neocities comment section widget!

[Kallistero]

This is exactly the type of thing I JUST was looking for before I checked here. 

I've been going through your code for the past hour now, and it has become just a SEA of code comments.

I wrote on your page that I would notify if it felt like there was some feature I was missing, and it looks like I am going to add another configuration option to your script. I'm planning on adding a variable that tells it to put the comments display in reverse order, above the input elements, like a chat box instead of a comment box, without having to manually reverse the position of everything in CSS. I'm loathe to make the option a boolean because in the future, there might also be a sort of sideways or deck-of-cards display for the comments.

I may also add an optional auto-refresh timer so it sort of ACTS like a chat box, though the jury's out on the performance of that, since it retrieves & crunches all the data from the Google Sheet when that happens. I'll look into the existence of a POST body, header, or URL parameter set that would make the sheet return only the desired elements, like a database query, so it doesn't have to work with ALL the data and wind up with weird artifacts like those content-less comment objects that pass through the pagePath validation check but don't actually enter the loop that fills out the object's values. I'll be continuing to learn about your code and about the Google Sheets API; you've given me a goal to move toward. The result is going to be a floating element on my main page, so I'll have something to show you when I'm done. 

Anyway, I've been thoroughly appreciating what you've done here, and I do hope to give back soon!   I'll check back in later.

[kiki & ayano]

This is exactly the type of thing I JUST was looking for before I checked here. 

I've been going through your code for the past hour now, and it has become just a SEA of code comments.

I wrote on your page that I would notify if it felt like there was some feature I was missing, and it looks like I am going to add another configuration option to your script. I'm planning on adding a variable that tells it to put the comments display in reverse order, above the input elements, like a chat box instead of a comment box, without having to manually reverse the position of everything in CSS. I'm loathe to make the option a boolean because in the future, there might also be a sort of sideways or deck-of-cards display for the comments.

I may also add an optional auto-refresh timer so it sort of ACTS like a chat box, though the jury's out on the performance of that, since it retrieves & crunches all the data from the Google Sheet when that happens. I'll look into the existence of a POST body, header, or URL parameter set that would make the sheet return only the desired elements, like a database query, so it doesn't have to work with ALL the data and wind up with weird artifacts like those content-less comment objects that pass through the pagePath validation check but don't actually enter the loop that fills out the object's values. I'll be continuing to learn about your code and about the Google Sheets API; you've given me a goal to move toward. The result is going to be a floating element on my main page, so I'll have something to show you when I'm done. 

Anyway, I've been thoroughly appreciating what you've done here, and I do hope to give back soon!  I'll check back in later.

i just sent you a PM about all of this, but thank you for your work again! i won't repeat everything i said in DMs because i saw this reply to my thread second but yeah.

(by the way, unrelated to the above, thank you serenefork! glad you like it!)

- ayano

[Kallistero]

i just sent you a PM about all of this, but thank you for your work again! i won't repeat everything i said in DMs because i saw this reply to my thread second but yeah.

(by the way, unrelated to the above, thank you serenefork! glad you like it!)

- ayano

AYANO

MY VISION IS COMPLETE

THE SCREENSHOT, LOOK AT IT, IT'S ON MY SITE

This is the highest burst of effort I've ever put into one scripting project. I hope I saved you a lot of time with updates here, this was a marathon for me. 

While I was marking it up for my landing page, I added a couple more updates on top of what I sent you, a little version 1.0.1. I'm probably done messing with it right now, and remember, I really do believe in what you've done here. 

[fructisfans]

Hi, I'm not sure if this should be a separate thread, but I'll write here.

So, is it currently possible to create your own guestbook on Neocities IF you are not supporter? I mean, if I code the guestbook myself, can I add it to Neocities?

I understand very little about building a guestbook, so my question might be a bit silly.

It seems that Ayano's Neocities comment section widget doesn't work unless you are a Neocities supporter.

I would like a simple guestbook without ads and with a style that I can customize as I want.

[xixxii]

So, is it currently possible to create your own guestbook on Neocities IF you are not supporter? I mean, if I code the guestbook myself, can I add it to Neocities?

I understand very little about building a guestbook, so my question might be a bit silly.

It seems that Ayano's Neocities comment section widget doesn't work unless you are a Neocities supporter.

short answer: nope.

longer answer:

this is based on my understanding which may be inaccurate as i am not good at computers!!   

there are two kinds of websites, broadly speaking: static websites and dynamic websites. a static website is what we have on neocities: regular html and css and javascript.
users can interact with things to change user-side stuff about how the site looks to them - for example, switching between a light theme and a dark theme - but they can't do anything to the website itself. changes can only be made to the website itself by you, the owner of the website, by logging in and changing the files!

a dynamic website uses databases, and can intake information into its databases and change things about the site using information in its databases. you can register an account, for example, or post things on it, without needing to be the website's owner.

so in order for somebody to post on a static website, like with a guestbook or comment section, that needs to be done in a slightly roundabout way.

ayano's widget works like this:
1. the user fills out a google form.
2. a google spreadsheet automatically updates with responses to that google form.
3. a script pulls data from the spreadsheet and publishes it on the web site.

neocities free accounts are no longer allowed to use code to pull and publish data from external sources. (this was a policy change, so accounts which existed before the change can still do it; i can.) but i believe that is the only way that a guestbook can function on neocities, because it is a static site host. users have to send their comment to something that can intake information in order for that information to then be posted.
so no matter what, it is sending information to not-neocities, then pulling information from not-neocities to publish on the site.

you could have a form that submits guestbook posts to your email and just manually post those on your site - and it's proooobably possible for you to automate that process somehow with coding, but that would have to be code on your computer and not code on your website. i think.

that's my understanding of how things work, i hope that makes sense and isn't extremely incorrect hahaha.