Tagxedo

include component="page" wikiName="techtools4literacy" page="word cloud menu wordle" =[|Tagxedo] (http://www.tagxedo.com/)=
 * ==Benefits==
 * Free.[[image:i_have_a_dream.jpg width="478" height="348" align="right" caption="Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have A Dream Speech  (http://www.tagxedo.com)"]]
 * No sign-in or e-mail required.
 * Licensed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial, Attribution, Share Alike License. (In other words, you may not sell items with images created by the Tagxedo application).
 * It is very easy to copy and paste text from the Internet or from student work in Word or another program into the Tagxedo application. Text may also be entered directly.
 * Keeps a history of previous configurations during the creation phase, so you may go back and find an earlier rendition of your word cloud.
 * Allows you to create word clouds in shapes.
 * Many options for saving to your local machine and on the web.
 * Many color / theme options.
 * Tagxedo has a stemming protocol built into the application which recognizes derivatives of a word. For example, walk, walks, and walking would be recognized as derivatives of the word walk and would only appear in the Tagxedo as the word walk.
 * =Challenges=
 * Not a dedicated educational site, however, the owner has stated that all Tagxedos showcased in the gallery will be educationally friendly.
 * Several ads appear on the site.
 * Not as easy and intuitive as Wordle or ABCya.
 * Several shape options are available. However, the ability to create custom shapes or some of the shapes featured in the gallery require a premium subscription (which is not yet available, as far as I can tell).
 * Requires Silverlight (not available for older Mac computers).
 * The Tagxedo site is not searchable for previously created Tagxedos.
 * ==Helpful Hints==
 * This short video tutorial is very helpful when beginning to use Tagxedo

media type="youtube" key="6ZwVoqFP-NE" height="315" width="560"

> When creating a Tagxedo for a class, I recommend saving the Tagxedo on the web making note of the URL and saving the image to your own computer. You may then use the image in either PowerPoint Presentations or on a Website and make the image itself a link to the image on the web where the interactive functions are available. See the example below.
 * Multiple word phrases may be entered by using the Tilda (~) between words, but this is only available when adding text throughmedia type="custom" key="15011022" align="right" copying and pasting or direct entry. It does not work when pulling text directly from a website.
 * media type="custom" key="11616836" align="right"By allowing to repeat, you can generate a more solid shape. See the embedded images to the right.
 * The borders of the shape may be set to a "hard border" to emphasize the shape or the shape shadow may added for clarity of the shape.
 * When using the embed code provided by Tagxedo, a small image is generated (and does not include the shape outline if left on the Tagxedo). One of the cool features of the embedded image is that you may actually click on a word and a web search is done on that word so if a student did not know the meaning of a word the Wikipedia or other site would be available for help. See the embedded image to the right.
 * Tagxedo uses a formula to determine the emphasis of the word in the word cloud that is partly based on the number of times the word appears in the text. See the [|Tagxedo FAQ] page for more information.
 * Default settings eliminate common English words such as the, a, an, prepositions, etc. are automatically disregarded by the application.
 * Numbers are eliminated from Tagxedo by default..
 * Words may be removed from a completed Tagxedo by clicking on the Word / Layout Option link and selecting the Skip tab. Simply select the words you want to eliminate from the Tagxedo and Accept the changes at the bottom. This will cause the Tagxedo to "respin".
 * If you are going to embed your image, either keep a record of the URL of the image or download the image as the Tagxedo gallery is not searchable and the embedded image does not automatically link to the URL as it does in Wordle.

media type="custom" key="11622122"