Configuration variables are used as parameters for Disqus' behaviors and settings. They are defined within the HTML of the page on which Disqus is loaded.
These variables must be defined on each page on which Disqus is loaded, so include them in your dynamic templates which render pages.
shortname
this.page.identifier
this.page.title
this.page.url
this.page.category_id
Placing configuration variables
Configuration variables are added within the disqus_config function with exception of your shortname, which is added further down. Example:
/**
* RECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT AND UNCOMMENT THE SECTION BELOW TO INSERT DYNAMIC VALUES FROM YOUR PLATFORM OR CMS.
* LEARN WHY DEFINING THESE VARIABLES IS IMPORTANT: https://disqus.com/admin/universalcode/#configuration-variables
*/
var disqus_config = function () {
this.page.url = 'a unique URL for each page where Disqus is present';
this.page.identifier = 'a unique identifier for each page where Disqus is present';
this.page.title = 'a unique title for each page where Disqus is present';
};
(function() { // REQUIRED CONFIGURATION VARIABLE: EDIT THE SHORTNAME BELOW
var d = document, s = d.createElement('script');
s.src = '//EXAMPLE.disqus.com/embed.js'; // IMPORTANT: Replace EXAMPLE with your forum shortname!
s.setAttribute('data-timestamp', +new Date());
(d.head || d.body).appendChild(s);
})();
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shortname
Tells the Disqus service your forum's shortname, which is the unique identifier for your website as registered on Disqus. If undefined, the Disqus embed will not load.
Usage: Specify your forum shortname by replacing EXAMPLE in the following line of code:
s.src = '//EXAMPLE.disqus.com/embed.js'; // IMPORTANT: Replace EXAMPLE with your forum shortname!
this.page.identifier
Tells the Disqus service how to identify the current page. When the Disqus embed is loaded, the identifier is used to look up the correct thread. If this.page.identifier is undefined, the page's URL will be used. The URL can be unreliable, such as when renaming an article slug or changing domains, so we recommend using your own unique way of identifying a thread.
Be careful not to assign multiple identifiers to the same thread URL, as it will result in Identifier Conflict.
Plugins, such as Disqus for WordPress, will automatically have this defined as the id of the blog post.
Usage: Specify a string or an integer as your unique identifier. This can be dynamically rendered server-side.
Benefits:
You'll be able to reference the same thread regardless of the URL where it is loaded.
Example:
The following uses an article slug as the identifier. this.page.identifier = '/december-2010/the-best-day-of-my-life/';
The following uses a unique id as an identifier. this.page.identifier = '2583573';
Most likely you will be rendering the values dynamically server-side in your platform or CMS. The following is an example using PHP.
this.page.identifier = '<? php echo $my_identifier; ?>';
this.page.url
Tells the Disqus service the URL of the current page. If undefined, Disqus will take the window.location.href. This URL is used to look up or create a thread if this.page.identifier is undefined. In addition, this URL is always saved when a thread is being created so that Disqus knows what page a thread belongs to.
While the window.location.href is used in absence of this.page.url, we highly recommend defining this variable. If a user visits your page at the URL http://example.com/helloworld.html?123, Disqus may in fact load a different thread than if the user came from http://example.com/helloworld.html.
To make sure the right thread is always displayed, you should define on your page, using an absolute URL, this.page.url = 'http://example.com/helloworld.html';
Please note that an absolute URL is required for the this.page.url variable. Using a relative URL for this variable may prevent Disqus from loading successfully on the page.
this.page.title
Tells the Disqus service the title of the current page. This is used when creating the thread on Disqus for the first time. If undefined, Disqus will use the <title> attribute of the page. If that attribute could not be used, Disqus will use the URL of the page.
Usage: Specify a string as your page's unique title. This can be dynamically rendered server-side.
Benefits:
You can set a friendlier title to be shown in Recommendations.
Your thread's title is set instantly rather than waiting on the Disqus system queue.
Having comment threads titled http://example.com/helloworld.html isn't very pretty!
this.page.category_id
Tells the Disqus service the category to be used for the current page. This is used when creating the thread on Disqus for the first time.
Categories are primarily used with our API for results filtering; categories are not used for moderation (e.g., to filter comments by category in the moderation panel). New categories can be created with our categories API endpoints. If you try using a category ID that hasn't been created within your forum settings, you'll receive a 400 Bad Request error.
JavaScript Usage: Specify a category ID (not title). If undefined, Disqus will use the forum's default General category.
Example: this.page.category_id = '123456'; // using category Sports which has ID 123456
API Usage: Filter results by category.
Example: Utilize the categories/listPosts endpoint (or the category parameter in conjunction with the posts/list endpoint) to list comments only from a certain category.