Collective commenting systems in site debugging

In this review, we analyzed several systems for collective commenting on web pages and tried to find the perfect tool for remote discussion and debugging of work-in-progress sites with the customer and other participants in the work.



In the work of any company a web developer, as well as a web master freelancer, there is a stage of acceptance of work. Sometimes these are several stages at different stages of project development. Of course, this moment is dearly loved by all, because It requires not so much knowledge of their field as the smooth interaction of all project participants.

What did he mean? What and on which page does he want to change? Where has something gone, is everything all right with me? Such questions were asked at least once by every designer / layout / programmer / content designer when trying to transfer their work to a colleague for further project management or to a client.

Partially, systems like The commentor help to cope with this problem , allowing you to add comments to images and point to specific parts of the picture with a few simple tools. However, what to do if the work is already done with the layout, or even with the finished site. Reduce bureaucracy, reduce the time to collect bugs and edits can be existing services - collective commenting systems.

The review is based on our search for a system for implementation in a design studioNimax , so we have certain requirements:

• Simple registration. Any client should cope with the registration and installation of the plugin (if any);
• The ability to comment on the page as a whole, comment on a specific section of the page, for example, a block of text or an image;
• Free of charge. Of course, we can afford ourselves a paid service, but we cannot impose it on our customers;
• Notifications of comments received.

In the options considered, we will not pay much attention to social services, but rather concentrate on those functions that may be useful precisely in debugging / commenting on web pages before submitting.

A print screen is attached to the overview of each service, showing a solution to the same problem using different services: commenting on a paragraph of text.

Twiidla

The closest in principle to The commentor service. He suggests creating his own public or private room in which you can upload any image or open any site for collective commenting. Twiddla provides tools for drawing, placing various objects on the canvas of the site, as well as live chat.

One room is one canvas, so this service is not very convenient when commenting on entire sites or a set of pages. Unfortunately, in the free version you cannot create a private room, as well as keep a public one, so for communication all participants must be online at the same time. But you can get rid of these shortcomings for $ 14 a month and above.



Official page: http://www.twiddla.com

Pros

• Drawing on the surface of the site;
• Placement of any objects on the work page;
• It does not require the installation of plug-ins, cross-browser;
• No registration required.

Minuses

• The inability to simultaneously work with multiple pages in one room;
• Few features in the free version.

Sidewiki

Service add-on for the Google panel for creating public comments on sites. Allows, with a Google account and a Google panel (for IE or FF), to leave messages on any public web pages. Comments are placed in the sidebar and apply either to the entire page or to a specific block of text. The service has its own API, which allows you to create a script that notifies the author of new messages. The site owner can also write their own special, admin comments, highlighted in color and placed at the top of the list. Unfortunately, despite the prospects, at the moment the service does not have the possibility of private commenting, which makes using it as a visual bug tracker on public addresses impossible.



Official page: http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html

pros

• Ease of use;
• Wide reach of the audience using the Google panel;
• Service and help in Russian.

Minuses

• Inability to comment on images;
• The inability to comment "on top" of the site;
• Lack of private commenting mode;
• Difficulties with the notification.

Reframeit

A service similar to the Wikipedia for implementation does not require a panel installation, hides in the form of a plug-in (IE7 +, FF) and gives a side panel similar to Sidewiki, although it is much richer in functionality. You can comment on the entire page, the selected block of text or image. Messages can be left public or private, define groups viewing comments (these may be working groups of the project), monitor the emergence of new ones. On the Reframeit website, you can follow new messages in specific groups and on monitored pages. For the list of comments, the panel provides several display modes and filtering, but in general the interface can hardly be called intuitive, which can negatively affect the transfer of the site to the client, and not inside the team.



Official page:http://www.reframeit.com

Pros

• The ability to respond to comments;
• Private comments, delimited into groups;
• Ability to work without registration, through OpenID;
• Ability to track emerging comments, including via RSS;
• You can comment on pages on internal / closed sites.

Minuses

• Subjectively, the interface can be complicated for the client;
• Inability to comment "on top" of the site;
• Developers warn about early beta status of the plugin for IE.

Diigo

“Diigo” - a panel for IE and FF, a bookmarklet for Opera, Safari and Chrome. The main purpose is collective bookmarks, however, due to the ability to comment and highlight (highlight) page elements, it is quite suitable for our tasks. For any page, you can leave messages, make selections and leave comments on selections. In addition, the context menu allows you to add any number of stickers on any page. Notes can be placed over any element of the page or attached to a specific selection on the page, each of them can have its own comments, which are placed directly in its field. Inactive notes are collapsed into small icons that are convenient to place on the page without fear of confusion.



Official page: http://www.diigo.com

Pros

• You can comment on pages on internal / closed sites;
• On the plane of the site you can place stickers;
• There are official bookmarklets for alternative browsers;
• Ability to track comments that appear, including via RSS.

Minuses

• No serious ones.

Addatweet

A plugin for FF that uses Twitter’s OpenID identity and authorization to create a comment panel. We will not dwell on it in detail, because despite the possibility of leaving messages on a separate page, both public and internal, you cannot specify a specific block of text or image. You can’t also create private comments, but you can duplicate Twitter messages and respond to Twitter-style comments. This service is suitable for fans of minimalism.



Official page: http://www.addatweet.com

Pros

• Integration with Twitter;
• Twitter is minimalism.

Minuses

• Only Firefox 3+, a plugin for IE promise later;
• There is no possibility of commenting on individual blocks of text and images;
• There are no private comments.

Goozzy

The panel for the main runet browsers (Opera, FF, IE). Russian service with a pleasant design and a competent approach to business. Allows you to create private and public stickers, as well as stickers for groups. Each note can have its own comments. The service does not require additional registration and everything is pretty thoroughly “chewed” the first time you log in. Stickers remember their location and are not afraid of sites not accessible from the Internet.



Official page: http://www.goozzy.com

Pros

• Service and help in Russian;
• Ability to work without registration, through OpenID.

Minuses

• Plugin for IE in alpha status;
• Periodically, there are problems with loading sites and flash-plugin, which is justified by the beta status of the panel.

Among the options considered by us, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, more suitable in one or another case. As a result, we settled on the Goozzy service, because it is very simple, convenient and has a Russian-language interface. For internal discussion of projects, we can afford to use an English-language service, but for communication with clients, in most cases, no. To discuss large and complex projects, our company uses Twiidla, because it allows you to comment and “paint” the site under discussion as you like.