TypePad Takes On Disqus, WordPress With New Distributed Comment System
Six Apart, makers of blogging platforms Movable Type and Typepad, have announced a new distributed blog comment system that offers a very simple way of integrating comments into any page.
Similar to services from Disqus and WordPress, the new TypePad Connect allows you embed comments in any page using JavaScript. Any user with a TypePad Connect profile can then comment on your page and you get a comment management dashboard that offers spam control, moderation and customization options.
Naturally any of your visitors that don’t have a Typepad account can still comment anonymously or use their own OpenID credentials to leave a comment. Other nice touches include the ability to post replies by e-mail and threaded comments (although the threading is only one level deep).
There are some custom code snippets available that make embedding Typepad comments in WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger, Tumblr and other platforms, a simple cut-and-paste affair. Not using one of those systems? Not to worry, there’s generic JavaScript code that works on any site.
For those commenters that choose to use a TypePad account there’s also a new profile page, which will be linked back to via each commenter’s photo avatar.
If you’re thinking that sounds a lot like Disqus you’re right. TypePad Connect offers many of the exact same features found in Disqus and similar distributed comments systems. In September, rival blog software maker WordPress acquired IntenseDebate, a platform for distributed comments complete with profiles, custom feeds and many features similar to Disqus and TypePad Connect. IntenseDebate will be rolled into the next version of WordPress, due soon, and is now available as a beta plug-in for WordPress users.
So which is better? In my limited testing I liked TypePad Connect and customizing the CSS to fit your site’s look and feel is easier than it is with Disqus. But Disqus offers some nice features like true WordPress integration (the ability to store posted comments in your WordPress database) and a very slick API for pulling out data and storing elsewhere.
In the end, if you’re already using Disqus or other services like WordPress’ new Intense Debate comment system, TypePad Connect probably won’t lure you away. But if you’ve never used either, give them both a look — both are very capable systems and offer some nice features that go far above and beyond what most blogging software offers out of the box.
Also be sure to check out the video on the new TypePad Connect site, which and shows the new commenting features in action.
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