Word Nerd Joy!

The internet is chock full if fun and interesting ways to indulge your hobbies. When you are a bona fide Word Nerd, there is no end to the fun you can have and havoc you can create with a visit to just a few sites.

Wordle was my first venture into word cloud pictures. I was directed here at a teacher inservice several years ago and have used it off and on ever since with my classes. It is easy to type or paste text and then create word pictures. The site allows you to set parameters for size, color, font, page orientation, and almost any other detail you can imagine. Then, it creates a picture which you can publish, or randomize within the set parameters to get a different look. There are a few tricks you have to learn as you go about how to get words to group together. There is also no easy way to download your creation directly to your own computer. But it doesn't require log in and you can print what you make. That makes it perfect for using with young students who just want to practice their spelling or older students who are interested in creating word pictures of any type of information.


 In this word picture, I entered my website and Wordle pulled directly from the site to create a word cloud with the most common words enlarged.

Once you get your feet wet with Wordle a true Word Nerd will look for places to play with words that give more opportunity to manipulate the aspects of the picture. Tagxedo allows users to form their word cloud into shapes. Then you can also change the color, font, size, and all other pieces to create a completely customized product. The site allows multiple ways to share your creation. You can also directly save your image in different formats and file sizes.

As you can see, this image, created by pulling from the same website as the Wordle image, has a more polished and together look. It was downloaded to my computer to use again and again.

To use this application with students, they need to know how to navigate a website fairly well and should have an idea of what they want their image to look like when they are finished before they begin. I would recommend this tool for older elementary and older aged students.











My favorite new Word Nerd site is Tagul. This word cloud generator allows for more customization than the other sites and has an easy to use interface. The tabs allow you to track your progress through the image creation. You have a live "view" of what you are creating that updates with every change you make to the font, layout, shape, color, etc. You are also able to save your image in different format or directly link to it on your website.





After creating word clouds of so many random words, it is refreshing to have words that make sense together and form a complete though come together. A new trend in techy Word Nerd circles is the creation of images with quotes. The quotes can be inspirational or silly, but the joy comes in the making of them. Recitethis.com is one such tool. At this site a user is able to choose from a list of quotes or type in their own text. Then they can apply the background of their choice. The images are in a strip along the screen. Once the quote has been made, the user is given several options about how to share their creation. Linking to social media sites, downloading to the computer, or hyperlinking are all options.It can even be emailed to a friend. This is a great way to share golden lines from books, thoughts that make you go "hmmm" and all other manner of short sayings.

Another tool from the Android app store is PicQuotes. This functions similarly to Recitethis, but is on your smartphone. You can use stock quotes or type in your own. You can grab backgrounds from the internet, your SD card, or use one of the ones provided. You can share it in the usual social media ways.

In both Recitethis and PicQuotes, the user is limited only my his or her imagination and willingness to learn the interface.