What are tags?
A tag is a keyword which classifies a topic. Using tags, topics are categorized by subject, which makes it easier to browse and to look-up topics. Carefully selected tags are a great human made index in addition to full text search. And they allow further features, such as tag specific RSS feeds and email notifications.
How can I add tags?
- When writing, there's a tab Add tags below the text edit field.
- If you read a topic, there's an Add tags link at the top and a tag list and a tag edit field at the bottom.
How can I remove tags?
Simply put a - sign before the tag when you "add" it. For example, this removes two bad tags and adds two better tags:
-help,-error,errors,compilingHow can tags look like?
We would like to follow some patterns for consistency, so we don't get different tags just because of different writing. Please try using already existing tags, but it's fine to add a missing new tag.
Here are examples of kinds of tags:
- Doing and How-to:
installing, compiling, numbering, cross-referencing (try using -ing form - gerund) - Things: headings, packages, books, fonts (please use plural)
- Concepts: hyphenation, justification, alignment
- Editors, tools, compiling engines: TeXworks, LyX, Kile, dvips, ps2pdf, XeTeX, pdfLaTeX (use capitalization if appropriate)
- Packages, classes, bundles, distributions: hyperref, pgfplots, TikZ, pstricks, beamer, KOMA-Script, oberdiek, MiKTeX
- Commands and environments: \expandafter, \newcommand, itemize
- Fields of science: mathematics, physics, chemistry, linguistics
There's no limit, but experience shows that 3-5 tags are usually enough. Please add a tag only if your topic really concerns this subject and should be found if somebody searches for that tag. It's for searching, not as a visual marker, so "help", "beginners", or similar non-technical tags are not useful.
Best practices:
A summary, some things repeated:
- Use -ing-form of verbs or plural for substantive
- Write tags in lower case, except if the subject has a specific capitalization
- Don't use spaces within tags, if necessary use a dash
- Use a tag if the topic is about it, not if the topic only touches the subject
- Adding a tag referring to an important subject in later answers to a topic are ok, not only the first post is determining
- Broad tags combined with specific tags are good - people may filter for tag combinations such as TikZ+nodes+aligning.
- If you see a tag and think it doesn't fit well, delete it (add with a - sign) and add a better one, or simply report it: click the button with the exclamation sign, choose "The topic tags should be checked and corrected" and perhaps comment. This is welcome. A moderator will take care.
Happy tagging and browsing!
Stefan
