What’s a wordle?
It’s a word cloud. Word clouds–called tag clouds if they include links–are common in the Web 2.0 universe. But a wordle is a special case, one created by the software at Wordle.net (NOT .com or .org). To my eye, wordles have class. They are intriguing. They look good.
At wordle.net, all you have to do is paste a text document into a field on the website, and out the other comes a tag cloud. Then you can play with a host of different font and color schemes, including greyscale for black and white documents, and a variety of layouts, from architectonic to crazy. Lots of fun. Easy, quick addition to a presentation, or document where you want to call attention to the content to follow.
Warning: could be a time suck. Once you start playing with it you’ll want to wordlize everything you can think of.
Here’s the wordle I created from the entire, 25 page document of presentation guidelines I use with my clients.
Wordle of "How to Talk to Money" by Steve Bowman
Here’s one of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”
Wordle of "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones (Jagger/Richards)
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
Wordle of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And stay away from the “randomize” button! wordle.net