Use iWeb's .Mac comment system without iWeb

Sep 27, '06 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: simX

iWeb is Apple's application for easily creating good-looking web pages without much hassle. It also supports the easy creation of weblogs. One of the benefits of using .mac with iWeb is the fact that iWeb 1.1 makes use of a .mac commenting system so that readers can leave feedback directly on the weblog.

Using .mac comments is much better, IMHO, than using external commenting systems like HaloScan because .mac comments can be easily embedded directly on the entry pages. You don't have to open a new window to see the comments. Unfortunately, typically only iWeb can use the .mac commenting system. If you use any other weblog creation app (like iBlog), you're out of luck.

Or not. My friend and I did some poking around in the JavaScript of the .mac commenting system and in iWeb, and we figured out how the .mac commenting system works. So if you publish a weblog to your iDisk using some app other than iWeb, I've made a small (and free) utility that allows you to use .mac comments with this app.

The utility is called Dot Comments. The application is not all you need in order to activate .mac comments; you also need to change your weblog templates. There's a general tutorial here, and an iBlog-specific tutorial here, that outline the steps you need to take in order to activate .mac comments on your weblog. If you want to see a weblog with .mac comments in action, look no further than my own. (For contrast, here is a dummy weblog created with iWeb that also has .mac comments activated.)

[robg adds: I haven't tested this one, but the ability to use .Mac's comment system on non-iWeb .Mac blogs could prove useful to some folks.]

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