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Guide: Commenting Modes

From FirstMagic 1.4.0 on, Commenting Modes are no longer part of FM Preferences; they are now stand-alone Widgets. FirstMagic ships with two different Widget Modules for commenting:

  • [1] Comment - the native FirstMagic Commenting system
  • [2] Facebook Comments
You can activate these by dragging them from the Widgets Library into your SiteWidgets folder in Ensemble; both Widgets will enable your visitors to post comments on your pages.

Initially, comments will be allowed everywhere, but you can disable comments on individual pages by setting the FirstClass Properties Form for each page in question to Read Only. You can also configure each Widget to display on particular pages only [in the Widget Form].

Comments will not be rendered on System Pages [automatically generated pages] - only on pages you create yourself. System Pages are:

  • Searches and Search Forms
  • Contact Form and FormBuilder Forms
  • Regular Calendars
  • The Sitemap
If the Native FirstMagic Widget or the Facebook Comments Widget do not suit your purposes, you can use the Widgets Toolkit to install a third-party Commenting System of your choice.

1: FirstMagic Commenting [ Built-In mode ]

If you supply a FirstClass Guest Account on Tab 4 of FM Preferences, anonymous visitors will be able to post. Else, only authenticated FirstClass Users will be able to comment.

All Comment are stored in the Content > Comments container and can be moderated or deleted there - each page has it´s own folder. If you change the name of such folders, the stream will disappear from the page and FirstMagic will automatically create a new one. However, you can use the folder´s Subject Field to label each stream without consequences.

Important: the Guest Account [used by anonymous visitors] and / or any authenticated users can only post if they have permission to create FirstClass Documents in the Comments container.

Postings can be retrieved asynchronously as a live stream. That means the visitor do not need to reload the page to see new comments appear. You can turn this feature on in the Widget Panel, and  activating it will actually make any page the Widget is on into a live chatroom.

2: Facebook Commenting

This is a Facebook Service, and has nothing to do with FirstMagic - FirstMagic simply facilitates it´s use. Comments will show up both on your website and on the poster´s Facebook wall. To moderate these, you must activate Open Graph on Tab 2 of FM Preferences. When Open Graph is running, you will get Moderator functions when you hover the mouse over any posting as long as you are logged in to Facebook yourself. You can leave Open Graph off from day-to-day and enable it only when you need to moderate a comment.

Note that changing or deleting a Facebook post on your website will only have effect there - the original will remain as it was on the poster´s Facebook wall.

Disclaimer: FirstMagic, its developers, publishers and /or resellers are in no way responsible for the use of any Facebook products. Neither do we support Facebook services, and upon activating this service, all responsibility for its use by you or your visitors will be entirely yours and a matter between you and Facebook alone.

Note

The Echo Commenting Service you could find in eariler versions of FirstMagic is no longer supported. This is because the publisher, JS-Kit, discontinued the Echo Service october 2012.