http://www.virtual-china.org/2007/02/12/the-perils-of-chinese-tag-clouds/ An exploration of virtual experiences and environments in and about China. Mon, 21 May 2012 17:00:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.virtual-china.org/2007/02/12/the-perils-of-chinese-tag-clouds/#comment-648 jason Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:47:24 +0000 http://207.47.0.153/?p=491#comment-648 slightly unrelated but of interest: F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html slightly unrelated but of interest:
F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html

]]> http://www.virtual-china.org/2007/02/12/the-perils-of-chinese-tag-clouds/#comment-647 Lyn Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:57:59 +0000 http://207.47.0.153/?p=491#comment-647 Great article! I also liked his ideas about how to deal with the sorting problem: "Why do we have to sort the tags? You can superimpose different orders of sorting on a tag cloud, not just alphabetical or by number of strokes, but also by latest added or by latest modified. However, if you consider these orders meaningful, you are actually making an assumption that people would scan tags in a tag cloud from left to right, and from top to bottom, as they were reading a paragraph. Is this assumption valid? Or are tags in larger font size "popping-up" and being better able to get users' attentions, rendering the order of sorting unnoticed at all? As long as tag cloud is not the sole navigation aid on the website, it does not have to be an exhaustive list of the tags. Perhaps the best way to use a tag cloud is to emphasis visualization instead of navigation." Great article! I also liked his ideas about how to deal with the sorting problem: “Why do we have to sort the tags? You can superimpose different orders of sorting on a tag cloud, not just alphabetical or by number of strokes, but also by latest added or by latest modified. However, if you consider these orders meaningful, you are actually making an assumption that people would scan tags in a tag cloud from left to right, and from top to bottom, as they were reading a paragraph. Is this assumption valid? Or are tags in larger font size “popping-up” and being better able to get users’ attentions, rendering the order of sorting unnoticed at all? As long as tag cloud is not the sole navigation aid on the website, it does not have to be an exhaustive list of the tags. Perhaps the best way to use a tag cloud is to emphasis visualization instead of navigation.”

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