All About Tags

So, What Are Tags?

You've no doubt seen them on FlightSim.Com as well as other web sites. Tags have become common in recent years but many people still don't understand what they are for. Let's try to take the mystery out of tags.

A tag is a keyword or term assigned to something else, whether a web site article, a picture, a forum post, a blog entry, etc. This sort of "metadata" is a quick way of describing some aspect of the item being tagged and allows it to be more easily found. Each item can have multiple tags attached.

On FlightSim.Com you'll encounter tags in several places:

• Tag Cloud: A widget with a collection of tags. In this listing, the popularity of each tag is indicated by the font size. This gives you an idea of hot topics.
• Tags: Lists of tags are displayed next to every article and next to many forum posts and blog entries. These tags describe the specific item you are reading.

Using Tags

So, now that you know what they are, how do you use tags? It's easy, since each tag is a hyperlink so all you have to do is click on it. Clicking on a tag will display a listing of items that have that tag attached, making a quick and easy way to find many items on a particular subject.

You can also use tags when searching. To do this, you need to use the "Advanced Search" option (look for this near the upper right corner of any page on this site). One of the "Search For" options here is tag, so enter the tag you are interested in and see what is available. Searching on tags is generally much faster than searching on keywords.

Playing Your Part

Tags only work if they get used, and as an active participant in the web site this is where you come in. If you write a post in the forum, be sure to include one or more tags in the appropriate box in the message entry form. This will allow your post to be more easily found. Bloggers should do the same when writing a new blog entry...don't leave that tags box blank!

Conclusion

So, hopefully you now understand what tags are all about and know how to use them, both to find things of interest and how to add your own tags when you write something. If you have any questions, please let us know.