Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with keywords

Any examples of Github projects with a main library and derivatives?

kristi — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:30:34 -0800

I want to create a github project consisting of a main library with derivative variations, such as Drupal and Wordpress plugins. Can you point me to existing projects with this kind of structure? I'd love to learn from existing projects that do it well. I'm interested in creating a github project that takes text input - for example, an article or a blog post - and outputs a list of keywords or topics ... a bit like a concordance generator.

I've never created a structured project like this before, and I'd love to learn from existing projects that do it well.

I'd like to make it flexible without falling into the trap of the never-completed too-many-options project.

Can you point me to existing github projects that have a similar approach and structure - a main set of functionality, probably as a library, but with derivative versions such as CMS plugins (Drupal, Wordpress, etc)?

PHP would be great, but other languages would be okay too.

Links to any resources that would be helpful or guidelines for best practices would also be most welcome.

Thanks!

SEO keyword analysis

anonaccount — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:42:57 -0800

How do I perform SEO keyword analysis without using a 3rd part or agency? I have been asked to perform some SEO work, keyord analysis, and competitor analysis. Whenever I try to research proper techniques on how to perform this all I find are companies offering to do it for me.

I want to research who might be bidding on our brand name, and some related terms that only apply to our company.

I also want to find out what terms they are bidding on generally.

Is this really that difficult? What other aspects/stats could I easily add to make the data even more useful?

Best way to organize a list of tags and their hierarchy in a database of some sort? (More details & examples inside)

darkgroove — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:16:14 -0800

Best way to organize a list of tags and their hierarchy in a database of some sort? (More details & examples inside) I'm working on a project that is focused on tagging images and things (don't worry too much about this). Essentially I want to be able to save my list of tags so that at some point I can use it in conjunction with a MYSQL database. However! I don't know how to program, so right now everything is just in a text file. But I'd like to not have to retype everything down the line, so is there some sort of tagging program (or is there a simple way I could make a database with the right parameters)?

Essentially, it could boil down to something like this:

Level 1: Type
Level 2: Detailed Type
Level 3: Very Detailed Type

For example:

1: Tomato
2: Red
3: Heirloom

or

1: Lamborghini
2: Gallardo
3: Superleggera

There may even be a fourth level for some items.

Eventually, I want people to be able to enter this information from dropdown menus that are already populated with the tags that I'm currently writing in a text file. For all I know, using excel and various levels of columns is what I need to do, but maybe there is a better answer.

What is the scientific phrase for "abnormally long menstrual period"?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:13:30 -0800

What is/are the scientific search term(s) for "abnormally long menstrual period" or "unusually long menstrual period"? I have been menstruating heavily non-stop for 3 months, 13 days.
No relevant prior medical conditions other than polycystic ovary syndrome.

I am seeing a gynaecologist to try different treatment options to stop the bleeding, but so far nothing that we have tried has worked.

I want to be able to search resources like the Cochrane Library to find out more about my different treatment options and their success rates (and also to see if I can find additional treatment options that my gynaecologist hasn't yet mentioned), but I am not sure what search term(s) to use to describe "abnormally long menstrual period" or "unusually long menstrual period."

Thank you! ^_^

How to monitor (get a transcript of) television

Omon Ra — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:59:03 -0800

What would be the easiest way to record television and get it automatically transcribed? (some of the content would be in spanish) My boss at work wants me to set up a monitoring system for television content. We would have three or four cable channels playing simultaneously and hooked to computers. The computers would then store the content or at least a transcript w/a timestamp, and there would be a way to detect when certain keywords are said.

What software/hardware solutions are out there that would do this efficiently? Some of the content would be in english, but the majority would be in spanish.

My budget isn't very clear right now, but I'm more interested in the quality of the transcription than the price.

I Need My Keyword Search Back!

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:54:59 -0800

Is there anything similar to the Google Keyword Tool, which is no longer available as of today? Google finally disabled their earlier keyword engine today in favor of the Google Adwords tool, which sucks. Completely. Particularly to my needs, all of which were in the Google Keyword Tool and did not make it to the new version, mainly adding additional words without resetting the search and the keywords I already selected, and exporting to a text file.

