GabrielSoft - How to enable News Comments using Disqus

Want your website visitors to be able to comment on News items you've published using the eCatholic News module? You can enable blog-like News Comments on your website using Disqus (for free!). Here's what the Disqus News Comments embed looks like:

What is Disqus?

According to its website, Disqus is a networked community platform used by hundreds of thousands of sites all over the web. With Disqus, your website gains a feature-rich comment system complete with social network integration, advanced administration and moderation options, and other extensive community functions.

By utilizing Disqus, you are instantly plugging into the Disqus web-wide community network, connecting millions of global users to your small blog or large media hub.

1

Set up an account and register your website with Disqus

Go to https://disqus.com to complete the following steps.

Set up a Disqus account

Go to the Disqus website and click on Get Started. If you already have a Disqus account, simply login to continue. If you don't have a Disqus account, you will be prompted to sign up. Once logged in/signed up, click I want to install Disqus on my site.

Create a new Disqus site

On the Create a new site page, enter a Website Name and select a Category. Once finished, click Create Site. (Next, you may see a "Welcome to Disqus!" screen. Click "Got it, Let's get started!" to continue to the next step.)

NOTE: The Website Name you enter in this step will be the Disqus Shortname you will enter in your website's Admin Settings (see below).

Configure Disqus

Scroll to the top of the next page. You will find three steps listed in the top left corner of the page:

  1. Accept Policy
  2. Install Disqus/Select Platform
  3. Configure Disqus

Your eCatholic website is automatically equipped to work with Disqus, so click on Configure Disqus. On the Configure Disqus screen, enter your website's URL (e.g., https://myparish.com) in the Website URL field. Once finished, click Complete Setup.

You will see a "Setup Complete!" message after successfully configuring Disqus.

Add trusted domains

In the top toolbar, click Settings > Advanced to access and edit Trusted Domains. Locate the Trusted Domains field and enter any domains you would like to be able to load your Disqus comments embed. At the very least, be sure to add your website’s domain + your eCatholic alternate URL. Use the following format when entering the domains:

  • myparish.com
  • 12345.sites.ecatholic.com

2

Configure eCatholic Admin Settings to allow News Comments

Now that you've created your Disqus site and configured it appropriately, return to your eCatholic website and log in. Click on Admin in the white Admin Toolbar > Settings > Events & News and make the following changes:

  1. Toggle News Comments to On
  2. Enter the Disqus Shortname you just created (see above)
  3. Click Save/Publish

See the Disqus News Comments Embed in action

To see the new Disqus embed in action, navigate to a page of your website that contains a News item, then click the News item's title to access the News item's individual page. The Disqus comments widget will appear at the end of the article.