In this post Jeff Chandlerhighlights a cool tool for auto filling in comment forms on blogs.
Ok Problogger faithful, I’m going to keep it short and sweet this week by telling you about a cool FireFox extension which is sure to save you some time in the long run. Generally, every blog out on the web has a comment form. This form normally consists of Name, Email, Website, and Comment. Having to type in those first three fields time and time again can be annoying and cause you not to comment at all. That’s where easyComment comes into play.
Easycomment works by looking for the typical fields that are reserved for comment forms and filling them in with predetermined values. Essentially, after you install the extension, you’ll have to fill out the form with your credentials. These values are what will be placed in the blog comment form. After you type that in, filling those fields is as simple as clicking the easyComment button which should look a little something like this.
That’s all there is to it. One thing to keep in mind with this or any other extension that fills in forms. The extension will not work on sites that have third party commenting systems such as Disqus or IntenseDebate installed. This is because the form fields are inside a block of code and not in plain HTML which renders the form fields to be indiscoverable.
If you’re looking for an extension that does this and more, check out AutoFillForms. That extension is a bit more complicated to configure but it is used to auto complete entire forms such as user registration areas on forums or websites. However, I’ve written a guide for that extension as well.
Thanks for the great tip, just one bit of advice; don’t use the autofill function for your comment message because that smells a little bit like spam to me :)
What a time saver, used easyComment for this comment and it worked like a charm! Thanks.
Matt
Most blogs, have cookies setup so your info stays on, this ad-on seems great for people that want to get there message out quick. This also seems like the autocomplete add-on for when filling-in other forms.
We can use a Sxipper too :) https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/4865
Up until now I used my Google auto fill feature, to make commenting a little quicker. Im definitely gonna have to try this
Genius!
Thanks for the heads up Darren :o)
Graeme
Genius!
Thanks for the heads up Darren :o)
Graeme
I use RoboForm. Many people think it is just to save passwords, but beyond that it is also a form-filling software.
Just create and complete a profile and press one button. Bam… the needed information is filled in automatically.
Just my two cents.
Great stuff! Was just thinking the other day that I could do with something like this.
Firefox on the Mac — my Mac, at least — is quite flaky, and the more extensions you add, the flakier it gets. That means, alas, I won’t be trying this one!
But I’ll keep it in mind for the future.
Thanks for the post, Darren!
I use RoboForm, but I’d try to use this FF extension also.
Haha wow! Very cool. And I found this post via twitter. You are quickly becoming a go-to guy, Darren.
This is very useful information. However, I find that in most cases you can fill in these forms easily just by double clicking each field. This will work in most word press blogs. Other blog types are not so easy and will not auto fill by this method. In those cases easy comment extension would be a great tool.
Thomas Northrop
Good find. I will have to give this one a try. Never hurts to save a little time filling out forms.
Yeah, you got that right. The only thing I don’t like about it is the font color they chose to use for the button. That bright orange is terrible!
This is soooo much better than Roboform for me. Thanks so much for sharing…I just used it, heehee:)
ehm. i guess, i need this one. Its needed. :)
For users with Greasmonkey already installed, Blog Auto Fill (Greasemonkey script) is a better alternative as it isn’t as resource intensive as an extension.
Thanks for the link this extension will save a lot of time. I just used it on this comment.
This is nice. Its help more to write comments.
I download the plugin but its not working, do I need to edit something?
Aaah I thought this was some kind of spam tool, which fills in each form automatically. But I’m glad you’ll still have to write down some thougtful words yourself!
I was using the InFormEnter plugin, which I liked. But I’ll try this one out.
I use another Firefox add-on FireForm (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=fireform&cat=all) – does the trick very nicely for all sorts of online form filling (obvious exceptions are Flash heavy sites) and (unlike, I believe, RoboForm) is free.
Nice little timesaver, It does get tedious filling in the same three lines again and again. Thanks
Anyone know where to go in the FF extension to edit my current settings?
Thanks darren…question though: how many comments can you make in a day with this….i know lets have a competition!!!
@Daniel – Right click on the easyComment button and you should see a menu item called Preferences where you can edit your details.
This is certainly a good point that you’ve put forward. But you’ve only talked about just few of these auto form fill-ups.
Do check out https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=auto+complete&cat=all for a complete list of auto complete form fill-ups.
Btw, my fav is Autofill Forms, no doubt about that.
I have Firefox with no special add-on and it already does this for me…and yes it is great. It saves me a ton of time not having to retype the same stuff over and over again. I will file this away for future use, if needed.
blessings,
Wendy
Twitter: Wendy Merritt
I also save time by using my Gmail account to filter comments. You can add +whatever to your Gmail address and then use the Gmail filters to send emails to that address to a specified folder.
For example, when I comment on blogs, I used the email address [email protected], and the Gmail filter skips the inbox and sends them to a comments folder. It doesn’t clutter up my inbox and saves a lot of time!
Terrific tip. I’ll be adding that to my Firefox tonight. Sure it will only save 10 seconds but multiply it out and it really adds up. I like to joke around with my friends that an extra our given to you may not seem like much but if it was your last hour – you’d surely appreciate another one.
Bruce
Sweet.
Just like many people here I have also just used the autofill feature. I think it gets the job done fast enough.
Poor me I still use a dial-up ha.
I’ve must have installed something similar to this ages ago and yes it is a time saver. it even allows me to select between email addresses and my blog of preference.
I use ActiveWords for this as it is not application specific. I mostly read in RSS Bandit (which uses IE) but the same ActiveWord works in IE, Firefox, Chrome wherever.
http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2008/01/doh-why-not-use.html
Maxthon has this feature built in.
Wowee, this is one of the best extensions ever! I’m using it right now and it’s actually giving me incentive to go out and comment now. I used to get bored of commenting simply because of the tedious nature of filling in the forms, so this is a godsend. Thank you so much!
Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
It does’t work well with Chinese Characters.
Sounds good!
But is it also compatible with Chrome?
Awesome tool. I always thought of using such tools for time management. Thanks for mentioning. I gonna use it.
Hmmm… I like the look of this but I’m holding out for something that works with Chrome too. I can’t start taking 3 browsers into the shower..
anything “auto-fill” is a potential security risk, no matter how attentuated. I’ll stick with robo form….. and my own wits.
Great find, I used it to make this comment.
Wow, love this add on. I’m new to this blogging thing and this will make things a lot more convenient. Thanks for the quality info.
Anthony Arias
http://anthonyarias.net
Hi
This is strange. I had just written an article on easycomment myself.
http://www.webseo.com.au/blog/how-to-blog-comment-automatically/
and I used easycomment to comment here. Great post Darren
This is a little gem, it’s sucha pain to keep re-entering everything everytime! Thanks!
This is totally awesome. I’ve already installed it
Thanks
fyi-Opera has had this functionality built-in to its browser for years now. Click the “Wand” and the fields are filled in. Any fields that aren’t recognized can be filled in by a right-click and select from a menu of commonly requested form data. (You fill out your menu of items one time, then they’re available from then on.)
And Opera’s latest offering, 10.0 (very stable alpha), is absolutely, lightning fast. You can download a copy here, if you like. http://www.marketingmeasure.com/opera-browser/