Anyone who leaves comments on blogs knows that, if you want anything other than plain text, you have to know a little HTML coding. But not everyone knows that, or wants to learn it. And so, I’ve had some requests for a toolbar on the comment box that will allow commenters to bold, italicize, and add hyperlinks to their comments.

Well, you’ve got it. I had a hard time finding a WordPress plugin that would give the comments box this functionality. But the “blogfather” Billy Dennis found one for me. My thanks to him. Also, thanks to the person who wrote the plugin. I hope WordPress will build this into a future update, as it seems like an obvious upgrade to make.

The only thing missing from the toolbar is a “blockquote” button, which would have been helpful. But I think the tools that are provided will meet most commenters’ needs. Let me know if you have any trouble using it. If your comments don’t show up, it’s possible that it got caught in the Akismet spam filter (especially if you used hyperlinks). Just send me an e-mail and I’ll rescue it. If, for some reason, this toolbar “breaks” the site, I’ll deactivate it.

Hope you find this upgrade helpful. Happy commenting!