Since the initial beta announcement, I've been hard at work polishing the new site. Today, I'm happy to announce that comments have arrived.
As the old site's comments system's stuck with Blogger, I had to think of a a different platform for the new site. After researching all sorts of options, I decided to use the service Hyvor Talk to manage comments.
What is Hyvor Talk?
Hyvor Talk is a commenting platform that lets you place comments on pretty much any website. It can dynamically create individual comment threads based on the site page. For instance, the comments thread for the So Many Numbers project page differs from the one of this blog post. Hyvor Talk stores comments on their server and handles all the backend work.
Compared to Blogger, Hyvor Talk has two useful advantages.
- There's built-in anti-spam measures, which should greatly improve the overall quality of comments on the site.
- You can optionally send your email address. By doing so, you'll get an email when I reply to the comment.
I believe Hyvor Talk will allow for a more engaging and trouble-free commenting experience than Blogger's system could ever hope for.
Some caveats to know
Naturally, switching to a brand new commenting platform will have a few drawbacks. Here's what you should be aware of.
- There's currently no way to transfer Blogger comments to Hyvor Talk. As such, the Blogger comments will soon disappear from the site.
- Since Hyvor Talk's an external resource, I cannot internally adjust its colors for dark mode.
Other updates to the Games by Tim beta
Alongside comments, other features added to the beta include:
- Social media share buttons
- Filled-in contact page with a new public-facing email address
- Improvements to site performance and SEO
I look forward to taking this new site out of beta soon. In the meantime, feel free to take a new comment system for a spin!