Create a Word Cloud at Tagxedo.Com
Word clouds or Tag clouds are visual images made up of words from various sources. These words can be from a class lecture, website, poem, story, or even random words that you enjoy the sound of. Different images can be created and made up of these words ranging from an object of an freeman to the word “love”. The amount of times a single word is put into a word cloud will determine the size of the word itself within the object of your choice (ie. the more times a word is mentioned, the larger the word will appear in the image). The reason people make these word clouds may be to learn visually, create a piece of art, or any other relevant reason. The fun part about creating them is that you can be as creative as you want, meaning no special skills are required.
Steps
- Launch a web browser (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, etc.) In your address bar type in www.tagxedo.com and hit "enter". Once on the website, on the left side of the screen "start now" will appear and select that.
- Select "yes" when the window pops up asking you to install Microsoft Silverlight. A sample word cloud will appear.
- Select "load" which is under the heading words on the toolbar which is located on the left side of the screen. This is where you will type in your own words into the text box indicating "enter text".
- Click "submit" once desired text you want is entered.
- Choose a theme. Themes are located under respins on the toolbar. There are many themes to choose from, select a theme which matches your subject and a theme which you enjoy.
- Now, choose a color. On the left hand side of the screen is a toolbar which will allow you to select "color". Although a theme designates which colors are put into your word cloud, you can switch the colors around to designate a certain color with a certain size of word .
- Select a font.
- Choose a shape under the heading respins. Shapes are very exciting because they add meaning to the words which you entered into the word cloud. You are able to select an image from the list provided or add your own image.
- Select the orientation you would like your words to appear as. This option is on the toolbar under respins. They can be scattered, horizontal, or vertical.
- Make final changes. Decide whether you want to change word options, if so select "word options" under "words" and you can choose from editing many word options such as including punctuation or not. Decide what layout options you want, do you want words to appear more emphasized, if so change this by selecting "layout options".
- Finish! When you have finished, select "save" which is located at the top of the toolbar under the heading "words". You now have the option to save in many different formats. Saving as an "image" to your documents seems to be the easiest and most convenient way because you have the option of putting it exactly where you want it without later having to find it on the Internet somewhere.
- Select "image 125KP JPG". Title your image. Select "save". For later use, open up your documents and open the word cloud up.
- Use it to personalize something. Print it out on your computer and hang it on your wall.
Tips
- At any time you can add more words into the world cloud.
- Remember to save your work in progress often in order to avoided your work being lost by simply selecting the "save" button which is located at the top of the toolbar under "words".
- It is easier to upload a list of words into the textbox provided than typing in your own words one by one.
Things You'll Need
- A computer (PC or Mac) *An Internet connection *Text from a place of your choice or words that randomly pop into your head that you are willing to type in or upload
- A place on your hard drive to save the final product (preferably create a folder)
