Demand Studios Review: Now with Fully Functional Comments

By Demand Studios Review Editorial

Posted On 9/10/10:

NOTE: The forum has been at least temporarily disabled due to spammers, but we now have Facebook comments enabled.

I am by no means a computer expert. I'm sort of learning on the fly here, so sometimes things take a while to get right. For the most part, Demand Studios Review has come together with fewer hitches than I expected but one or two issues have arisen here and there.

This is especially true now that I've tried to turn this into more of a blog with featured articles as opposed to just a static website.

I've developed this site using XSitePro, which is great for a lot of things (and I recommend it to anyone looking to start a website who isn't a techie, for its ease of use) but not really for blogging, as it's not a blogging template.

The main problem I was having was with comments, as well as the Facebook "like" button, for individual stories.

On the individual pages for each post (which you can get to by simply clicking on the title) it was no problem, and same thing with the articles.

The trouble came when I tried to add them after posts on the main page. If I add a Facebook like button or a comment section there it doesn't differentiate between one post and another.

In other words, if you wanted to comment on my most recent post, about ICANN placing Demand Media under investigation, your comment would also show up under all of the previous posts.

Your comment about the investigation wouldn't make much sense underneath a post about Quick Guides returning.

Likewise, if you liked that post via the Facebook plug-in it would say you had liked all the other posts as well. But maybe you thought my post about forum decorum sucked and you didn't want to like it. Now you've been misrepresented.

We don't want that.

So I found a solution, albeit not a perfect one.

Now if you want to comment on or like a post you can simply click on the title, or on the "Single Page" link at the bottom of the piece.

You'll be taken to that post's individual page where you can give your feedback, which is of course always appreciated.

I want this site to be a community with a dialogue going back and forth, not a one way street. So let me know what you're thinking.

Oh, and don't be put off by how it says "Log In" on the comment box. You don't actually have to log in or register to leave a comment. That's just there in case you wish to connect via a Facebook, Google, Wordpress or Blogger account, etc.

I'm also thinking about putting up a forum but want to make sure there's interest first.

So if you'd like a forum, start leaving comments and that will be my cue to get on it.

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