How to handle comments for the Blog and  Comments and Ratings Object from the online Control Panel

Best Practices > Step 1 - Settings > The Advanced section >

How to handle comments for the Blog and  Comments and Ratings Object from the online Control Panel

Previous pageReturn to chapter overviewNext page
Show/Hide hidden text

A Blog is a sort of online diary where you can post articles of any kind, and give visitors the possibility to leave comments. If your reader community is active and stimulated by the various posts, then interesting discussions may develop.

Click to expand/collapseHow to configure comment management in WebSite X5

If you want visitors to be able to leave comments on your posts, you have to configure your Blog, using the options in the Blog | Article page window:

Select the Let readers add Comments to your Blog option.
Indicate the Comment management system to be used.
If you are using WebSite X5's built-in system, specify the Content Type required: Comment and Vote, only Comment or only Vote.
You need to define the settings for the Content Type: for example, you can indicate that comments must be approved from the control panel before being published on the blog, or you can define the order of display, or you can enable the anti-spam "Captcha" check.
Define where received data is to be saved: in a file or in a database.
If you choose to save data in a file (the only possibility in the Evolution edition), specify the path of the Folder on the Server where data is saved, which is the folder that PHP code can write to.
Decide whether an e-mail is to be sent automatically each time a comment is received and, if so, specify the User e-mail address to use.
If, instead, you decide to use Facebook or Disqus for managing comments, enter the necessary parameters for configuring that service.

When you have done this, you can add posts and publish your Blog. A form is added automatically to the bottom of posts, where visitors can write and send their comments.  This form asks for a name, an e-mail address, a website and a message. all the fields are mandatory, except for the website field.

Click to expand/collapseHow to manage comments from the online Control Panel

When you have configured how comments to the Blog are to be handled, when a visitor leaves a comment, a notification e-mail will be sent to the specified address (to the website Administrator, usually). If you have selected the Show Comments after Admin approval option, comments have to be approved before they are published online and WebSite X5  has a command for this in the online Control Panel.

The Control Panel can be found at the http//www.mysite.com/admin URL, where http//www.mysite.com is the website to which the Blog is linked, and it is available to all the users in the Administrator group, who have been added in the Access Management section of Step 1 - Website Settings | Advanced.

There are two dropdown menus in the Blog section of the Control Panel, and they show a list of the categories and the posts linked to them. You can choose the post you want to view the comment on. A list of the comments gives the name of the author, his e-mail address, the text of the comment and the date and time it was made. If the author has a website linked to his name, this link is automatically activated.

To handle comments, you have to:

Go to the online Control Panel and log in, then open the Blog section.
Identify the post you want to view comments on, using the dropdown menus that show the list of categories, and the posts in them.
Scroll the list of comments and use these commands to handle them:
Delete: to remove a comment: it will not be published on the Blog and it will be deleted from the list of comments in the Control Panel.
Approve/Disapprove: to approve a comment and so have it published on your Blog, or disapprove a comment and so remove it from the list of posts on the Blog. A disapproved comment is not deleted from the lists in the Control Panel.

It is absolutely necessary to be able to manage what comments are displayed on your Blog, to guard against spam and to moderate discussions, removing offensive or otherwise inappropriate content.

The blog post comments are managed in the same way as messages that are left in the  Comments and Ratings Object. Go to the Comments and Votes section of the control panel.

Click to expand/collapseHow to manage comments using the WebSite X5 Manager app

If you use WebSite X5's built-in Comment management system, blog comments can be managed via the online control panel or via the WebSite X5 Manager app.

The WebSite X5 Manager app is free and available for both iOS and Android. You can install it using the buttons in the App Store or in Google Play, or you can use the QR Code in the Program's Control Panel window or in the WebSite X5 Manager section of the online Control Panel.

Once the app is installed, you can manage comments by:

Opening the app and adding the website to the list of those that are managed through the app, if you haven't already done so.
Tapping the website you want to work on to access the dashboard and open the Blog section.
Using the menus with the list of categories and posts to select the post you want to moderate.
Scrolling the list of comments for the selected post and using the commands available to approve, disapprove or remove each comment.

You can also enable the app to send a push notification each time a new comment is published on the blog:

In the Control Panel window, select the Enable push notifications option.
Publish the updated website.
In the app's Website Settings screen, check that the option for receiving push notifications on new blog comments has been enabled.

As we have already said, comments on blog posts are managed in the same way as messages left for the Comments and Ratings Object. Both the online Control Panel and the WebSite X5 Manager app have a section for managing comments and votes. The option for enabling push notifications, when a new comment is published, is in the Website Settings screen.

 


Best Practice:

-

How to manage websites using the WebSite X5 Manager app


Further information:

-

Blog: characteristics and features

-

Mobile App: definitions and uses

-

The online Control Panel and the WebSite X5 Manager app