Blogumus, the Flash Tag Cloud is Back

Posted by Clyde On Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Over two years ago Amanda from Blogger Buster ported the wordpress cumulus tag cloud to blogger, this flash based tag cloud was and perhaps still is the best tag looking tag cloud for blogger.

Unfortunately this tag cloud stopped functioning for over 6 months, after numerous comments and emails the tag cloud is still non functional.

But today Blogger Blog Templates is giving you a permanent solution for your blogspot flash tag cloud. If you would like to see how it looks take a look at the tag cloud in the sidebar.

Firstly you would require to download two files, right click on the links below and save target as.

swfobject.js

blogumus.swf

Now that you have these two files, upload it on your hosting account and then save the links.

Go to your blogger dashboard -> design -> edit html

Once your there first back up your template.

Now expand widgets and look for this line:

<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar' preferred='yes'>

Immediately after this line paste the code given below, though in some templates you may not be able to paste it immediately and will have to scout for a spot where you don't get an error.

<b:widget id='Label99' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:title'>
<h2><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<script src='Your swfobject.js Link Comes Here' type='text/javascript'></script>
<div id='flashcontent'></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var so = new SWFObject("Your blogumus.swf Link Comes Here", "tagcloud", "240", "300", "7", "#ffffff");
// uncomment next line to enable transparency
//so.addParam("wmode", "transparent");
so.addVariable("tcolor", "0x333333");
so.addVariable("mode", "tags");
so.addVariable("distr", "true");
so.addVariable("tspeed", "100");
so.addVariable("tagcloud", "<tags><b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'><a expr:href='data:label.url' style='12'><data:label.name/></a></b:loop></tags>");
so.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "always");
so.write("flashcontent");
</script>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Once you insert this code you need to replace the two links in the code with your own hosting links

Your swfobject.js Link Comes Here

Your blogumus.swf Link Comes Here

Once you change those links you can preview the template, the blogumus widget should appear in your sidebar.

This is very important, if you have an apostrophe or quote character (' or ") in your labels, the tag cloud appears blank.

Certain features of blogumus can be customized:

The width, height and background color can be change from the line below that you will find in the code

"tagcloud", "240", "300", "7", "#ffffff");

where 240 = width, 300 = height and ffffff = back ground color

but you can also have a transparent background where the labels float on your current blog background

look for

//so.addParam("wmode", "transparent");

and remove the

//

and your blogumus will be transparent

if you want to change the text color of the labels look for

so.addVariable("tcolor", "0x333333");

change the 333333 to a color of your choice

if you want to change the text size look for

values='data:labels' var='label'><a expr:href='data:label.url' style='12'>

and change the value 12 to a font size you prefer

if you want to change the speed of the tag cloud rotation, look for

so.addVariable("tspeed", "100");

change the value 100 to what you like

We do hope you can finally get your blogumus tag cloud working again, hope to see you soon! A special thanks to DualTranz for bringing back this widget to life!

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37 Response to "Blogumus, the Flash Tag Cloud is Back"

Unknown said,

September 21, 2010 at 5:59 AM

im curious. why do we still need to upload the 2 files since u already give the link? just insert the link into the code right?

Clyde said,

September 22, 2010 at 7:37 AM

hi,

it will stop working as I do not have unlimited bandwith, this server hosts a lot of my stuff. So I would appreciate if you could host these files on your server.

CHROMEWAVES RADIO said,

October 21, 2010 at 5:06 PM

i don't have any apostrophes or quotes in my tags, but the cloud is blank. can you help?

Fabio Lucchini said,

October 24, 2010 at 1:20 PM

Hi,

sorry but I have a simple question. I dont understand how to proceed regarding the following steps:

Firstly you would require to download two files, right click on the links below and save target as.

swfoXXX.js

blogXXX.swf

THIS IS CLEAR, But not the following

Now that you have these two files, upload it on your hosting account and then save the links.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN FOR "upload it on your hosting account and then save the links" could you be so kinf to explain how to perform this part on Blogger / blogspot ??

Thanks so much in advance
Alinghy

Fabio Lucchini said,

October 24, 2010 at 1:27 PM

Please, another question,

I cant find the below listed path ... could you suggest any possible alternatives ?

Thanks again
Regards
Aleramo

Fabio Lucchini said,

October 27, 2010 at 12:09 PM

Hi Clyde

are you available for a couple of questions ?

regards
A.

Fabio Lucchini said,

October 27, 2010 at 12:16 PM

Hi Clyde

1st question : I dont find exactly this path you
mentioned above

2nd: concerning these two files

*****
Your swfobject.js Link Comes Here

Your blogumus.swf Link Comes Here
*****

what do you mean for

*******
Now that you have these two files, upload it on your hosting account and then save the links.
***********

and how I can upload these files to my account in blogger / blogspot and where I have to put them ?
Hope to get an help from you, I find this widget animated cloud very nice .
Thank in advance for your kind reply
regards
A.

