I can’t begin to tell you how cool this Web site is. I literally cannot stop making word clouds!
You can start by checking out the one I made for WorldStart here!
The FAQ section covers any problems you may run into without fail and it even taught me how to get the applet to recognize spaces. For example, I want it to put Computer Tips together without separating the words. So, instead of just typing in Computer Tips, I need to put Computer~Tips. The tilde will be translated by the applet as a space. How nifty is that?!
To get started, click Create. That will take you to a page with a blank text box. You can paste in a block of text here or simply type in a string of words. Those are the words that will make up your word cloud. If you repeat a word more than once, it will become more prominent.
Here’s an example: http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/36744/Virtues
To get “patience” to be the largest word, I typed it in twice in a row. That’s also explained further in the FAQ section.
Below the text box, you’ll find a smaller blank field. That’s where you can type in a del.icio.us username (if you have one) so that it can make a word cloud from your tags.
If you put in text, click Go. If you put in a username, click Submit.
You’ll now be on the applet itself. That’s where you can see your word cloud, edit it and make it unique. At the top of the applet, you’ll find a navigation bar containing Edit, Language, Font, Layout and Color. That allows you to make your word cloud look exactly like you want. My favorite option is the font feature.
At the bottom of the applet, you have buttons to Print, Randomize and Save. Saving will save your word cloud to the site’s gallery, but not your computer. In order to save it on your computer, push the Print Screen button on your keyboard to take a screenshot of it and then paste it in Paint or Photoshop.
Randomize will randomly arrange and color your word cloud. I found it to be a fun way to change the way it looks, without having to mess with any other options.
This is a really fun way to play with words, so why don’t you give it a try?!
~ Amanda