News Comment Form Content Managed Webpage Area Login

Please ensure that you have read and understand the following topic links before reading on.

The News Item Form area allows both logged-in users, and guest users not logged in, who are assigned to a content managed web site to have the ability to create a new comment and save it to a designated News/Blog Item.

Using this area it allows users to post information up onto a content managed webpage, that could then be displayed to other users (or not at all) in relation to a given topic, based on the original news item or blog post.

The area displays a form containing a text area where the user can enter their comment. Once the user has submitted the form the comment will be added to the news/blog item, and it will be assigned to either the news/blog item defined in the area's setting, or based on the news/blog item ID that is set in the web page's URL that the area is displayed within.

If the comment is posted against a news/blog item that is set to require comment approval before the comment is displayed against the news/blog item, then an administrator user through the News/Blogs interface in the Administration Centre will have to approve the comment before it can be displayed in a News Comment Listing area. This allows the comments to be moderated and ensure that undesired comments are not posted.

Annonymous guest users can post comments against a news/blog item, and the area will detect that if the user is a guest, then to load a different format that requires the person to enter at least their Email address before the comment can be posted. Additionally the user can also give their name as well.

After the comment has been created an Email will be sent out to notify an administrator user that the comment has been posted. This allows administrators to view the details of the new comment, then optionally moderate and deny the comment through the Administration Centre's News/Blogs interface if it is deemed unacceptable.

When the comment's text is uploaded, the characters in the comment will be HTML escaped. This ensures that if the comment is displayed on a web page that other users can see, that the posting user cannot inject malicious code into the web page and do nasty things like steal peoples data, or cause the web page to not display as it should.

The area contains the following formats:

News/Blog Item Comment Form

The format displays once within the area and contains the form inputs that enable a logged-in user to their create a comment and submit it against the news/blog item.

News/Blog Item Comment Guest User Form

The format displays once within the area and contains the form inputs that enable a guest user who has not logged-in to create a comment and submit it against the news/blog item. The guest user must give their Email address to allow the comment to be posted.

News/Blog Item Comment Pending Message

Displays once within the the area after a user has successfully submitted a comment, but the comment requires approval from an administrator user before the comment is display.

News/Blog Item Comment Posted Message

The format displays once within the Email notification that is set to the user after a comment is successfully posted. Use this format to display details of the comment posted, and the user who posted the comment.
Ensure that if you embed HTML in this format, that it is based on older HTML standards that Email applications support. For example use tables to structure the styling of the Email.

Layout of Formats:

Step 1: Logged-in User Fills Out Comment Form:

or guest user fills out comment form:

Step 2: Comment posted but requires approval:

 Step 3: Email notification sent of to administration user:

Below are the following settings that can be configured through the area's editor when modifying the area in the Web Page Editor, within the Administration Centre.

• The Email address that comment notifications are sent to is configured from the Administration Centre, within the Online Store menu, in Organisation Settings, with the setting labelled "Feedback And Enquiries Email".

• Link this area with the News/Blog Group Item Listing area to allow users to navigate from news/blog groups to a form where they can add a comment to an item within the group. This allows community based forums, or discussions, and posts to take place on content managed web pages, which help boost traffic, benefits search engine optimisation, and so on.
• Be careful to make sure that users can only post comments against news/blog items that they are allowed to, otherwise you could have users posting sensitive items infront of other users who should not be able to communicate.
• For sensitive news/blog items, set them so that they require comment approval before comments are displayed. Also its a good idea that a person is designated to read all comments, this ensures that the community behaves well, and any issues/opportunities are actively managed.