Top 10 Tutorials for Working with WordPress Comments

WordPress offers plenty of flexibility to designers and developers, and the comments section provides some opportunities for creativity. These 10 tutorials will show you some different things that you can do on your own WordPress blogs, or those of clients, to make more of an impact with comments. Some focus on functionality and others on appearance, but all serve a purpose.

Hack Together a User Contributed Link Feed with WordPress Comments

This tutorial from NETTUTS has been used by a number of blogs, particularly in the design niche, for creating a community news section. I use a different approach for the news section at DesignM.ag, but Collis’ technique works and it’s not that difficult to set up. It’s a great way to add some user interaction to your blog.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

Adding Form Validation to WordPress Comments Using jQuery

WordPress comment forms can be improved by following this tutorial. As you can see from the image below, When required fields are not entered a message will be shown.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

Separating Trackbacks from Comments

Pingbacks and trackbacks are great because they mean other bloggers are linking to you, but they can also hurt the conversation within the comments by interfering and cluttering things up. Michael Martin shows us how to separate them so the comment section can be a better place for discussion (This is something I have been meaning to do on my blogs for a long time).

WordPress Comments Tutorials

How to Highlight Author Comments in WordPress

When blog readers are browsing through comments or looking for a response to one of their own comments, it can be helpful if the author’s comments stand out somehow. With CSS you can style author comments just about any way you want so they’ll be seen and noticed. (Once again, something I’ve been meaning to do).

WordPress Comments Tutorials

How to Add Gravatars to WordPress Themes

Gravatars are now being used by many bloggers in the comments section. Fortunately, WordPress has made it pretty simple to get Gravatars into your theme, and this article is a good resource if you’re looking for some help.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

How to: Adding Comment Numbers to Your WordPress Theme

Numbering comments may make it easier for readers to follow the conversation and come back to a particular comment, possibly their own. Adding numbers is pretty simple, and of course they can be styled to your satisfaction.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

How to: Rearrange WordPress Comments (Latest on Top)

Not many blogs use this technique, but some do (including Web Designer Wall). If you’re looking to mix things up a bit, this could be an approach worth trying.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

Adding Effects to the Comment Field

Michael Martin again offers a helpful tutorial, this time covering the possibilities of improving the comment section by styling it. Michael reminds us that comment forms don’t have to be plain white.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

How to Style Your WordPress Comments Layout

Ever wanted to customize the actual display of comments on your blog? Check out this tutorial from WPBeginner which goes into detail about styling your own comment sections. It’s super easy to customize with only a bit of PHP code.

wpbeginner how to style comments layout wordpress tut

Unraveling the Secrets of WordPress’ Comments.php File

If you’re just looking to get more familiar and comfortable with how WordPress handles comments, this is a great resource. You’ll walk away from this tutorial with a beter understanding of WordPress comments, how they work, and how you can alter and customize them to meet your needs.

WordPress Comments Tutorials

For more WordPress resources and tutorials see:

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Stephen Snell is the owner and editor of Vandelay Design, a popular design blog.
  1. November 6, 2008

    I have used two tweaks from this list, highlight comment author and separate comments from trackback.
    Thank you for the list.

  2. Pingback: Top 10 Tutorials for Working with WordPress Comments | Aniquito.COM

  3. November 6, 2008

    Thanks for share. Nice post for me !

  4. November 6, 2008

    Thanks for the links Steven!

    I’ve bookmarked that tutorial on reordering the comments to have the latest show up first. That might work well for some sites; maybe ones that regularly have multiple pages of comments?

  5. Steven Snell
    November 6, 2008

    Michael,
    You’re welcome, thanks for the great content! Yeah, I think that’s a good place to use the reverse comment order.

  6. November 6, 2008

    Great article! I found the one about highlighting the author’s comments most useful. So useful that I’ve implemented it on all my blogs. Its great for letting users find information much quicker especially on comment section with lots of comments.

  7. November 7, 2008

    Great post. Thanks..

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  17. July 23, 2009

    Thanks for the great article 🙂

  18. July 30, 2009

    Thanks for the list..nice collection 😀

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  20. September 15, 2009

    tancks.
    This Post Helped me
    Good Time

  21. January 30, 2010

    Great useful tutos list, I will use one of these for my customers, bookmarked, thanks for sharing

  22. May 20, 2010

    Thanks for sharing great tutorials!

  23. June 17, 2010

    thanks for sharing! i’m currently studying how to change the design of comments area of wordpress.

  24. July 31, 2010

    These points are great to have in a blog. But my blog miss some of them. I am very much interested to implement soon in my blog..

  25. August 14, 2010

    Thanks for sharing great tutorials!

  26. September 14, 2010

    The “Displaying Comments on Main Page” is sadly a dead link. I’d love to use it… Where can I find it?

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  28. Thanks for the nice article ..

  29. jouli
    November 13, 2010

    Great set of fonts, Karabine and HandVetica are my favourites. Thanks for sharing them.640-816

  30. November 13, 2010

    i really aprreciate the way you high light some of the most important facts and figure on Tutorials for Working with WordPress Comments..cheap textbooks is also following 2.0 standards.. i have used all the standards which i knew may be it is lacking some thing… can anyone suggest me what should i do to improve it more..
    thanks

  31. January 20, 2011

    Great post! Site information is very good and thanks for this list.

  32. April 29, 2011

    hi , Thanks…

    Helpful articles

  33. May 19, 2011

    This is nice stuff.

    We’re working on a WordPress based site.

    Thanks

  34. June 11, 2011

    Oouwh,, its cool.. Thanks for this tricks..

  35. July 26, 2011

    good tutorial
    thanks

  36. July 28, 2011

    Thank you for this great post and tutorial. I am glad I came across this! Thanks for posting this and if it is possible for you to share me more about some of your best tutorial for WordPress that would be great.

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