Adding a Commenting System to Your Website with Disqus and Giscus

Adding a Commenting System to Your Website with Disqus and Giscus

Hello there! If you’re here, I bet you’re interested in making your website more interactive and engaging. One great way to keep the conversation going on your site is by letting your visitors leave comments. Today, we’re going to explore how to do just that using two popular tools: Disqus and Giscus. Whether you’re building a blog or any content-driven site, commenting enhances user engagement by allowing users to share their thoughts and ideas right on your page.

Why Use a Commenting System?

Before diving into the “how,” let’s chat for a moment about the “why”:
– Engagement: Comments encourage readers to interact with your content.
– Feedback: Visitors can offer valuable feedback or suggestions.
– Community Building: Foster a community by allowing discussions.
– SEO: More content (via comments) can improve search visibility.

Alright, enough chit-chat! Let’s roll up our sleeves and start integrating these systems.

Integrating Disqus

What is Disqus?

Disqus is an easy-to-use service that can embed a commenting system into any website. It’s versatile and scales well from small blogs to larger sites.

Step-by-Step Setup for Disqus

#### 1. Sign Up for an Account

– Visit Disqus.
– Click on “Get Started” and sign up.

#### 2. Create a Site

– After logging in, you’ll be prompted to “Create a site”.
– Enter your site’s name and choose a unique URL (for example: yourwebsite.disqus.com).

#### 3. Select Your Platform

– Choose the platform you’re using. For universal HTML sites, select “Universal Code”.

#### 4. Copy the Code

– After selecting “Universal Code”, you’ll be presented with a snippet of JavaScript code.
– Copy this code — it’s your ticket to integrating Disqus.

#### 5. Add to Your Website

– In your website’s HTML, paste the code snippet inside the tag where you want the comments to appear.
– Ensure this script is included on every page you want comments on.

html

– Replace EXAMPLE with your Disqus site shortname.

And, You’re Done!

Disqus should now be integrated, and you’ll see a nice little commenting section on your pages!

Integrating Giscus

What is Giscus?

Giscus is a newer, lightweight commenting system that uses GitHub Discussions. It’s ideal for open-source projects and bloggers looking to foster a community using GitHub.

Step-by-Step Setup for Giscus

#### 1. Navigate to the Giscus Page

– Visit Giscus.

#### 2. Configure your Giscus Widget

– Authenticate with your GitHub account and select a repository where Giscus will store discussions (make sure your repository’s discussions feature is enabled).
– Customize the widget with your preferred theme, language, and features.
– Giscus provides different options to determine how comments link to the page, like by URL, pathname, etc.

#### 3. Generate the Script

– At the end of the configuration, you’ll get an HTML script similar to this:

html

#### 4. Embed the Script

– Insert this script into the HTML of your website where you want the comment section to appear.
– Make sure to replace attributes like data-repo and data-repo-id with your repository details.

Voila! Your Website Now Has a Comment Section Powered by Giscus.

Conclusion

There you have it! Two robust ways to integrate a commenting system – Disqus and Giscus. With either choice, your users can now engage with you and each other.

Optional Practice Ideas

– Customize the styling of your Disqus or Giscus comment sections with CSS.
– Try out both systems on different projects to see which fits best.
– Explore ways to moderate comments to keep discussions positive and engaging.

Happy coding! If you have any more questions or need help, don’t hesitate to drop a comment or reach out. Remember, building a great website is as much about creating engaging experiences as it is about coding!