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Thread: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

  1. #1
    Steve
    Guest

    Default Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    Hi,

    I have just posted an article on my website which might be of interest to
    some: "Installing a Reader Comments System on an NOF Website." This
    follows-up an earlier thread (Multiple guestbooks per site solved). You can
    read the article here: http://tronola.com/html/wcs-nof.html

    Comments are welcome.

    Steve L.



  2. #2
    Jeff Gaines
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    On 04/03/2010 in message <hmp1n1$4so$1@DailyPlanet.news.netobjects.com>
    Steve wrote:

    >Hi,
    >
    >I have just posted an article on my website which might be of interest to
    >some: "Installing a Reader Comments System on an NOF Website." This
    >follows-up an earlier thread (Multiple guestbooks per site solved). You
    >can read the article here: http://tronola.com/html/wcs-nof.html
    >
    >Comments are welcome.


    What's wrong with the NOF Guest Book? Some of the objections you raise in
    your notes appear incorrect to me, it's more flexible than you think it
    is...

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    All things being equal, fat people use more soap

  3. #3
    Steve
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    > What's wrong with the NOF Guest Book? Some of the objections you raise in
    > your notes appear incorrect to me, it's more flexible than you think it
    > is...


    Hi Jeff,

    If you see something in the article which is incorrect, *please* let me know
    the specifics--I definitely want to investigate it. I'm sure that NOF's
    guestbook feature works fine for its intended purpose. However, the NOF help
    states that:
    "You can only add one Guestbook Component and one corresponding Guestbook
    Admin Component per site."

    ....So this would not work for my site, where I wanted to allow users to
    leave comments on each article individually.

    I also looked at using NOF's testimonials feature to perform this function,
    since it is specified for multiple instances. There were several issues with
    this noted in the article (http://tronola.com/html/wcs-nof.html), including:
    - Each "guestbook" would have its own admin page.
    - Every comment would have to be validated by the admin before appearing.

    I am certainly not an expert on NOF and if there are any errors, I would
    very much like to correct them.

    Thanks for your reply,

    Steve



  4. #4
    Jeff Gaines
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    On 06/03/2010 in message <hmtv2l$bpl$1@DailyPlanet.news.netobjects.com>
    Steve wrote:

    >If you see something in the article which is incorrect, please let me know
    >the specifics--I definitely want to investigate it. I'm sure that NOF's
    >guestbook feature works fine for its intended purpose. However, the NOF
    >help states that:
    >"You can only add one Guestbook Component and one corresponding Guestbook
    >Admin Component per site."


    OK, top of my head as I can't run php with short tags on my local server:

    Comments do not *have* to be validated, that's optional.
    There is no requirement to enter first *and* last names.
    When I used it I didn't notice that comments were called testimonials. I
    did change the php file so it was called 'Notice Board' rather than 'Guest
    Book'.
    I didn't notice any issues with timestamps.

    I have to say I got so much spam from it that I removed it within a few
    days.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation

  5. #5
    Steve
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    Hi Jeff,

    It appears that you are talking about the flexibility in the NOF *Guestbook*
    feature and that might very well be correct. However, the comments in my
    article were about the *Testimonials* feature of NOF.

    The Guestbook (GB) feature is not usable for my application because I need
    to have multiple instances on the site. NOF help says that you can only have
    one GB per site. So the Testimonials feature comes the closest to providing
    what I need.

    Re-running the testing which I did on the Testimonials feature, I have
    confirmed that it does require comments to be validated and does require
    that both first and last names be given. I do not see a way around that.
    Please let me know if there is something which I have missed about setting
    it up. By the way, I still see a substantial timestamp error for this
    Testimonials feature. The hosting provider did check the server and reported
    that it is showing correct time. Also, the WCS GB application (described in
    the article) is also showing correct time. Perhaps the NOF Guestbook feature
    does not have this problem.

    I appreciate your taking the time to share the details of what you have
    found.

    Steve L.


    "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
    news:xn0grcshn2t3nr4000@news.netobjects.com...
    > On 06/03/2010 in message <hmtv2l$bpl$1@DailyPlanet.news.netobjects.com>
    > Steve wrote:
    >
    >>If you see something in the article which is incorrect, please let me know
    >>the specifics--I definitely want to investigate it. I'm sure that NOF's
    >>guestbook feature works fine for its intended purpose. However, the NOF
    >>help states that:
    >>"You can only add one Guestbook Component and one corresponding Guestbook
    >>Admin Component per site."

