awTags (a flickr like tag system that supports various tag blocks, related tags and related nodes) has been updated to beta 2.1. This version supports Drupal 4.5.2 (the 4.6.0 version is in the works).
It's a separate project developed for autowitch.org. We started writing it a while back (off and on).
Eventually, I'd like for awTags to be able to use folksonomy as its underlying engine. The approach to the backend database is a bit different - I haven't quite figured out how to make the two play nice with each other yet.
Before I try this out a afew questions:
1. Can I set which node types to allow tags for?
2. Does the module search content for tags and add some sort of icon and link to the tag page like delicious module does?
1. Yes. Under 4.5.2 it's hiding in the workflow configuration. Under 4.6.0, this functionality seems to be broken in awTags. I haven't figured out why yet.
Question 2 explained: In the Delicious tags module, a user creates tags on delicious, if one of the words that is a tag is in the node body, the module flags this word by adding a small icon to it. When the user clicks the icon they are taken to the tags page, listing- in delicious' case- all the websites with that tag. On Drupal I guess it would be all the nodes with that tag.
I've been using awTags since I first installed Drupal a month ago, and in
fact it was a key factor in my decision to move to Drupal. I'm running an
earlier release on 4.6.0 with no problems at all.
It will be interesting to see how the various tagging projects in the
Drupal world evolve. I'd like to see tagging integrated into the core
like taxonomy is today. Maybe as a full replacement--I'm using tagging
now instead of taxonomy on my personal site.
Could someone help me understand the scope of awTags --- how does awTags differ with the taxonomy/vocabulary/categories of a site?
For example, for http://www.autowitch.org/node/4258 the tags are:
drupal tags awtags beta download module beta21 and stuff is the category. Why not have drupal tags awtags beta download module beta21 categories?
Tags are more like keywords, or possibly an index. The taxonomy is more like an outline.
Tags have no hierarchy like taxonomy. (awTags does seek out relationships between tags though).
Users can create tags easily (Beta 2.1 adds a new permission which lets users add tags to other users's content while they are viewing it). There's no real fixed list of categories, it evolves in a random sort of way. You have to trust the people who have authority to add tags to not abuse the system.
awTags considers the amount of content that has a tag to be important (it also does tracking of how much a specific tag is viewed).
Hopefully this new release fixes the performance issue that several of the same queries are called multiple times per node load. You can see this by enabling the devel module and turning on the query viewer. Probably a good reason to implement static variables.
Thank you so much for a really cool module. I have been using it for the last six weeks or so. Anyway, is there a way to hyphenate tags, such as free_agent for example. Use the plus sige '+' for multiple tag search. Add a form field to posts so that users can tag and add text to a post, much like you find in del.icio.us?
'cept for the unpublished node security hole, I'm loving awTags. It breathes life into something that got a little stifling before. I use a combination of taxonomy and tags. A tag is essentially a replacement for all of the different terms I might have put in as subcategories before. If it has a sort of loose knit group that I can assign i'll do that, otherwise nothing gets assigned. I'd assume that bryght does something like that, i'm not sure they're using awTags, but they do have tags. Furthermore that method is very similar to the bundles feature Joshua is adding to del.icio.us bookmarks.
I went back to your page and saw no update info. Tried the existing download and it appears to be the same. Read the readme and it appears not updated as well. ?
How is awTags different from the "free tagging" support in Drupal HEAD (details)? The "related tags" block (example) is unique to awTags it seems. Handy block. Anything else?
awTags may be used as a complete alternative to Taxonomy. Some people may prefer to use only tagging instead of the "start by defining a vocabulary" aspect of the Taxo module.
The "free tagging" support in the HEAD is functionally similar, but (AFAIK) came along after the awTags project was under way. Tagging is so hot these days that it's no surprise that in a community like Drupal many people will attempt to implement it.
There's also the folksonomy module, which provides a common tagging infrastructure for use by other modules.
I've only tried awTags, but I think I would rather have a distinction between taxonomy and tags. This way things can have both a set of tags and a general grouping that it falls into. I think of it like those coin sorting machines: The taxonomy category is the slot for any of the coins, the tags are the individual bins for the sorted change. Only this is a super hi-tech coin sorter that you can put any currency into and it will make a bin for that coin.
Um, anyway it's been useful to have both. Another option would be if there were an option to allow tags to fall into certain taxonomies only, ala a check box in the category creation area, so that one could create and assign a taxonomy with straight categories, and one with tagging cats.