Is there anything similar or failing that any remnant of the previous keyword tool still out there?

Disappearing nuke... archives

cgs06 — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:31:49 -0800

Records about nuclear test series -- Operation WIGWAM and HARDTACK I. Willing to trade.... The feds seem to have disappeared what was once a nice archive of summary reports about atmospheric nuclear test series. (Once available here.)

I'd like to get copies of the reports on WIGWAM (DNA6000F) and HARDTACK I (DNA6038F) pretty damn quickly. (I could FOIA, but that would take months; ILL would take a couple of weeks -- I need it by Thursday morning.)

Anyone have any idea where to get these files? I've tried various archives/mirrors/caches without luck, and haven't been able to scare up digital copies of the reports with the obvious search parameters.

If it helps, I've archived some of these from previous research I've done, and I'm willing to share. (Have to dig 'em up, but I'm almost certain I've got IVY, CASTLE, GREENHOUSE, SEDAN/GNOME and perhaps a few others.)

Why is Twitter Search missing some tweets and not others?

zooropa — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 06:33:44 -0800

Why does Twitter search find some tweets but not others? I've noticed something about Twitter that's rather weird. Hopefully, I'm just doing something wrong and y'all can help set me straight.

Here is a tweet I posted:
http://twitter.com/merubin/statuses/10742974492

It was retweeted by a friend:
http://twitter.com/augieray/status/10743275295

Via Twitter Search (nee Summize) I find that two others re-tweeted Augie's retweet:
http://tinyurl.com/yl4omnc

Here's my question: Why does my friend's original retweet not show up in search results? I've noticed this with a lot of other tweets as well. For some random reason, they do not show up in search. They also do not show up in results forwarded from SocialOomph, Tweetlater, and other tweet trackers.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. But if I have to track certain keywords (like for a client), it's rather bothersome that some tweets don't show up in search for what appears to be a random reason.

Is this random goofiness on Twitter's part? Or is there something I'm not understanding?

toward a less humbl tumbl

bingo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:26:17 -0800

How to best get more Tumblr followers... using methods within Tumblr? I'm one of the people in charge of updating and promoting the Tumblr feed that is connected to a new corporate website. I can do pretty much anything I want within Tumblr, although I can only advise the company on how to promote the feed anywhere else. There is a Facebook feed and a Twitter feed, and they are being used to call some attention to the Tumblr feed, but I have no control over those things.

What can I do within Tumblr itself to get more people following the feed? The two main approaches I'm taking right now are:

a) Reblog, "like," and comment on posts of tumblrs whom I would like to have as followers, and

b) Tag my posts with relevant and popular metadata tags that will make it easier for people to find them on search.

What am I missing?

Keywords for the Finance industry?

ckohrman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:29:41 -0800

Please help me gather Keywords for the "Accounting/Finance/Insurance" industry. I'd like to create keyword lists for the "Accounting/Finance/Insurance" industry. These keywords will be used to help tag resumes on a job board.

Possible examples might be: actuary, Quickbooks, Excel, etc. Thanks for your help!

Last.fm and Radio Times mashup?

Solomon — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:08:28 -0800

Last.fm for television? I'm looking for a UK-centric service/website that will allow me to punch in the name of a programme I like to watch, that will then suggest other programmes I might like based on that. For example, I could punch in Supernatural, and it would suggest Heroes. I could punch in The 9 o'clock News, and it would suggest a topical discussion programme. I could punch in a soap opera, and it would suggest other similar programmes.

Does such a thing exist? A more rambling explanation follows.

More specifically, I'm particularly interested in natural history documentaries. I was watching Natures Great Events on BBC iPlayer the other day, and only by chance I noticed that Yellowstone was also available to watch. I really enjoyed both programmes, but it was only luck that made me notice that the second was available to view. I'd rather not miss such programming.