Clyde said,

October 31, 2010 at 4:33 AM

@ ariel.s

seems like your clouds working fine congrats

@ Aleramo

You need to host the flash on say google sites or another hosting account

please watch this video to understand hosting of files http://www.bloggerblogtemplates.com/2009/01/how-to-upload-custom-blogger-template.html let me know after you watch if there are more problems :)

Fun and Fearless said,

November 15, 2010 at 4:47 AM

Hi Clyde! I think your blogumus is really promising. Thank you for posting this. But I'm having some major problems.

I've been trying desperately to install Blogumus on my blog. I can't get it right. And it frustrates me even more to see that working on other blogger sites. Please help me. I also can't understand how to get my .js and .swf url. I'm sorry for being such a noob on this.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!! ^_^

Unknown said,

November 23, 2010 at 10:40 PM

I have followed your instructions (hosted the files in my hosting account) but still get a blank and checked for ' ' or "". Could you have a look to my site please?

http://ciie-upaep.blogspot.com/

I also wonder whether I can control the number of links to be shown.

Regards and thanks in advance for your help.
Alfonso

Clyde said,

November 24, 2010 at 3:59 AM

@ alfonso in your code

pcftp.liv.ac.uk/∼kitamend/blogumus.swf

you have forgotten to put http://

http://pcftp.liv.ac.uk/∼kitamend/blogumus.swf

and for js also

Clyde said,

November 24, 2010 at 5:14 AM

@ FUN & FEARLESS

please watch http://www.bloggerblogtemplates.com/2009/01/how-to-upload-custom-blogger-template.html

to learn how to upload files n all

AnotherWindowsBlog said,

January 7, 2011 at 1:03 AM

Followed your instructions and everything worked to perfection. I had tried implementing this widget in the past but the instructions did not include that none of my labels can include any apostrophe or quote symbols except for yours. I guess that's why it worked (I had one label with an apostrophe).

One weird thing though. After saving the template, the HTML code for this widget disappears and I cannot alter the settings without re-inserting the entire code from scratch again. But luckily, I doubt I'll have to readjust it again unless I'm switching to a new template.

Union Square Online said,

January 7, 2011 at 2:20 PM

Thanks for this update! I had been running Blogumus without problem when my blog was hosted on the Google Blogspot server. I just moved my blog to a subdomain on my own website and the Blogumus stopped working. I followed your directions (above) and now my Blogumus is again working fine. :) I've noticed one difference, however. When the cursor hovers over a tag, a box appears (as before) but the hovered tag and box used to change color... now they remain the same color. Is there someplace where I could specify the hover color? It's not a HUGE deal, but I did like that feature in my previous installation.

You can see my blog (with a functioning version of Blogulus) at http://blog.union-square.us

Thanks again!

Union Square Online said,

January 7, 2011 at 2:25 PM

BTW, it should be noted that the Blogulus tag cloud only works with a maximum of 30 tags. If your blog has more than 30 tags, you need to change "Show all labels" to "Show selected labels" and then pick 30 (or fewer) tags. If you're trying to show more than 30 tags, you'll get a blank square where Blogulus should appear.

Clyde said,

January 8, 2011 at 2:33 AM

@ AWB im glad the cloud worked for you, though im not sure if you are placing the code in the right place? Does it not show up in your layout??

@ USO

no problem, if you have the old code or find it somewhere, try adding the additional variable for hover on color and let me know if it works please :)

Union Square Online said,

January 8, 2011 at 3:52 AM

Thanks for the reply, Clyde. I checked the old code and there wasn't anything there. I checked all of the variables from my old install vs. the new install and those are the same. Neither specify anything for "hover." Obviously, there is a hover property that triggers the box to appear around the "hovered" tag, but I don't know where to find it. Could it be something inside the new SWF file? Otherwise, is it something inside the new js? Thanks again!

Union Square Online said,

January 8, 2011 at 8:47 PM

In searching around, I discovered that the hover variable is defined as "hicolor" - so I added:

so.addVariable("hicolor", "0xffffff");

but no joy. The blogulus cloud still appears but there is no hover effect.

Any thoughts?

Clyde said,

January 11, 2011 at 11:27 PM

@ WSO

i checked the JS but there is nothing regarding these configuration so i think its in the swf, but i can't edit that ...

Admin said,

January 22, 2011 at 1:27 AM

love u a looooooot for this super smexy post OMG what should i say such a great tutorial and thanks a loooot

and for those who dont know how to do here is trick

after u download post
1st go to http://www.fileave.com and register

then upload u r file and get direct link and thats it after that paste it as shown above and u get it it rocks :D

Rahul Singh said,

April 26, 2011 at 7:09 AM

thanx mate i followed the same procedure earlier without knowing that the code is limited to only 30 labels.

Remedy for the blank widget - select only 30 labels manually,

cheers !!
http://digitalgyaan.blogspot.com/

DarkTrib3 said,

May 3, 2011 at 9:56 AM

I got the widget working. But it is only showing 3 labels randomly but I got 4 labels in total.