My understanding is that the folksonomy module is being deprecated (or no longer updated past 4.6, at least). As for "have both a set of tags and a general grouping that it falls into", you can do that in the 'free tagging' system: node types can have an unlimited number of freetagged or non-freetagged vocabularies assigned to it.
I'm using a patch for taxonomy that was in HEAD a while back. It allows for the free tagging of posts. I combined this with url rewriting so that "/tag/foo" will work as well. I wanted posters to be able to add their own indexes and this seemed the best way to do it
I'm curious to see what awTags has to offer. Anyone want to enumerate the features and benefits from either side? Anyone have any ideas regarding how this stuff will all shake out in the next version? I hate upgrading enough as it is :)
Comments
Comparison w/ Morbus' work?
How does this compare with Morbus' work?
Separate project
It's a separate project developed for autowitch.org. We started writing it a while back (off and on).
Eventually, I'd like for awTags to be able to use folksonomy as its underlying engine. The approach to the backend database is a bit different - I haven't quite figured out how to make the two play nice with each other yet.
There's a bit of difference between the two.
-aw
ur site is down
Hi AW,
I'm trying to find a module that displays related node to the main node.
For example, main article + aside with related articles.
I heard awtags does that wonderfuly.. Can u show me where i can get the module? tks
Find tags in posts?
Before I try this out a afew questions:
1. Can I set which node types to allow tags for?
2. Does the module search content for tags and add some sort of icon and link to the tag page like delicious module does?
Answers
1. Yes. Under 4.5.2 it's hiding in the workflow configuration. Under 4.6.0, this functionality seems to be broken in awTags. I haven't figured out why yet.
2. I'm not quite sure I understand.
-aw
Part 2
Question 2 explained: In the Delicious tags module, a user creates tags on delicious, if one of the words that is a tag is in the node body, the module flags this word by adding a small icon to it. When the user clicks the icon they are taken to the tags page, listing- in delicious' case- all the websites with that tag. On Drupal I guess it would be all the nodes with that tag.
Ah.. I get it now
I understand. That would be a cool feature. Shouldn't be that hard to code.
awTags is good stuff!
I've been using awTags since I first installed Drupal a month ago, and in
fact it was a key factor in my decision to move to Drupal. I'm running an
earlier release on 4.6.0 with no problems at all.
It will be interesting to see how the various tagging projects in the
Drupal world evolve. I'd like to see tagging integrated into the core
like taxonomy is today. Maybe as a full replacement--I'm using tagging
now instead of taxonomy on my personal site.
Brian Del Vecchio | bdv at hybernaut dot com | http://hybernaut.com/
Compare with Taxonomy/Vocabularies
Could someone help me understand the scope of awTags --- how does awTags differ with the taxonomy/vocabulary/categories of a site?
For example, for http://www.autowitch.org/node/4258 the tags are:
drupal tags awtags beta download module beta21 and stuff is the category. Why not have drupal tags awtags beta download module beta21 categories?
Free format
It's a lot looser than the the taxonomy is.
Off the top of my head:
Tags are more like keywords, or possibly an index. The taxonomy is more like an outline.
Tags have no hierarchy like taxonomy. (awTags does seek out relationships between tags though).
Users can create tags easily (Beta 2.1 adds a new permission which lets users add tags to other users's content while they are viewing it). There's no real fixed list of categories, it evolves in a random sort of way. You have to trust the people who have authority to add tags to not abuse the system.
awTags considers the amount of content that has a tag to be important (it also does tracking of how much a specific tag is viewed).
-aw
very nice
I had been looking for an easy way to display links to related nodes in a block, and this fits my need perfectly.
thanks for the contribution.
Put your money where your mouth is!
Query optimizations
Hopefully this new release fixes the performance issue that several of the same queries are called multiple times per node load. You can see this by enabling the devel module and turning on the query viewer. Probably a good reason to implement static variables.
Would you mind
Would you mind sending me some more info about this?
Thanks,
-aw
hyphenated words
Hi,
Thank you so much for a really cool module. I have been using it for the last six weeks or so. Anyway, is there a way to hyphenate tags, such as free_agent for example. Use the plus sige '+' for multiple tag search. Add a form field to posts so that users can tag and add text to a post, much like you find in del.icio.us?
Thanks,
Jim
using hyphenated tags
Jim, the 2.1 beta release makes the tag restriction configurable, so you
should be able to use tags like "free_agent".
