Adding recent comments to the MT sidebar

When I started using the default templates coming with Movable Type 4, I missed the Recent Comments widget. Below I explain how you can add create this widget and ass it to your sidebar in true MT4 style.

In the Movable Type administrative interface, go to Design > Templates > Template Modules and open either the 'Sidebar - 2 Column Layout' or the 'Sidebar - 3 Column Layout' template module, depending on which one you are using. Scroll down until you find a line with <MTIf name="module_recent_comments"> and paste the following code just above that line (you can of course also choose another position for the recent comments widget):

<MTIf name="module_recent_comments">
<div class="widget-archives widget">
<h3 class="widget-header">Recent Comments</h3>
<div class="widget-content">
<ul class="widget-list">
<MTComments lastn="5" sort_order="descend">
<MTCommentEntry>
<li class="widget-list-item"><a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>#comment-<$MTCommentID$>"><$MTCommentAuthor$></a> on <a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryTitle$></a></li>
</MTCommentEntry>
</MTComments>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</MTIf>

Now in any template where you want to show the recent comments (e.g. the main index template or the individual archive template) you add the following line:

<MTSetVar name="module_recent_comments" value="1">

Rebuild your weblog, and it should show you the five latest comments in the sidebar, just as you can see on this blog.