What is a Topic Cloud?
A topic cloud, also known as a tag cloud, is a visual representation of the written data on a website. The topic cloud takes the form of a list of short tags which briefly describe the issues discussed on a website. The more often a tag is used, the bigger and bolder it gets. A casual glance at a topic cloud shows users which topics are discussed more more frequently. Clicking on an individual topic usually results in a change of navigation, such as opening up a list of articles which discuss that topic, or the creation of another topic cloud. This type of visual representation is often called a weighted list in graphic design, because while providing a list of tags, it also provides meta data. Meta data is data about data. A static list of tags will help users determine roughly what a website is all about. A topic cloud, on the other hand, provides data about the tags. Using a topic cloud can sometimes reveal trends about a website which are not readily apparent from a casual glance.
A Topic Cloud®, similar to a tag cloud, is a visual representation of the written data on a website. It differs from a tag cloud, however, in that it also includes other data that tag clouds generally do not. This additional data may include such things as posting dates, author names, and other metadata. The Topic Cloud® takes the form of a list of short tags which briefly describe the issues discussed on a website. The more often a tag is used, the bigger and bolder it gets. A casual glance at a Topic Cloud® shows users which topics are discussed more more frequently. Clicking on an individual topic usually results in a change of navigation, such as opening up of a list of articles which discuss that topic, or the creation of another Topic Cloud®. This type of visual representation is often called a weighted list in graphic design, because while providing a list of tags, it also provides meta data. Meta data is data about data. A static list of tags will help users determine roughly w
