Comments on: 10 Best Practices For Displaying Tag Clouds

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:23:34 +0000

Please comment on this tag cloud

By: joe

joe — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:38:09 +0000

Historically, tag clouds performed both roles of summarization and navigation approximately. They summarized tags, and offered navigation. I think this is a powerful combination, one that represents a new form of information display / navigation that is higher value than the simple lists of links we’ve had to date.
But note that traditional tag clouds summarize tags, meaning they distill the collected tags that people apply to items, and not the contents of the tagged items. Traditional tag clouds leverage human judgements about the meaning /nature of the items, not the contents of the items themselves. Tags are still metadata.
Now that tag clouds have had some time to evolve (going on three years now!), text clouds have emerged as a new form of cloud-style display that directly summarizes content, without including tags or other applied labels. Text clouds typically do not offer navigation, or only offer navigation within the bounded body of text they summarize.
Jonathan, it sounds like you’re in favor of a third variant, a non-navigable cloud of labels. What are the advantages you see in this kind of cloud?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:49:44 +0000

I’m not sure why some people seem to associating tag clouds with navigation. They’re a device for getting a feel for the type of content available on the site. To that end, they don’t even need to be links to be effective.

By: zef

zef — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:09:33 +0000

Joe Said: There’s been research on tag clouds for usability — what kinds are you interested in?
Hi Joe — I would like to know if tagclouds are more effective in helping people find information (than traditional lists). Has anyone done a usability study comparing a tagcloud with a list and the task success rate for each?

By: A_User

A_User — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:49:08 +0000

I find it intresting that your own site doesnt follow rule 10.
In Fact as of this moment Some of the larger tags — due to line spacing inthe right col overlap limiting readability.
It also seems worth noting that this information is really based on tag/tag clouds as a site tool — not as a core design.
http://www.culturecloud.com uses tags as a core design element and as such the shifting colors allow user input to alter the visual apperance.
But as a general guide, seems perty spiffy

By: Volg

Volg — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:33:50 +0000

“Use a single color for the tags in the rendered cloud: this will allow visitors to identify finer distinctions in the size differences. Employ more than one color with discretion.“
I agree.
One way to use colors in your cloud tag:
– select a main color, assign it to the biggest font;
– “blend” this color for smaller fonts.
A “coloring” example at

Tag cloud. Key words visualization.

Great advices. Thanks a lot!

By: SvT

SvT — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 00:10:41 +0000

i use Text Cloud on my friends ( inks) page

By: jchunk

jchunk — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:32:25 +0000

Tagclouds are ugly, BUT you should think about the SEO aspect. All your longtail keywords can have a place in this tagcloud and increase your internal linking which google will like.

By: joe

joe — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:59:06 +0000

Montoya:
Seems people either like tag clouds, or they don’t…
In the long view, good user experience design means offering display options suited to user needs and preferences.
So you should have the choice of seeing a tag cloud displayed as a cloud, a list, etc. when you’re visiting an experience that includes them.
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of tag clouds for display??
Zef: There’s been research on tag clouds for usability — what kinds are you interested in?

By: Zef

Zef — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:52:24 +0000

Thanks for your tips Joe. I would be interested to know if anybody has ever done research on the effectiveness of tag clouds — do users understand them and do they improve the user experience? (apart from the aesthetics).