Posted by: Qasim Virjee on Monday, 25 August 2008

For a long time I've wondered why commenting on articles hasn't been a stock feature in Joomla.  For the most part, I think probably 90% of websites today use the function as an essential way to allow publishers to communicate with their audience and gain valuable feedback from them.

Joomla's Extensions directory lists over 30 plugins and components that can afford you commenting ability in J1.5 - that's a ton to suss through, so I thought I'd take a look for you and offer a few recommendations:

First up, its a package called JoomlaComment .  Its a component-module set which has been around for some time and has not been made native to 1.5... so you might want to check out their forums to see how well it performs in Legacy Mode and whether there are any down-sides when using it with other newer components native to 1.5.

Overall, I like this extensions because its themable, has BBcode, offers thumbs up/down on comments and generally has lots of features.  Plus, its free/GPL - worth using if you have time to tinker, change CSS to match your site etc...

As the web becomes more widgetized many people are looking towards externally powered scripts to add functionality to their site.  A new commenting widget that's been getting much love from the blogging world is Disqus.  I like the idea of using an external service to provide comments on a site - Disqus is under market pressure to innovate and constantly upgrade the functionality of their product, which means that you should be getting the best comment system out of them for little effort - no more watching out for upgrades and then worrying about maintenance.  Of course, there's also an issue of scalability to consider - if you ever decide to move away from Joomla as a web platform, Disqus comments should allow you to get up and running on the new site with your comments hassle-free.

Thirdly, we have Azrul's JomComment .  This package has been around for some time and since it was first released I've loved seeing their company grow - to since release another couple of pretty sound little apps to use on your Joomla site. JomComment cleanly integrates natively in J1.5 with smooth AJAXy effects - eg. when someone posts a comment and instant-approval is set to 'on', the comment posting box will fade out and the comment will replace it - fading into the list of comments under an article immediately with no need to reload a page.

Given that JomComment is J1.5-native, you have piece of mind in knowing that it will play fairly nicely with the new Joomla MVC architecture and let you template your comment interface with simple override files - no need to edit the actual component to make your comments aesthetically jive to your site's theme.  However, that freedom comes at a price - JomComment is commercially available for around $30US.

If you're cool with relinquishing control of your data and having a 3rd party company handle/store your site's comments, I highly recommend trying out disqus - though, if you want to keep it all local and are a fan of simple interfaces then my vote's with JomComment.

I've just looked at 1/10 of the options out there - what do you all use?  Any other recommendations?

Disclosure: We're actually using JomComment here on whyjoomla - so you'll be able to test it simply by posting a comment below.

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posted by Flavio Copes on 2008-08-26 Hi, I use !JoomlaComment, the best GPL one. I'd also suggest jXtendend Comments, the one used by the Joomla.org website, developed by Andrew Eddie & Co (commercial). Quote

Great post... posted by Ronildo Costa on 2008-08-26 I would like give my opinion.... I dont know in J1.5 but in J1.0 JoomComment doesnt work well with special characters... I'm using JoomlaComment and I like so much... Can I translate to portuguese this post, and publish it in my blog? Quote

yvcomment posted by johan on 2008-08-26 Amazing that yvComment is not part of this list. Works on 1.5 http://yurivolkov.com/Joomla/yvComment/index_en.html#Wysiwyg best regards Johan Quote

comment component posted by haries on 2008-10-08 Hi, nice information, I want to ask about add on joomla, what best comment component for Joomla, I use Jommla Version 1.5.7 , any suggest? Thanks www.hariesdesign.com www.tipsntrick.net Quote

Joomlacomment Vs Disqus - Special Characters posted by Teach Asia on 2008-10-14 Thanks for the info, I will test out both Joomlacomment and Disqus to see which work out better, my site will contain both English and Thai characters so I'm not quite sure right now which will handle this better. Thanks http://www.teach2asia.com Quote

Thanks for the revie posted by Venkat on 2008-11-05 I was looking towards adding a comment system and this was what was needed. hOwever 30 bucks is steep for my needs. so might go with discus Quote

!JoomlaComment of course :) posted by Daniel Dimitrov on 2008-11-18 Well, we will soon make it to 1.5 native :) Anyone who wish to help is welcome. P.S. This site needs !jocomment too :) Quote

Another great comment system is... posted by revive on 2008-11-22 ChronoComments (http://chronoengine.com) It's light weight, doesn't fill your head tags with masses of .js and .css files, like JomComment does! and looks great. I was originally pointed to this developer when looking for a contact form to replace the one we were using (ChronoContact) and must say that both the Comment Component and the Contact Component are outstanding. Best of all, the support of the forum is stellar! Free components, that are stable, easy to use and have great support. Now that is Open Source to the core! Quote

IT Focus posted by Dani Permana on 2008-12-12 Thanks for this post, and very useful... Quote

posted by fdafds on 2010-07-01 This is a very confusing time for most Rangers because it is not quite understood what the most efficient way to play AION kinahthe class is. Quote

posted by Anonymous on 2010-07-05 Thanks for the info, I will test out both Joomlacomment and Disqus to see which work out better, my site will contain both English and Thai characters so I'm not quite sure right now which will handle this better.[www.amandadollar.com ] Quote

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