Tag clouds visually depict the contents of a web site or blog. The first tag cloud appeared on Flickr (the photo sharing site) and was based on Jim Flanagan’s Search Referral Zeitgeist, which visualized web site referrers.
These weighted lists show the most popular categorizes in an emphasized manner while displaying them alphabetically. Larger fonts often indicate a higher prevalence for an individual keyword.
You’ll notice that ContentRobot’s blog topic cloud reveals that business blogging and blogging basics are among the biggest areas that we write about.
Check out some more tag cloud examples:
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags
- http://del.icio.us/tag
- http://www.last.fm/explore
- http://www.technorati.com/tag
Want your own tag cloud? Check out these links:
Or use these plug-ins on your specific type of blog:
- For Blosxom, try this Perl script
- For Drupal, try Tagadelic
- For Movable Type, try PHP script
- For WordPress, try Ultimate Tag Warrior
One of the coolest implementations of a tag cloud has to go to Snapshirts, who can customize your web site or blog and put it right on a shirt. Go check it out.