I recently wanted to add a "tag cloud" to this blog but found that out of the box, it simply listed the tags used, from A-Z without any distinguishing characteristics. So I poked around a little bit, found one with no code and another that wanted to charge me. And then I found some info on SixApart's website. Really, there are only a couple of things that need doing to add a tag cloud on your Moveable Type blog.
I'm leaving the instructions somewhat vague with the idea that if you don't know what I'm talking about, you won't attempt it. Seriously, you could mess up your site if you did this wrong and didn't know how to un-do it.
First, find your site's Main Index template. Find where you want your Tag Cloud to go. Open a different window with SixApart's Tag Cloud page. Find the section marked "Displaying a "Tag Cloud"" Copy the code from that page to your template. Save.
Second, find your site's CSS file or files. You may need an editor (emacs, anyone?) to do this. Select the one you want to edit. Find where you want to add your Tag Cloud CSS. From the SixApart page, copy the CSS code from under the "Displaying a "Tag Cloud"" code into your CSS file. Save.
Rebuild (I guess that's step #3) your front page and refresh your browser. You should see a neat little tag cloud wherever you told it to be!
If you wanted to do it differently, you could create a MT Widget and add it to your Widget Set (that's what I did). That way, when I want to mess around with the tag cloud by itself, I can do that. I also added a couple of lines to the CSS to get the effect I was looking for.
