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Smart Category Cloud

Smart Category Cloud is a WordPress plugin that generates a dynamic category word cloud where topic size reflects both article volume and recent activity. Clicking a category filters posts and displays the most recent articles first. Includes AJAX filtering, configurable scoring, and caching.

by Eric Burns · github.com/ericburnsonline/wordpress-smart-category-cloud · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/ericburnsonline/wordpress-smart-category-cloud/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/ericburnsonline/wordpress-smart-category-cloud ↗

Smart Category Cloud is a WordPress plugin that generates a dynamic category word cloud where each category’s size reflects both the number of posts and how recently those posts were published.

Clicking a category filters the blog listing and displays the most recent posts first.

Features

  • Weighted category cloud based on:
    • Post count (log-scaled)
    • Recency (exponential decay)
  • Clean, responsive layout
  • Category filtering via URL parameter
  • Posts sorted by most recent first
  • Lightweight, no dependencies (no jQuery)
  • Designed to work across most WordPress themes

1.2.0

  • Added a settings page under Settings > Smart Category Cloud.
  • Added an optional separator between category links.

  • Improved stylesheet formatting for maintainability.

Screenshot

Smart Category Cloud

How It Works

Each category is scored using a combination of:

  • Post volume (normalized using logarithmic scaling)
  • Recency of the latest post (decay over time)

These scores are combined to determine font size in the cloud, making active and relevant topics more prominent.

Usage

Add the shortcode to any page or post:

[smart_category_cloud]

Optional parameters:

[smart_category_cloud posts_per_page="10" min_font="14" max_font="42"]

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin folder to:

    /wp-content/plugins/

  2. Activate the plugin in WordPress

  3. Add the shortcode to a page

Example

A category with many recent posts will appear larger than one with older or fewer posts, helping highlight active topics.

Current Status

This is an early version of the plugin.

  • Core functionality implemented
  • Basic styling included
  • No AJAX filtering yet (page reload used)
  • Not performance optimized yet

  • Minimal testing

Roadmap

  • AJAX filtering (no page reload)
  • Improved performance (reduce query load)
  • Admin settings UI
  • Caching (transients)
  • Pagination support
  • Accessibility improvements

Development Notes

  • Prefix: SCC_

  • Text Domain: wordpress-smart-category-cloud

  • No external dependencies

  • Built with WordPress best practices in mind

  • Improved category separator rendering by sizing separators relative to neighboring category font sizes for a more balanced appearance.

License

GPL v2 or later

Contributing

Contributions, suggestions, and improvements are welcome.