Brad Enslen - Thoughts from my stylish, mysterious, perilous mind.

Adding Hosted Comments to a PAGE on Micro.blog

Sometimes we create PAGES on a blog that contain content that we would like visitors to be able to comment about. I’ve been trying to figure out how to add hosted comments just to a page on MB, full stop. I had examined all the templates and found no good place to insert the commenting JS code. And even if I had found a place the added problem would be: I only want comments on certain pages not all pages. What to do?

Adding comments from Disqus, IntenseDebate or others to a page on Micro.blog is different than adding it to posts and far easier. **You don’t have to mess with templates!”

Goto: Account > Edit Design > Pages > select a page to edit.

The content box (the form you post content in when making a page) accepts Markdown, HTML and JavaScript. So it finally perked up to my brain-pan that I could probably just add the custom JS code below the normal content of a page right in the content form.

It’s that simple. You have to repeat this for each page you want comments on. It will not appear on all pages automatically.

You can see an example on my World War II Movies List page.

I’ve only done this with IntenseDebate code but it should work with others.

Enjoy.

Today I found a used typewriter stand at a local office furniture store, $25. Made in 1961, almost as old as me - vintage, and built strong as a tank and still solid as - a typewriter stand built like a tank.

Also stopped by the local charity resale shop: they had 3 portable manual typewriters marked $10, 30 and 40. I didn’t test them. All were well used and needed extensive cleaning at the least. If I were a refurbisher and mechanically handy, I would have bought the lot but passed because that’s not a gig I want to get into. That and none where a model that “spoke” to me.

Backing up to 13 February 2019

Most people are collecting portable typewriters which means the full desktop manuals are not getting a lot of love and therefore the prices are much lower. Below is an avacado green Royal desktop which I did not buy priced at an antique mall for $45 and you can probably get it for less. Assuming it works that is a good price for a machine for maybe a 10 year old that is keen on having their own typewriter or somebody on a tight budget but wants a manual.

Well, it’s started. My habit, when I start a new venture, is to jump in with both feet and thrash around after doing just enough research to get me into trouble. :-)

So, yesterday I found an excellent 1950’s Royal at a local antique mall. I have to confess, I also have two other typewriters on order. One from eBay and another from an online refurbisher/dealer. More on those purchases when they arrive in the next few days.

The advice given to search locally: antique stores, resale shops, old long established office equipment stores, is sound. I visited three local antique malls and found quite a few typewriters at decent prices that compare well with prices on eBay but have the advantage over eBay in that you can physically inspect and test the machine, dicker on price and you don’t have to pay +$40 for shipping.

Ahead…

1. Ultra Portables: for some reason these appeal to me the most right at the moment. They are always so slim and sleek.
2. Brands: I’d like to have an Olympia, these were always so expensive. Olivetti, see Ultra Portables above. Otherwise, brand is a factor but I’m not really checking a tick-box trying to buy one of each brand. I guess it’s a secondary consideration.
3. Condition: I’m trying to buy machines that are either refurbished, serviced or in proven good working order. Right now, I don’t know enough to attempt refurbishing typewriters on my own and it’s not something I’m interested in right now.
4. Style: This is a key consideration. I’d love to have a Remington Streamliner from the late ‘30’s to early ‘40’s. Looks, definitely play into this.
5. Price: Another big factor. I definitely like bargains.

This is my crude guide to adding third party commenting to Micro.blog. Right now Micro.blog only has commenting in the social timeline. If you want non-Micro.blog members to comment on your post pages you will need a third party service I know @Manton intends to add commenting on the post pages to MB at some point in the future so I consider this to be an interim solution.

Pick a comment service and sign up.

Pick a comment host and sign up. Look it over so you understand the administrative aspects. The service will give you either a custom JavaScript code or HTML code that they expect you to copy/paste into your theme. You will need this later.

Edit MB Theme

1. Read Help File on Custom Themes
2. Watch Manton’s Screencast I watched this several times until I was pretty sure I knew what to do.
3. Go to Edit custom themes in your admin panel.
4. You want to fetch the template files for the theme you are using, so find the repository name for your theme. I’m using Marfa theme so I typed in “theme-marfa” and if memory serves all the Marfa templates were fetched.
5. You only need to edit one template \ layouts/post/single.html
   

You are going to paste the JS code from your custom comment provider right where my super crude arrow is pointing below.

Save and you should be done. I’ve only done this with IntenseDebate using their “Generic” code so I can’t tell you how the other services will work on MB. YMMV.

I messed up. Reading the instructions more carefully on IntenseDebate I thought there was a way to import old Wordpress comments via XML file but there is not.

If you want to Import your old comments from Wordpress you need to install Intense Debate on your old Wordpress site first. It will then import all your existing comments. At least that is the way I read it.

This makes sense because it insures the comments get matched up to each permalink.

So if you are going to migrate from Wordpress to something like Micro.blog and want to use IntenseDebate you should install IntenseDebate first on your old Wordpress blog first, let it import the comments, then install IintenseDebate on Micro.blog after you have successfully moved your posts and domain to Micro.blog.

While it would have been nice to preserve my old comments, it’s my bad and I can live with it. The primary reason I wanted a comment system was for the occasional non-MB visitor to be able to leave a comment. It does not happen often but when it has happened it was important.

Watch: Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games: Hickory Dickory Dock Sn 2, Ep 1.

Watch this series if you can. These are light hearted reworkings of Agatha Christie stories in French with English subtitles. I didn’t think I would like these when I first tried them but Season 1 completely won me over and this first episode of Season 2 continues the winning streak. The writing, charactors and cast are all supurb. And there is a real mystery in each episode and yet they manage to make it light hearted without getting smarmy.

My first post got eaten so I’ll try this again.

Upcoming Film: “Lancaster Skies” WW2 Bomber Command Movie

I really want to see this. I’ll even drag myself out to a theater to see this if they show in in the US. I really hope it is good so I can add it to my World War 2 Movie List. Which reminds me I need to add “Dunkirk” to that.

Like: Return to the Open Web! vs Join the Open Web!

It makes me wonder how we can bring others along with us. The people for whom it’s not a return, but striking out into the wilderness outside the walled garden they are familiar with. We say it’s easy to claim your own space, but is it really if you haven’t done it before?

I wish I had a good answer to this. I think Ton comes close in that I need to offer to help people get started.

I refer to Starbucks as “Fourbucks” because everything seems to start at about that price. It’s been years since I’ve been in any sort of coffee house so when I went into the local Starbucks I found myself totally bewildered by the terminology and jargon.

I had 2 goals: 1. get a fancy coffee to go, 2. NOT to be that person in line that takes 3 minutes to order a coffee.

I ordered a latte to take to my meeting. It cost over $4 with tax. I’m not sure it actually had any coffee in it.

I think I’ll stick with coffee from home.