I have television listings available to me, but I still managed to miss several interesting programmes. I also don't watch much TV, so I can't always catch the end of the programme I'm watching to see what other suggestions are made by the channel operators.

Meta Descriptions and Keywords for MediaWiki

entropicamericana — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:04:37 -0800

I have a MediaWiki wiki that I've started. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to automatically generate meta keywords and meta descriptions from the articles. What is the best solution for this? I tried to find out how Wikipedia does it, but my Google Fu is weak.

Best keyword research tool

Blue Buddha — Thu, 29 May 2008 07:22:11 -0800

What are currently the best keyword research tools or software? I'm looking specifically for something that can give me the amount of searches performed by keyword/phrase on major search engine, by time period, and by country.

For example: "2,020 searches for 'metafilter questions' in Google Canada for 2007". And of course, Yahoo! and MSN numbers would help, too, if possible. Thanks in advance.

I used Google's free keyword tools, but they don't offer concrete numbers.

Keeping tags, etc. when uploading to photos Flickr?

Smarson — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:53:20 -0800

How do I upload my digital photos to Flickr and make sure the metadata stays intact? Currently I use Picasa as the organizing software for all my pictures. I was using the picasa2flickr plugin to mass upload my edited photos (keywords, captions, etc.), but the most recent Picasa release has borked it.

I've discovered that using the Flickr Uploadr (2.5, not 3.0) allows me to upload photos and will keep the metadata intact as long as I don't use uploadr to resize the files since that strips the IPTC/EXIF data. Not wanting to upload 50 to 100 giant sized images at a time, I've taken to resizing photos in Picasa, putting them in a seperate folder, and then dropping them into the Uploadr. Only problem there is that Picasa doesn't have a straight forward resizing tool (that I've found) short of the 'Export' function which likes to create a lot of folders.

Long story short, this seems like so much extra work for something that should be pretty straight forward.

Question 1: Other than Picasa, is there a photo managing software that will allow me to add metadata (tags, captions, etc.) and make it easy for me to do batch uploads to Flickr (I'm not afraid to spend money on this solution)?

Question 2: The picasa2flickr creator suggests rolling back form Picasa (build 37.27) to Picasa (buid 37.23) in order to keep the plugin's functionality. If I do this, do I risk corrupting/losing any data/images that have been edited with the 37.27 build? I know I'd need to back up the originals of edited photos that Picasa keeps squirreled away.

Full disclosure: I'm barely an armature photographer with a Flickr pro account. The only edits I make are titles, keywords/tags, and captions with the occasional red-eye reduction and crop.

Itunes is not counting play counts and recently played tracks from my ipods.

rglass — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:26:06 -0800

Itunes is not counting play counts and recently played tracks from my ipods. Itunes is not counting play counts and recently played tracks from my ipods.

I have a 3G ipod and a 1G nano which I sync about once a week with itunes 7.0 on my Macbook.

When I play songs on itunes, the play count for that song increases by one and it appears in the Recently Played playlist (and is submitted to LastFM, by the way).

When I connect my ipod and do a complete sync, play counts are not updated and songs played do not seem to appear in the Recently Played playlist (and are not submitted to LastFM).

I have both ipods to sync specific playlists, and I have not checked the box that says "Manually Manage Music" on the ipod summary screen (I heard that can cause sync problems).

I thought it might be a chronology problem – that if I played my last ipod track at 2 PM and my last itunes track at 3 PM, that when I did a sync it wasn't tracking anything from before my last played itunes track. (Did I explain that clearly?) But that isn't it. I've been using itunes for years and I've never seen it behave that way before,
and I just did a test, using my ipod for 24 hours without playing any tracks on itunes. I did a sync, and none of them are in Recently Played, and the play counts have not changed.

What's going on? How can I get itunes to keep track of the songs I play on my ipod? (Can't get them submitted to LastFM either, but that's a secondary issue).

Tracking a URL's ranking for specific keywords?

aebaxter — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:20:22 -0800

I need a piece of software or a web application that will help me track a URL's performance relative to specific keywords over time. Searching through previous questions tagged with SEO, I have already found several applications (googlerankings.com and Keyword Tracker, specifically) that do exactly what I'm after, except for only one site, i.e. you need a Google API key.

