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Can I do that?

label list

label list


I like many things about the WordPress platform I use for this blog, and about the theme I’ve chosen.

On thing I don’t like, however, is the way they handle tags.

I make it a point to categorize each of my posts so that readers (and I) can have a better chance of finding what they (I) are looking for. That’s fine. No problem.

But I’d like to also show all my tags – it’d make my life easier (Can you tell I have to go back and look at past posts with some regularity?), even if none of my readers ever use it.

WordPress is happy to post the tags in a tag cloud, which, IMHO, is an ugly, confusing mess. Blogspot, on the other hand, displays them in a lovely, alphabetical column.

(Thanks to Laura’s Loom – I grabbed a section of her tags –called labels– in Blogspot. And to Melange – I grabbed her tag cloud.)

tag cloud

tag cloud

Surely there are knowledgeable people out there who could tell me how to display my tags in something other than the awful tag cloud. Please share your skills with me! But don’t make the answer too complex.

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7 comments to Can I do that?

  • Wow, Peg, that is some tag list! 🙂
    I’m glad you found what you wanted! And I know where to look if ever I want one. Thanks Jackie!

  • Peg Cherre

    That sure worked, Jackie, and now I need to return to that old saying — be careful what you ask for. I’ve got WAAAAAYYYY too long a list of tags! I’d like to tell the widget not to list tags that have less than 3 entries, but don’t know how. I can format it to eliminate specific tags, and guess I’ll do that, even though it sounds tedious. I should also go back in to my tags from the beginning, eliminate some tags and double up on others (for instance, no reason to have both “bamboo scarf” and “bamboo scarves.”

    Anyway, I really appreciate your hint, Jackie!

  • Peg, I just did a google search for wordpress tag list plugin. I’m not using this tag list plugin (I like my colorized tag cloud i.e. I don’t use the default WordPress one), but maybe this is what you need?

    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/list-tags/

  • Peg Cherre

    Yep, Jean, you’re right in the second comment. I already have my categories (in the left sidebar), but want the tags, too. Can’t figure out how to do that.

    But thanks for trying!

  • Uh-oh. Looks like tags and categories are different thingies in wordpress. As far as I know, in blogspot there is only one: Labels. So maybe my steps above won’t help. 🙁

  • Peg, I’m sure you must have tried this, probably it didn’t work (or maybe the option is not available…). Looking at my own wordpress dashboard, here are the steps:

    Login->Dashboard->(Leftframe) Appearances->Widgets-> You’ll get a list of widgets, in which there are Categories and Category clouds.-> Pull the Categories to the widget area in the right, and using the checkbox select which kind of look you want (drop down, show post count, etc), and Save.
    It should work. I tried in mine and here is the result: http://papaadi.wordpress.com (you can see the category in the right frame.)

    Of course, mine is wordpress.com site, it may be available in the newer version or something. Do try and let me know if it helps.

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