Part 4 Of 5 – Tags and 10 Quick Tips

Plain old search just isn’t good enough for Web 2.0 – we now have tags as well. Not to be confused with HTML tags, these are labels that authors and readers can add to web content. Tagging works because it enables users to classify content themselves. This empowers search engines, as they’re better able to differentiate between types of content.

A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (e.g. a picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information.

Tags are usually chosen informally and personally by the author/creator or the consumer of the item. Tags are typically used for resources such as computer files, web pages, digital images, and internet bookmarks (both in social bookmarking services, and in the current generation of web browsers - see Flock). For this reason, “tagging” has become associated with the Web 2.0 buzz. Many people associate “tagging” with the idea of the semantic web, however some believe that tagging may not be having a positive effect on the overall drive towards the semantic webThe content can be anything at all, but so far, it has most successfully been applied to blogs by the use of tools such as Delicious and Technorati. On line photo application Flickr enables users to tag photographs, while email services such as Gmail employs a clever labeling system instead of traditional mail folders. Source: Wikipedia

You can register your own content quite easily with sites such as Delicious, tagging blog entries and placing them instantly into their directories. There’s useful stuff you can do, too. In this instance, we look at FreshTags, a Javascript application that enables you to apply sophisticated category functions to Blogger-based sites.

Step 1 The Sign Up Process
FreshTags is a system that enables you to add categories and inline tagging capabilities to Blogger or WordPress powered blogs. It’s a set of Javascripts that you install into your template for either of these blogging tools, once you’ve customized the script using an On line form. Head over to Delicious (http://del.icio.us) to sign up for an account.

Step 2 Add Some Tags
Add some tags to your Delicious account and then head over to the FreshTags Build page at http://ghill.customer.netspace.net.a…build.html Fill in your Delicious username in the General section (under Settings) You can find out the functions of other entries on the Support page. The remaining menus govern how the script will appear in your own page.

Step 3 Cut And Paste
Go to your Blogger blog or your WordPress installation and navigate to your template. The separate sections of the script must be pasted into your template as instructed in the Build page. It is advised that you make a backup of your existing template before you try this. Save your template when you are finished and then publish your blog.

10 Quick Tips

1.Web 2.0 Validation – Want to find out how Web 2.0 your site is? Submit it to http://web2.0validator.com Using Delicious tagging to define what Web 2.0 is, it’s not to be taken too seriously.

2.Blogging – Is blogging Web 2.0? According to Delicious users’ tagging content, it’s second only to Ajax as a defining characteristic. If you don’t have one yet head over to http://www.wordpress.com or http://www.blogger.com and sign up for your free blogging account. You’ll be glad you did.

3.RSS Feeds – Really Simple Syndication has been a slow-burn technology that recently took off like a rocket. The ability to embed content from a site anywhere is very Web 2.0, and also easy to do. Try www.feedburner.com

4.Flickr Services – The On line photo album phenomenon that is Flickr has been so successful in part because of it’s open-source attitude. Find tools to include Flickr content easily in your pages at www.flickr.com/services

5.Google Maps – Like Flickr, Google Maps owes much of its success to the open-source availability of its code. Visit www.google.com/apis/maps to download Javascript source code that enables you to add maps to your pages.

6.CSS Layout – With Ajax and Dom Scripting so central to Web 2.0 technologies, CSS layout is essential. You’ll find more CSS links than you’ll ever be able to use at www.dezwozhere.com/links.html

7.Be Myspace – Want to be the next Orkut, or fancy adding bit of Web 2.0 design sensibility to MySpace? PHPizabi, originally built as dating software, might do the trick: www.phpizabi.net

8.Flash – Is Flash apart of Web 2.0? Certainly looks that way. Google Video and YouTube are both Flash-powered, but Flex is the real Web 2.0 technology. A web application building framework based on Flash Player. The Flex SDK is free at www.adobe.com/products/flex

9.Web Standards – Web 2.0 is as much a step back as a step forward; a return to the earliest ethics of the web. The technologies used used are mostly standard scripting and markup languages, making the World Wide Web Consortium at www.w3.org a more important resource than ever.

10.Instant Web 2.0 – Stuck for a new site idea? Check out Web Two Point Oh! http://snipurl.com/twopoint a site that suggests Web 2.0 business ideas. The results may not be entirely serious though.