I’ve been using the blog comment system JS Kit Echo for a few weeks now. It has many advantages, namely:
- Pulls in blog comments and mentions from Twitter and Facebook.
- Does this in real time without refreshing the page.
- Can include HTML, photos and even video in comments.
- Enables to post your comment to multiple platforms, not just this site.
- Keeps your blog as the central hub for your brand and business.
However, there are a few things, specifically WordPress related, that it can improve upon. In no particular order:
- Speed of support. Yes, I’m only paying a very small yearly fee and not for your Pro version, but 24 hours between each support reply meant it took over 7 days to get my WordPress comments imported. Half the time was my fault due to security restrictions on my site, but still…. As a side note, it was annoying to not be able to manually import comments and having to wait.
- Gravatars of old commentators are not automatically included. Despite assurances that email address, IP address etc are imported (and no doubt they are), they do not show the gravatar of old commentators on the site. Apparently they will appear once the commentator makes a new comment and assigns the gravatar.
- Styling isn’t as easy as it should be. A simple interface for some styling would be great.
- It would be easier to manage comments through WordPress rather than having to go to the JS Kit website. Using an iframe on the comments page would solve this, in the same way as DISQUS and Lijit do with their plugins. Support this idea here:
http://support.js-kit.com/jskit/topics/manage_comments_through_wordpress. On another side note, the WordPress integration doesn’t work too well, clicking on Comments on the Dashboard takes you to the “old” WordPress comment screen. - Separate Trackbacks. A simple idea that used to be on this site but is not yet possible. Support this idea here:
http://support.js-kit.com/jskit/topics/separate_trackbacks_from_comments - Disable comments on individual post/page. Yup, this can’t be done yet either, ignoring your WordPress settings. Support this idea here:
http://support.js-kit.com/jskit/topics/disable_new_comments_on_single_page - Support more than one level of threading. This used to be possible when they had different skins, but not now. Only one level of threading is good, but not great.
- Editing comments after they’re posted. The comments are mine as they’re on my site, so I should be able to edit them right? Not yet. Support this idea here:
http://support.js-kit.com/jskit/topics/editing_comments_after_they_are_posted
If I haven’t put you off too much, these points are improvements I hope to see soon in JS Kit Echo. I would recommend it on a new blog definitely, that way you can avoid any import issues and delays.
On the other hand, I couldn’t be happier with my new Lijit search, especially as they’ve now added cool thumbnails to the results.. Give it a try top right, after you’ve commented on this post of course….
