Java tag cloud?

[oropezahector]

Hey

Im trying to make a tag cloud for my site. Does anyone know where I can
find the code for this. I was also wondering if the content in the
cloud was searchable by google?

I want to create a cloud like object for my web page that pulls its
info from a database, but i want it to be searchable by google and i
have been hearing that all content behind java is not searchable.
Should I use java for this? or maybe c# with ASP.NET?

 

[Oliver Wong]

Hey

Im trying to make a tag cloud for my site. Does anyone know where I can
find the code for this. I was also wondering if the content in the
cloud was searchable by google?

I want to create a cloud like object for my web page that pulls its
info from a database, but i want it to be searchable by google and i
have been hearing that all content behind java is not searchable.
Should I use java for this? or maybe c# with ASP.NET?

If you want your site to be indexable by search engines, design your
site so that it is accessible to people with disabilities. E.g. make sure
that blind people, deaf people, and people who have trouble using keyboards
and mice, can still use your site. That means providing alternative content
for visual elements, auditory elements, and not requiring specific cursor
motions or keypresses for navigation.

- Oliver

 

[oropezahector]

Im new to any fo this.
How would this help exactly?

 

[Roedy Green]

Im trying to make a tag cloud for my site. Does anyone know where I can
find the code for this. I was also wondering if the content in the
cloud was searchable by google?

You mean little clouds floating around moving slowly, each with some
text? You click them and something happens.

Check out JFrame LayeredPane

 

[Roedy Green]

I was also wondering if the content in the
cloud was searchable by google?

the anything searchable by google is HTML/PDF text. If it is
something you generate dynamically with an Applet or JavaScript,
Google won't see it.

 

[oropezahector]

I was thinking "tag clouds" like in

techzingo.com

I didnt know how those were called, so I called them tag clouds srry
guys.

 

[Roedy Green]

I was thinking "tag clouds" like in

techzingo.com

I didnt know how those were called, so I called them tag clouds srry
guys.

If you do a view source you will see:

<div id="tagcloud">

<a class="tag2"
href="http://techzingo.com/tag/acquisition">acquisition</a> &nbsp;
&nbsp;

<a class="tag2"
href="http://techzingo.com/tag/alienware">alienware</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;

<a class="tag5" href="http://techzingo.com/tag/amazon">amazon</a>
&nbsp; &nbsp;

<a class="tag0"
href="http://techzingo.com/tag/amberpoint">amberpoint</a> &nbsp;
&nbsp;

<a class="tag3" href="http://techzingo.com/tag/amd">amd</a> &nbsp;
&nbsp;

<a class="tag2" href="http://techzingo.com/tag/apple">apple</a> &nbsp;
&nbsp;

<a class="tag0" href="http://techzingo.com/tag/apple%20execs">apple
execs</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;

Now look at the CSS style sheet:

#tagcloud a.tag0 { color: #ff8888; font-size: 13pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag1 { color: #ff7777; font-size: 17pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag2 { color: #ff6666; font-size: 21pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag3 { color: #ff5555; font-size: 25pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag4 { color: #ff4444; font-size: 29pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag5 { color: #ff3333; font-size: 35pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag6 { color: #ff2222; font-size: 41pt; }
#tagcloud a.tag7 { color: #ff1111; font-size: 45pt; }

#tagcloud a:hover {
color: #116611;
}

It is all done with HTML. You could generate such a page statically
or dynamically with JSP.

 

[oropezahector]

Yea i was looking at that
but i was wondering how to go about creating this dinamically from a
database where the word are stored.

how do i go about connecting to the database? do you have a string that
would help me do this?

how do i make it generate the html? or create the page dinamically?

 

[Oliver Wong]

Im new to any fo this.
How would this help exactly?

You wanted Google to be able to still index your site, right? I'm
telling you the general strategy to ensure that this happens.

- Oliver

 

[oropezahector]

Kool
I think I got it
Ill post up the resulting page once I finish it
awesome!

 

[Timo Stamm]

You mean little clouds floating around moving slowly, each with some
text?

A "tag cloud" is a visual representation of the frequency of tags. It
can be a very useful tool in a content management system that assigns
tags to data entities.

It's really simple: The more frequently a tag is used, the larger it is
displayed.

Tag clouds became popular with flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/


Timo

 

[Roedy Green]

Yea i was looking at that
but i was wondering how to go about creating this dinamically from a
database where the word are stored.

how do i go about connecting to the database? do you have a string that
would help me do this?

how do i make it generate the html? or create the page dinamically?

this is the sort of thing Servlets do for a living. You would do some
sort of SQL query to get your words. That gives you a ResultSet.

You then compose the HTML by mixing boiler plate, randomly selected
tag numbers, and the words.

You have a lot to learn: HTML, Servlets, Database. I suggest you
start with getting the effect you want first with hand-composed HTML.

You will need to learn HTML and CSS to do this.

See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/htmlcheat.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss/css.html

Then write a simple Servlet to generate that web page. Then finally
add the complexity of a SQL database to store the world.

see http://mindprod.com/jgloss/servlet.html
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/sql.html

 

[Oliver Wong]

A "tag cloud" is a visual representation of the frequency of tags. It can
be a very useful tool in a content management system that assigns tags to
data entities.

It's really simple: The more frequently a tag is used, the larger it is
displayed.

Tag clouds became popular with flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/

Some sites actually have a Flash where there are words literally
floating around on your screen. When you mouse-over one of those words, they
immobilize, and clicking on them makes them the "center" of the cloud,
around which new, related words, will float.

I'm more willing to call that a "cloud" than Flickr's static list of
words of varying sizes. On some blogs, I've seen Flickr's thing call a "tag
soup". I'd call it a "size-popularity correlated list", or SPCL (pronounced
Speckl).

And for what it's worth, I wouldn't call that first Flash thing a
"cloud" either; it's more like a "semantic web".

- Oliver

 

[Patricia Shanahan]

the anything searchable by google is HTML/PDF text. If it is
something you generate dynamically with an Applet or JavaScript,
Google won't see it.

I think it indexes some other types of data, such PowerPoint. However,
the main point is that it only indexes static content. It would not make
much sense to index dynamic content.

Patricia

 

[Timo Stamm]

On some blogs, I've seen Flickr's thing call a "tag soup".

A lot of HTML pages can be considered "tag soup", too.




Timo

 

[Oliver Wong]

I think it indexes some other types of data, such PowerPoint. However,
the main point is that it only indexes static content. It would not make
much sense to index dynamic content.

I also avoided saying "Google doesn't index applets" because although
that may be true now, it might not always be true. It's conceivable to
imagine the Google bot downloading the applet, disassembling it, and looking
at the String Constants pool or something similar.

That's why I stuck with the more generic advice of making one's site
accessible to those with disabilities. This usually, as a side effect,
provides more "hints" for the bots to use for indexing.

- Oliver

 

[Roedy Green]

I think it indexes some other types of data, such PowerPoint. However,
the main point is that it only indexes static content. It would not make
much sense to index dynamic content.

It will index dynamic html content too, trusting it won't change all
that much. When you do your Google site map, you can give the spider
hints as to how to generate the dynamic content to index.

http://mindprod.com/jgloss/google.html#SITEMAPS

 

[Roedy Green]

I also avoided saying "Google doesn't index applets" because although
that may be true now, it might not always be true. It's conceivable to
imagine the Google bot downloading the applet, disassembling it, and looking
at the String Constants pool or something similar.

You can write a plug-in in Java to get Google Desktop to index
anything. Perhaps eventually these plugins will be migrated into the
general spider or your website will provide the plugins to help the
spider.