Unknown said,

May 14, 2011 at 1:10 AM

iam unable to change the color according to my blog requirements !! i have even tried changing the color code but in vain !! clyde please help..

Clyde said,

May 17, 2011 at 7:22 PM

@ sanjeev

the easiest way to get the required color is to enable the transparency option in the cloud so it automatically takes your blog color.

read the part of the post above where you need to remove //

cheers,
clyde

Clyde said,

May 17, 2011 at 8:04 PM

@ DarkTrib3

this widget shows one less than your current label count and i don't know how to fix that...

EMP said,

June 4, 2011 at 9:01 AM

did not work for me, mones blank :(

Berliniquais said,

June 10, 2011 at 12:36 PM

Hi Clyde,

Thanks for the great tutorial. I looked at the video on this link, as you had advised Aleramo and Fun & Fearless to do http://www.bloggerblogtemplates.com/2009/01/how-to-upload-custom-blogger-template.html

However, I think it's about uploading blogger templates and it's still not clear what to do with this step when you say

"swfobject.js
blogumus.swf
Now that you have these two files, upload it on your hosting account and then save the links."

OK I see I'm not the brightest mind here but should I "host" my two files on "ImageShack" and then copy a link into my html code?

Thanks for your guidance

Berliniquais said,

June 10, 2011 at 1:12 PM

Nah, sorry, pls disregard my previous question, after reading ALL comments I understood what is meant by "hosting" a file, I went on fileshare.org (for some reason, fileave.com didn't want to upload my files), got the link, copy-pasted it in the whole code and stuff, and then... nothing. Blank.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that my html code does not display this key line, that was also mentioned in Amanda's tutorial:

I really don't have this line in my html,what I have is the following:

I looked very hard for the other line, but it's just not there.

And then, as I want to edit my html code and check what went wrong, I see (just as AnotherWindowsBlog does), that the HTML code for this widget disappears. I can copy-paste it as many times as I want, but if I get out of this view and then come back to it, all I see is

instead of the big code. Why is this? I've been hurting myself since yesterday. Now I'm at a loss and kind of frustrated.

Could you please help? I really want this widget. Here is my "trial" blog

http://euroantilles.blogspot.com/

Many thanks in advance!

Jean-Michel

Berliniquais said,

June 19, 2011 at 10:38 AM

Hi Clyde,

I think I posted my comments and questions some 10 days ago and I still don't see them... would you have a minute to help?

Thanks

Jean-Michel

Clyde said,

June 20, 2011 at 10:47 AM

@james

which blog... you have a few in your profile??

@le chroniquer .....

nice cycle... i saw your test blog and din't find the code in it....

geoweek's said,

June 27, 2011 at 8:20 AM

tanks... I Like It

Anonymous said,

July 13, 2011 at 3:20 PM

Dear Clyde,

thank you so much for posting about this Blogumus. i've been hours trying to get the right code and better explanations, and obviously this posting is a much better than others lol. at first, it's lil bit confusing about that uploading swf and js file. thanks to "Admin" who posted the fileave.com because i'm trying from google docs and apparently it wont work. i also tried other sites (swfcabin.com and yourjavascript.com) but its just the same as google docs. (just so other know)

well, most of all thank you Clyde! very helpful :)

Berliniquais said,

July 28, 2011 at 7:56 AM

Hi Clyde,

Thanks for your answer. Yeah, very weird, after many attempts and in frustration about not being able to change a thing, I tried "Revert to Classic Template" at the bottom of the "Design" page, and now it's simply impossible to show the code... weird huh?

OK, anyway, this was my test blog so never mind blowing it up. Here's my REAL blog:

http://chronique-berliniquaise.blogspot.com/

I have exactly the same problem, which is that I cannot see at all the line with

What I do find in my html code, no matter how much I search, is the following line instead:

So I thought this would do and I tried performing all the operations underneath that line. However, I have the same problem that arises as what I wrote above, i.e. (I copy-paste my comment): as I want to edit my html code and check what went wrong, I see (just as AnotherWindowsBlog does), that the HTML code for this widget disappears. I can copy-paste it as many times as I want, but if I get out of this view and then come back to it, all I see is the 1st line of the code:

instead of the whole code.
As a rule, I can only see the 1st line of all my widget codes in the "Edit HTML" mode of my blog page.

Any idea?

Thanks a million

Jean-Michel

PS: And now when I preview my comment, all the html lines are invisible. I hope you can see them...

Clyde said,

August 10, 2011 at 6:19 AM

@ LCB

no i cant see the html, you need to parse it prior to pasting it in the comment box for me to see.... any way yo view the entire code in ur edit html you need to select expand widgets :)

i also visited your blog and sadly the flash cloud doesn't work with special alphabets like e accute or words with a ' in them... :(

Unknown said,

October 11, 2011 at 12:40 PM

Thank you so much for blogumus flash tag cloud.... works awesome and one of the best things one can have on a blog.... thanks a ton...