Tagul

= [|TAGUL] =

media type="custom" key="5893911"

===NOTE: TAGUL is the only service in this list that requires a Sign Up procedure. You are also limited to the creation of 20 Tag Clouds. This one is also not nearly as easy to use as the other services, but has a couple of bangs and whistles that make it worthwhile as a choice.===

Brief Instructions for using TAGUL. (These instructions are only a general overview.)


 * 1) Sign up for the service here: []
 * 2) Once signed up, log in to the website here: []
 * 3) Once logged in, find the navigation on the right side of the screen that says "My Clouds."
 * 4) Click on "CREATE." (Note that there is a number beside CREATE, indicating how many clouds you have left to create in their system.)
 * 5) The creation screen will open.
 * 6) Name the cloud, then either put in a web address or paste in text.
 * 7) Choose from the drop down menu whether you want lower case or upper case words. For now, don't worry about the STEM ALGORITHM.
 * 8) Click on FETCH TAGS.
 * 9) A box will pop up saying that the tags have been fetched. Click OK.
 * 10) Scroll down to choose a shape for your cloud.
 * 11) Then, choose at least one font. You can choose multiple fonts for the words in your cloud.
 * 12) You can then choose different angles for the words in the cloud by inputting an angle number and pressing the >> key to add it to the list. You may need to do this multiple times for many different angles. You can also leave this blank if you want horizontal text, or choose "RANDOM" if you want the application to randomize the text.
 * 13) Click on BUILD THE CLOUD.
 * 14) You will get a pop up box indicating that the cloud is ready, at which time you can begin to customize it.
 * 15) Across the top of the editor, notice the tabs. You will click on the TEXT tab to delete any words you do not want to appear in your cloud. Hovering over the word produces a gray "X" symbol that you can click on to remove the word.
 * 16) The BLACKLIST tab will contain any words that you deleted on the TEXT tab so that you can add them back in if you choose to.
 * 17) The STYLE OPTIONS tab lets you change the way your tag cloud will look.
 * 18) The first option is "Tag Colors." Choose a color, then click the >> button to add it to your list of choices. You can choose multiple colors to suit your design or choose random to let the application choose.
 * 19) Change your background color by clicking the box and choosing a new color.
 * 20) Change your animation speed, and whether you want the text to zoom and/or rotate. This isolates a particular word when you hover over it and makes it stand out. Clicking this word in the published version will cause a search to be performed around this word as a topic tag.
 * 21) The ROLLOVER TEXT COLOR and the ROLLOVER BOX COLOR give you choices about how your "tag" will be highlighted in the final published version.
 * 22) For now, skip the ROLLOVER BOX STROKE option, leave it as is, with the NONE box checked.
 * 23) Click APPLY AND PREVIEW button.
 * 24) If it looks good, move to the FINALIZE tab. If you want to continue working, click BACK TO STYLE OPTIONS and change what you'd like to change.
 * 25) On the FINALIZE tab, you will need to change the dimensions of your tag cloud. The default is 100 pixels by 100 pixels. The one above is set at 400 by 270.
 * 26) Once you've changed the dimensions to match the size of the cloud you want, click SAVE at the bottom. If you don't click SAVE, you will not be able to embed the tag cloud into another web page.
 * 27) To embed the cloud, copy the code to paste into the editor of the webpage or service you want to embed it into.
 * 28) This service is about creating an interactive cloud, versus one that is more visual/analytical like WORDLE. You can still print your cloud by clicking on the PREVIEW tab and using the directions for taking a screenshot in the left side menu. However, the interactivity in this one IS pretty cool, and you can experience it by hovering over the tag cloud above and clicking any of the words inside it. What you get is an interactive search around the words in your text, providing a richer experience with the text.
 * 29) You can read a blog post about the difference between TAGUL and WORDLE from the creator of Tagul here: [] It looks like he is interested in educational uses of Tagul and will be growing his site accordingly within specific contexts for usage.

.