INTRODUCING "TAGS"

This season we are introducing some new ways to get around sections of the site, in an effort to make it easier and quicker to find information.

One of those new features are the use of keyword tags and "tag clouds" in the Photos, Resort Reviews and Resort Journals sections of the site.

The idea is quite simple. From now on, when someone uploads a Photo, a Resort Review or Journal to SnowJapan, they can assign keywords or "tags" to their photo, review or journal. Using these tags, everyone will be able to quickly find the content within the site.

New "tag cloud" pages for each section have been created where all of the tags are listed - all together on one page or displayed alphabetically. Please take a look at those new tag cloud pages below for each of the three sections:

PHOTOS TAG CLOUD:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/photo-gallery-tags.php

RESORT REVIEWS TAG CLOUD:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/resort-review-tags.php

JOURNALS TAG CLOUD:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/journal-tags.php

You'll notice that the tags are displayed using lots of different font sizes - it is supposed to be like that. If a tag is shown in a large font, it means that there are more instances of that tag on the site - ie. more content. The frequency of a tag is shown visually using different font sizes and the relative text sizes change automatically as more content is uploaded. (If you put your mouse over one of the tags it will show you how many times that tag has been used).

Clicking on any of the tags will take you to a page that shows you the Photos, Reviews or Journals that have had that particular tag assigned to them.

The Resort Names and Prefectures that were already assigned to Photos, Resort Reviews and Journals on the site up until mid-October 08 have all been imported into the system as tags.

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A list of most recently used tags as well as the most popular tags is now displayed on the (new) index pages of those three areas of the site:

[b]PHOTO SECTION:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/photo_gallery.php

REVIEWS SECTION:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/voice/review.php

JOURNALS SECTION:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/journal.php

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We hope this will be a much simpler way to find the Photos, Reviews and Journals that you are looking for on the site, as well as indicating the popularity/frequency of those tags and encouraging people to look further and find out more about other places.

If you do intend to upload photos to SnowJapan, or write Resort Reviews or Journals, please do make good use of this new system.

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For more details on the Tags system, and how to use them, please view the Tags Help page:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/about/tags.html

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Please note that this is new functionality and while we have done extensive testing, integrating it within the existing live site is a fairly complex job and so over the next few days we will be doing extensive testing on the new live functionality and making adjustments and fixing any errors that initially occur. If you do find any issues, please do let us know by email or Private Message.

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Further updates to the site to go live in the coming weeks.

How to upload content to SnowJapan:

Posting Photos, Resort Reviews and Journals on SnowJapan is easy. First of all, you need to register on the main site. This only takes seconds and you can do it here:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/register.php

Once you are registered, then login here:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/login.php

Once you are logged in, you can create your own member page, though that is optional and you can immediately upload Photos, Resort Review and Journals. When you are logged in, you will see the necessary links to post them on your main control panel.

Here are the direct links to uploading content (you will need to be logged in to see the upload pages):

Upload Photos (you can upload 5 at a time):
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/photo_gallery_image_uploader.php

Post a Resort Review:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/member_resort_review.php

Post a Journal:
http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/post_journal.php

Just taken a quick look - looks really good and a great way to quickly find stuff.

Cool! I've seen that kind of thing elsewhere and never really knew what they were with all those different sizes. Interesting new feature.

I suggested that last year. My idea. Thank you everyone.

Haven't looked over but good idea to get people to the info. Just how big can those fonts go?!

Omoshiroi.
Nisoko needs more photos!

Will have to take a good look at that. Looks funky!

Actully that is a lot of good fun.
Never knew there were so many Aomori photos up there.

I like it. Seems a really good way to seek out more stuff that you might not normally fine.

New toys!
Will go in and tag some of my pics next week.

Do direct links work?

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/photo_section_tag.php?tag=Ishiuchi%20Maruyama

Seems so, good

Good stuff. Always good to make things easier to find. Otsukaresan!

Yes things to play with are always good.
Some surprises with those biggie fonts in there (photos).
Will spend some time on that lot at coffee break.

Interesting new stuff as always.
I'll make sure to use it this season.