Technology Evangelist has switched to using a tag cloud for the category navigation on this site. So, what does that mean and why does it matter?

What are tag clouds?

Tag clouds are weighted lists where categories with most content are displayed more prominently. The lists are generally alphabetical and wrap into rows like this:

Why use a tag cloud rather than a list of categories?

We don't like to constrain ourselves by a limited number of technology related categories. Instead, we add new categories as necessary to properly categorize our posts. This leads to a couple problems:

1. The list of categories eventually grows to an unmanageable size, running on and on down one column of the site.

2. Many categories have few posts, so visitors clicking into those categories will likely be disappointed with the limited content on a subject that interests them.

How does a tag cloud address the category problem?

1. By moving the categories to a separate page, then publishing them consecutively rather than in a long bulleted list, readers can survey all of the site's categories without scrolling.

2. Prioritizing popular categories with larger fonts allows readers to quickly determine how much content to expect in various categories before clicking.

3. Visitors can also get a feel for our site's personality by analyzing our site's cloud structure. Clearly, we've shown a passion for certain categories more than others.

Who Else Uses Tag Clouds?

A few popular sites using tag clouds include Flickr:

Technorati:


and del.icio.us:

What are the negatives to using Tag Clouds?

Well, we don't know yet. What we do know from our site stats is that our previous category structure won't be missed. Only a small percentage of our visitors use the category structure to navigate the site. We hope more users will find the tag cloud useful. And we hope to find a better use for our site's real estate.