Novedge Now Accepting Comments with DisqUs and Facebook Connect

I believe that comments are a powerful tool to establish a dialogue with blog readers as well as to listen to customers. While comments have become a standard feature of blogs for some time, they have seldom been available on other websites.
Technically speaking there is no reason for this limitation. While websites are not updated in the same way as blogs, many websites offer dynamic contents, but their structure is not based on posts. I always wondered why Novedge website visitors shouldn’t be allowed to post comments on each page in the same way that they post their opinions and feedback on blogs.

there is no reason for not having comments on websites that are not blogs

After looking for a simple technical solution to my wishes, I finally found a new and interesting service called DisqUs. Many people commenting on multiple blogs would like to have a single login for all of them as well have a central repository where all their comments can be reunited and monitored for replies, trace-backs, and follow-ups. DisqUs is providing all of this. The idea is simple yet powerful. Logging into DisqUs I can see all my comments and also see the comments of my friends who’ve posted on blogs adopting DisqUs.

DisqUs is not the only service for comment management. Among their competitors there is IntenseDedate, recently acquired by the WordPress parent company. What makes DisqUs the best option for Novedge is their popularity among CAD blogs.

I had to twist DisqUs a little bit in order to adapt what is still a bloggers’ tool

The integration of DisqUs with the Novedge website was not straight forward. While it required a minimal intervention on every page where I wanted to enable comments, I had to twist the system a little bit in order to adapt what is still a bloggers’ tool to a website such as Novedge that is primarily an e-commerce website.

Now the integration is complete! And just last night DisqUs added a fantastic feature to their commenting system. Novedge website visitors wanting to post a comment on any of our pages now have one more option: they can login into the commenting system using their Facebook account with a new technology called Facebook Connect.

your Facebook network is not anymore limited to the Facebook website

The implications of this improvement are huge. First, you can automatically publish your comments on your Facebook feed among all your activity events. In the future DisqUs could easily add features to highlight comments posted on Novedge by your Facebook friends. What’s happening is that your Facebook network is not anymore limited to the Facebook website but is now reaching places like the Novedge website.

My final suggestion: go to the Novedge website, select a page of a product you know, you like, or dislike and want to talk about — and post your comment sharing your opinion! Your feedback will be appreciated.

Franco Folini