I need something that will let me put in the URL of any site (not just my own) and a keyword (or several), and it will give me the ranking of that URL for that specific keyword. Ideally the application would track changes in the rankings for the keyword(s) over time. Does this functionality exist?

Paid services are fine.

Have I been penalized by Google?

quibx — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:22:12 -0800

Have I been penalized by Google? I used to be #2 for my main keyword in google. However, since mid Jan my site has dropped off of the face of google for all my keywords. I initially thought they dropped me from their index. Looking at google webmaster tools I get crawled almost every day, I have a PR of 5, over 800 backlinks pointing in, and google has over 47,000 pages of my site indexed. I have been given no notice of any penalty. There are a lot of sites reporting the same results in google’s webmaster forum. Website is in my profile. Can anyone shed some light on this? I previously asked about getting the #1 site removed (it’s a dead link, has been for months) but THAT site comes up number 1 still. I am so frustrated!

Help me organize the photos at work please!

[insert clever name here] — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:16:38 -0800

Creatives Asset Management: Any suggestions for organizing creatives, mostly photos but some otherwise, across a network that doesn't cost thousands of dollars? I just started at a company and all our creative assets are on cd, and we have to browse through a binder with thumbnail printouts to find what we need. I got to thinking about how easy using istockphoto.com at my previous job was because of the fantastic keyword searching. One thing lead to another, and now I'm in charge of finding an inexpensive solution that we can put our photos into and add keywords to so we can have the same flexibility and ease of use.

I searched ask already and while there are a lot of hits I could have missed, two things seem to come up so far. Either a network/server/shared solution that costs thousands of dollars, or really good, inexpensive (sometimes free!) solutions that are for local organization. Is there anything inbetween? Like Picassa for networks? Or is that crazy talk?

Finding your Search Engine keywords / phrases

spinko — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:30:27 -0800

I'm looking for a way to find out what keywords/keyphrases are being used on all search engines for my website. My stats program shows a few but there must be loads that I haven't found yet. Thanks for reading.

Editing photo metadata

keswick — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 22:00:35 -0800

I've decided to start editing metadata in my photographs. I want to add keywords via Photoshop CS. My question is, if I add keywords to a JPG, when I save it, will it recompress the image and thus degrade it?

How do I build a great keyword search engine?

namespan — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 20:33:09 -0800

I'm building a small keyword-relevancy search engine. I'd like to move beyond simply keeping track of what words are in what documents -- at least, I assume there's a beyond having to do with keyword density and such. What should I read to find out more? Are the open source projects I should check out?

Adsense, but better?

costas — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 09:04:44 -0800

Is there a Google Adsense-like service out there that serves web ads (preferrably text, but banners are OK), given keywords from the hosting web page? [yes, more inside] I'd like to put some text ads in website of mine that may actually be interesting/useful to readers (and thus have a higher click-thru). I've tried Google's Adsense, but due to the nature of the site (a newsbot with fast-changing content) Google doesn't seem to be able to get anything remotely context-sensitive served down. So instead, I am looking for an ad service that will let me send to their servers some keywords that should define the context. I am experimenting with Amazon's keyword banners now, but I think it's a bit too limiting (although time will tell). I contacted BlogAds as well, but they don't do this...

How do I rid myself of this adware on IE 6 that adds hotlinks to search engines on certain keywords?

trigfunctions — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:20:56 -0800

I've got some kind of adware on IE 6.0 that is putting hot links on MetaFilter and other pages for certain keywords, like "Photoshop" or "diamonds". The links lead to search engine websites. It is really gumming up the works. I've tried Spybot but that didn't remove it. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

How do I create a book index?

SpecialK — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 15:23:07 -0800

How do they create book indexes? I have a friend who's a grad student, and she needs to create an index for her hundred page scientific thesis. Is there any easy way to do it in MS Word, or another software product -- something that a non-geek could churn and burn with in a couple of hours?