Loading Disqus Comments on Click: A Comprehensive Guide

Disqus is a popular platform for managing and moderating comments on websites. For a traditional implementation, the Universal Embed Code loads Disqus comments automatically when a visitor lands on a webpage. However, for a more dynamic and user-friendly experience, you can customize the Disqus integration to load comments on click. This guide will walk you through the steps to achieve this, ensuring your content can be enhanced with engaging user interactions.

Why Load Comments on Click?

Loading Disqus comments on click can improve the user experience by reducing initial page load times. Instead of loading all comments at once, which can slow down page performance, comments are only loaded when the user actively engages with the comment section. This approach can help maintain a faster page load time, which in turn can improve your site's SEO and user retention.

Step 1: Enable Track-By Comment ID

Disqus supports tracking comments via unique identifiers, allowing you to load specific sets of comments on demand. To enable this, you need to add a specific Disqus parameter to your embed code. This will ensure that each comment has a unique identifier and can be loaded individually.

Access your Disqus website settings. Go to the ldquo;Coderdquo; section and enable ldquo;track-by comment IDrdquo;. This setting will generate a unique identifier for each comment, making it easier to load them on click.

Step 2: Customize the Disqus Embed Code

Once track-by comment ID is enabled, you can modify the Disqus Universal Embed Code to load comments on click. Here's how you can do it:

Include the Required Scripts
To initialize Disqus on your website, you need to include the necessary JavaScript files. Ensure that your website is pointing to the latest Disqus resources. This can be done by adding the following script tags in your HTML header or footer:

script src'_FORUM_NAME/embed.js?width100%%'/script

Create a Div for the Comments
Next, you need to create a container div in your HTML where the comments will be loaded. This div should have a unique ID for easy reference in your JavaScript code.

div id'disqus_thread'/div

Modify the Embed Code
Edit the Disqus embed code to load comments on click. The modified code should look something like this:

script
(function() {
    const disqusConfig  {shortname: 'YOUR_SHORTNAME'};
    function loadComments(postId) {
        const disqus  new Disq util.disqus();
        disqus.loadComments , postId, {
            embed: {
                identifier: postId,
                defer: true,
                characters: 50000,
                title: "",
                url: ,
                categories: [],
                relations: {},
                numComments: 0,
                 true,
                 true
            }
        }, function() {
            ();
        }
    };
    ('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
        document.querySelectorAll('.show-comments').forEach(function(element) {
            ('click', function(e) {
                ();
                const postId  ('data-post-id');
                loadComments(postId);
            });
        });
    });
})();
/script

Step 3: Add the "Show/Post Comments" Link

To enable the user to click and load comments, you need to add a ldquo;Show/Post Commentsrdquo; link on your webpage. This can be done by adding a button or a link in your HTML code and associating a data attribute with the post ID.

Create a button or link in your HTML where the ldquo;Show/Post Commentsrdquo; link will reside. Assign a unique class to this element for easy JavaScript manipulation.

a class'show-comments' href'#' data-post-id'12345'Show/Post Comments/a

Ensure that each post or article on your website has a clearly defined unique identifier, which can be used as the data-post-id attribute.

Enhancing User Experience with Click-to-Load Comments

Loading Disqus comments on click can significantly enhance user experience on your website. By reducing the initial page load time and providing a more interactive interface, you can create a better engagement with your audience. Here are a few benefits and tips to consider:

Benefits of Click-to-Load Comments

Better Performance: Faster page load times can significantly improve user satisfaction and SEO rankings. Improved Engagement: Users can dive into comments only when they are interested, leading to more meaningful interactions. Reduced Bandwidth Usage: Loading comments on demand reduces bandwidth usage, which is beneficial for both your server and your users.

Tips for Implementation

Test Thoroughly: Make sure to test the click-to-load functionality across different devices and browsers to ensure it works smoothly. Optimize Load Time: Use Caching and CDN services to further improve the performance of your website. Monitor Comments: Regularly monitor the comments to ensure there are no issues with loading or moderating.

Conclusion

Loading Disqus comments on click is a powerful feature that can enhance the user experience and improve the performance of your website. By enabling track-by comment ID, customizing the Disqus embed code, and adding appropriate links, you can create a more engaging and faster-loading website. This technique not only improves SEO but also increases user retention and interaction.

For more information on implementing click-to-load comments and other SEO best practices, visit our website or follow us on social media.