Comments on: Why Tags Are Better Than Categories http://www.theotherblog.com/Articles/2006/01/05/why-tags-are-better-than-categories/ Usability, IA, UX and Design Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:32:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: tom http://www.theotherblog.com/Articles/2006/01/05/why-tags-are-better-than-categories/#comment-7475 tom Fri, 06 Jan 2006 10:08:24 +0000 http://www.theotherblog.com/Articles/2006/01/05/why-tags-are-better-than-categories/#comment-7475 There's a lot to like about drupal (why is my comment area text font so small...sheesh!) anyway.. and drupal was my tool of choice for lots of free educational projects... but... You say it yourself, the UI is a bit unweildy... which means you REALLY have to WANT to do tagging to do it. Most people need persuading that the extra effort is worth it. In the days when I used to write my own blog software. I used to categorize relentlessly, I was experimenting with semantic web ideas and it kind of relied on things being tagged up. I found I had to write lots of "gardening" functionality, automatic tag suggestion tools and an interface that let me quickly tag-n-move-on just so that I could be bothered to keep tagging (and I was a tagging keenie). I find it amazing/disappointing that the drupal/wordpress teams don't start conceptually from the "gardening" end more often... There’s a lot to like about drupal (why is my comment area text font so small…sheesh!) anyway.. and drupal was my tool of choice for lots of free educational projects… but…

You say it yourself, the UI is a bit unweildy… which means you REALLY have to WANT to do tagging to do it. Most people need persuading that the extra effort is worth it.

In the days when I used to write my own blog software. I used to categorize relentlessly, I was experimenting with semantic web ideas and it kind of relied on things being tagged up. I found I had to write lots of “gardening” functionality, automatic tag suggestion tools and an interface that let me quickly tag-n-move-on just so that I could be bothered to keep tagging (and I was a tagging keenie).

I find it amazing/disappointing that the drupal/wordpress teams don’t start conceptually from the “gardening” end more often…

]]> By: jeffeaton http://www.theotherblog.com/Articles/2006/01/05/why-tags-are-better-than-categories/#comment-7474 jeffeaton Thu, 05 Jan 2006 23:32:55 +0000 http://www.theotherblog.com/Articles/2006/01/05/why-tags-are-better-than-categories/#comment-7474 Actually I've just been playing with Drupal 4.7's free tagging system. Since it's built on the same APIs as the normal category system, it is possible to 'garden' your tags, putting them into hierarchial categories for easier browsing once they've been created.The UI is a bit unwieldy when editing lists of 200 tags or so, but it can be done. Actually I’ve just been playing with Drupal 4.7’s free tagging system. Since it’s built on the same APIs as the normal category system, it is possible to ‘garden’ your tags, putting them into hierarchial categories for easier browsing once they’ve been created.The UI is a bit unwieldy when editing lists of 200 tags or so, but it can be done.

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