo, VKontakte. In this test, Cackle pleased, he recognized all the pictures and videos, even RuTube.
Size fit
Fitting the widget to the size of the container did not cause any problems with Disqus, IntenseDebate and Cackle. The remaining systems require specifying the width (when creating) or go beyond the frame.
Anonymous authorization
Often there is a situation when the user wants to leave a comment, but he does not have an account in the social network or he does not want to transfer his data. In this case, he can log in as a guest and leave comments without re-entering his data. Disqus, Livefyre and Cackle allow you to do this, but the latter requires Google ReCAPTCHA to recognize it, which is undoubtedly a minus.
The ability to change css
Commenting systems that work through iframe, and this is VKontakte, Facebook and Disqus, do not allow changing css. Livefyre does not have a corresponding field in the administration panel. The two remaining IntenseDebate and Cackle have no such problems, you can customize css via FireBug or save it in the administration panel.
PS: UI css editor is not in any system except Cackle, but it is paid.
Whitelabel
Whitelabel is the ability to use the product without copyright (links, banners or company icons). There is only in Cackle, but for a fee.
Indexing by search engines
To date, Google has learned to index Facebook comments. Also on the Disqus website, one of the possibilities is indexing in Google out-of-the-box, that is, without any additional work on
SSO
Single authorization, that is, the ability to authorize and comment users registered on your site. I was pleased with Livefyre, it provides this opportunity absolutely free, unlike other systems.
Now not much more about each system.
VKontakte and Facebook comments
These are two very similar and probably the most common widget comments. Despite the rather meager functionality, these systems have a number of indisputable advantages over others:
- The user does not need to log in again if he is already logged in to VKontakte or Facebook.
- Automatic comment crossposting to a social network
- Stable work 24 hours a day
The last item is only valid for the widget's VKontakte, but my Facebook does not always load.
Disqus
This is probably the oldest commenting system, was founded in 2007. It has a fairly wide and powerful functionality. With their API, you can implement almost any integration.
Of the shortcomings are frequent glitches. For example, after saving the settings, they are not applied immediately, or comments after deletion remain on the page.
It is worth noting that in 2012 a new version of the widget was released. The guys transferred Disqus to the iframe, thus making it impossible to redefine the design (css), which of course is a big disadvantage for webmasters.
Livefyre
Excellent system, the free version has many features. For example, SSO (Single Authorization), Callback posting a comment (when publishing, a third-party service is called). Also in my opinion Livefyre is not a bad design.
The main idea of Livefyre is a paid integration into large Internet portals (they have no tariffs). The price starts from $ 3000 per month.
An interesting feature is that in order to create a widget, your website must be online, that is, it will be pinged during creation.
IntenseDebate
I know quite a bit about this service and honestly not the best. For example, the fact that it is very slow, does not support Realtime, does not recognize images and video. Why Alexa has a fairly high rating remains a mystery.
Although there are some nice features here. For example, in the widget settings, you can add or cancel almost any feature - rating, subscription, RSS, login buttons.
Cackle
The Cackle commenting system appeared recently (2011), but in almost 1.5 years, it was able to conquer a large part of the runet. According to public data, the system is used by more than 17,000 sites. The main advantage over the others is almost all authorization providers, both Russian and foreign.
One of the advantages should be noted flexibility, ease of configuration and installation, the ability to easily change the design (for example, their css can be canceled altogether by passing the parameter var mcNoStyle = true to the widget).
In conclusion, for completeness, I offer you a small survey.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/166383/
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