    >
    > OK, top of my head as I can't run php with short tags on my local server:
    >
    > Comments do not *have* to be validated, that's optional.
    > There is no requirement to enter first *and* last names.
    > When I used it I didn't notice that comments were called testimonials. I
    > did change the php file so it was called 'Notice Board' rather than 'Guest
    > Book'.
    > I didn't notice any issues with timestamps.
    >
    > I have to say I got so much spam from it that I removed it within a few
    > days.
    >
    > --
    > Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    > There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation




  6. #6
    DenisG
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    Hi Steve and good article, many thanks for posting the link(s)

    Like yourself I am a big believer in the KISS format and I have tried this
    sort of thing in the past but spam has always made me remove them after only
    a few days. Few questions:
    1) When you say you used the top version of WCS, did you mean the 'Extended'
    version at $10 or the WCS html version at $20?
    2) Have you found any spam problems so far?
    3) The input page seems to take up a lot of space and extends scrolling
    somewhat, easy to compress?

    Sorry if the questions are all answered in your article, just had a quick
    'speedread' of it at the moment but will read it in full later once I know
    which version to download

    Denis.


  7. #7
    Steve
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    Hi Denis,

    Thank you for the kind words.

    I used the WCS version for which is asked a $20 donation. By the way, I took
    the "HTML" in the product name to be just part of the name and not
    indicating anything different about the structure of the code. My impression
    is that the lower versions are subsets of the top version.

    I haven't had much of a problem with spam but my site has relatively low
    traffic. I have only had a couple of spam postings, so far. Also, I am
    adding to the banned-words list to deflect future attacks. WCS does come
    with a long list of words it detects, to deal with spam and other issues.
    Operating with the captcha test, it seems to take care of the problem. The
    fact that I can extend it shows promise of retaining control. Also, it makes
    me feel a lot better, being able to fight back, instead of being helpless.

    I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean in the third question. If
    you mean that the list of comments, along with the input form seem to take
    up too much space, you can set the number of responses per page much lower.
    I have it at six replies per page. WCS will cobble-up extra pages for
    overflow. You could also choose a smaller font size.

    If you mean that the input form itself is too large, I did not try to adjust
    the size of the text area, though I imagine it would not be very hard to do.
    It is a regular html form, which is stored in the code. It's all editable.
    Modifying the text and fonts for the "Reader Comments" and "Add your
    comments here..." is discussed in the article. The lines under those could
    also be removed.

    I will be happy to help if you have further questions.

    Steve



  8. #8
    DenisG
    Guest

    Default Re: Article on installing a reader comments system with NOF

    Thanks for that Steve. It does work a treat "out of the box", first try at
    http://www.denisg.co.uk/Manfrotto_39...rotto_393.html and that's just
    absolute default, no code mods at this stage. I too had to use 755 rather
    that the suggested 777. Now I just have to dress it up somewhat for my site
    although your own code mods I will use and modify from there as we think on
    similar lines. I want to shed the email bits, make private boxes etc and
    swap the thing round to messages above input. Questions will follow methinks
    )

    Fingers crossed!

    Denis.

    "Steve" <slafferty@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
    news:hnmmuj$q3n$1@DailyPlanet.news.netobjects.com. ..
    > Hi Denis,
    >
    > Thank you for the kind words.
    >
    > I used the WCS version for which is asked a $20 donation. By the way, I
    > took the "HTML" in the product name to be just part of the name and not
    > indicating anything different about the structure of the code. My
    > impression is that the lower versions are subsets of the top version.
    >
    > I haven't had much of a problem with spam but my site has relatively low
    > traffic. I have only had a couple of spam postings, so far. Also, I am
    > adding to the banned-words list to deflect future attacks. WCS does come
    > with a long list of words it detects, to deal with spam and other issues.
    > Operating with the captcha test, it seems to take care of the problem. The
    > fact that I can extend it shows promise of retaining control. Also, it
    > makes me feel a lot better, being able to fight back, instead of being
    > helpless.
    >
    > I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean in the third question. If
    > you mean that the list of comments, along with the input form seem to take
    > up too much space, you can set the number of responses per page much
    > lower. I have it at six replies per page. WCS will cobble-up extra pages
    > for overflow. You could also choose a smaller font size.
    >
    > If you mean that the input form itself is too large, I did not try to
    > adjust the size of the text area, though I imagine it would not be very
    > hard to do. It is a regular html form, which is stored in the code. It's
    > all editable. Modifying the text and fonts for the "Reader Comments" and
    > "Add your comments here..." is discussed in the article. The lines under
    > those could also be removed.
    >
    > I will be happy to help if you have further questions.
    >
    > Steve
    >



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