We Have the Technology
My tag cloud is sort of boring. Except for the ultra cool slider—similar to the one in Chirpy!—it doesn’t have anything spectacular.
I’ve been looking for ways to make tag clouds look like actual clouds, or at least more spacious. Anson Parker’s circular thingamajig looks fancy, but, without text labels, it defies the purpose of a tag cloud.
So today, I came up with my own version. Granted, it doesn’t look like a cloud either. It’s based on concentric circles. A tag’s weight—i.e. the number of associated posts or whatever—determines its distance from the center. I suppose it’s more fun if you like chemistry. Unfortunately, I’m a physics guy.
Tech specs: pure HTML and CSS, with ECMAScript, based on MooTools. So yes, it should be cross-browser. It adapts to window resizes and everything. All heavily in beta.
Since the scripted part is compressed like crazy, you’ll need to use this URL if you’d like to see the original version.