I don't think that multiple tag search is supported.
And on that last point, you're talking about reader tagging, which also is not supported in awTags. Interesting, though.
Brian Del Vecchio | bdv at hybernaut dot com | http://hybernaut.com/
correction
the latest 4.6.0 awTags beta that I'm testing does indeed allow reader tagging for users with the "add tags" permission.
Brian Del Vecchio | bdv at hybernaut dot com | http://hybernaut.com/
awTags is super great
'cept for the unpublished node security hole, I'm loving awTags. It breathes life into something that got a little stifling before. I use a combination of taxonomy and tags. A tag is essentially a replacement for all of the different terms I might have put in as subcategories before. If it has a sort of loose knit group that I can assign i'll do that, otherwise nothing gets assigned. I'd assume that bryght does something like that, i'm not sure they're using awTags, but they do have tags. Furthermore that method is very similar to the bundles feature Joshua is adding to del.icio.us bookmarks.
That security hole
That security hole should be fixed by this eve (would have been fixed earlier - but I've been on the road).
-aw
Test version
Ok, a test version of awTags for 4.5.2 with the security hole fixed is available for brave people.
The 4.6.0 version is in the works (as soon as I fix the problems with the images - the autowitch.org update to 4.6.0 has been a bit rough :-( ).
-aw
where?
I went back to your page and saw no update info. Tried the existing download and it appears to be the same. Read the readme and it appears not updated as well. ?
Beta testing
I've been sending it to a few beta testers before releasing to the public at large.
If you want an early version, let me know and I will get it to you.
-aw
awTags versus 'free tagging' in Drupal HEAD
How is awTags different from the "free tagging" support in Drupal HEAD (details)? The "related tags" block (example) is unique to awTags it seems. Handy block. Anything else?
awTags vs 'free tagging'
awTags may be used as a complete alternative to Taxonomy. Some people may prefer to use only tagging instead of the "start by defining a vocabulary" aspect of the Taxo module.
The "free tagging" support in the HEAD is functionally similar, but (AFAIK) came along after the awTags project was under way. Tagging is so hot these days that it's no surprise that in a community like Drupal many people will attempt to implement it.
There's also the folksonomy module, which provides a common tagging infrastructure for use by other modules.
Brian Del Vecchio | bdv at hybernaut dot com | http://hybernaut.com/
Having Taxonomy be separate
I've only tried awTags, but I think I would rather have a distinction between taxonomy and tags. This way things can have both a set of tags and a general grouping that it falls into. I think of it like those coin sorting machines: The taxonomy category is the slot for any of the coins, the tags are the individual bins for the sorted change. Only this is a super hi-tech coin sorter that you can put any currency into and it will make a bin for that coin.
Um, anyway it's been useful to have both. Another option would be if there were an option to allow tags to fall into certain taxonomies only, ala a check box in the category creation area, so that one could create and assign a taxonomy with straight categories, and one with tagging cats.
My understanding is that the
My understanding is that the folksonomy module is being deprecated (or no longer updated past 4.6, at least). As for "have both a set of tags and a general grouping that it falls into", you can do that in the 'free tagging' system: node types can have an unlimited number of freetagged or non-freetagged vocabularies assigned to it.
http://disobey.com/
http://gamegrene.com/
http://www.disobey.com/
Is this what they are using
Is this what they are using here?
If not, then does anyone else know what it is?
nope, i'm using taxonomy right now
I'm using a patch for taxonomy that was in HEAD a while back. It allows for the free tagging of posts. I combined this with url rewriting so that "/tag/foo" will work as well. I wanted posters to be able to add their own indexes and this seemed the best way to do it
I'm curious to see what awTags has to offer. Anyone want to enumerate the features and benefits from either side? Anyone have any ideas regarding how this stuff will all shake out in the next version? I hate upgrading enough as it is :)
I posted some first
I posted some first impressions in this post:
http://drupal.org/node/21337
I have been using free tagging since then since it integrates with modules well (taxonomy_dhtml for example). The features of awtags are great though.
Link not working...
I'm having trouble with this link working. Can you repost this link?
Thanks!
Works now
Sorry about that... after leaving for 2 days and coming back it works fine.
Still does not work
It looks like he's suffering a server meltdown; slashdotting of some sort, perhaps?
Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /srv/www/htdocs/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 31
Too many connections
awTags Beta files?
Since his site is kaput - does anyone have a copy of this module?
site is ok
the link at the top worked for me...