Site Update: Tags!

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Tags have come to Decent Films!

Thanks to the efforts of the site’s volunteer developer Simeon, Decent Films has taken another step forward in navigability and ease of use.

At the bottom of this blog post, you’ll see a tag for “Decent Films Doings.” Select that, and you’ll come to a page listing all the Decent Films news-related posts I could find going back to the beginning of the blog.

Of course, who would want to review old news items? But there are other more interesting and helpful tags too. The full list is available in the Tags button in the top nav above. (You can also click on the Tags link in the main head on any tag page.) And, as I’ve spent several days creating and populating tags, you’ll find tag listings at the bottoms of blog posts, reviews and articles throughout Decent Films.

One of the best things about the new tag system is that it’s enabled me to delete some of the more cumbersome content groups. No longer does every Lord of the Rings review and article end with a preview for every other Lord of the Rings review and article: Now it’s just a tidy little Lord of the Rings tag. (Added benefit: Really relevant grouped content — say, a Mailbag item on The Return of the King — is more prominent, rather than being buried amid previews for every related movie.)

Also, where the current implementation of content groups prevents articles from listing more than one set of related content, tags allows for as many as apply. For instance, my recent “Nooooooooooooooo!” post is tagged “Star Wars” and “Oddments & Humor.”

In some cases, tags offer a convenient way of subdividing films in broad genre categories from the Power Search page. For example, many of the films listed under “Religious Themes” on the Power Search page are now subdivided into “Bible Films,“ “Life of Christ & Jesus Movies” or “Saints & Beati.”

I had some fun with some of the tags. I called the tag for Twilight related articles “Twilightery” so that I could include Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilighty Red Riding Hood. A bunch of bad apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic films have been tagged “Apocalypse Ouch.” And I’m pleased to have a better home for my Reviews in Verse (Written)” (so called to distinguish them from my “30-Second Reviews,” many of which are in rhyming verse).

Finally, a plea to readers. The tags listed so far are what I came up with over the last few days (plus some categories I converted from content groups). There’s certainly plenty of room for more thinking about what categories would be helpful. What new tags would you like to see? Themes, motifs, topics, angles — anything that applies to two or more Decent Films reviews, articles or blog posts.

Also, in many cases, tag listings may be incomplete or erroneous. I listed as many relevant articles for each tag as I could think of, but I’m sure I’ve missed some, and some articles may have gotten added to the wrong tag by accident. (A few minutes ago I discovered Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in “Bible Films.“)

All reader feedback is welcome! If you think of any articles missing from tags that should include them, or if you find any that should be removed, please let me know. And, of course, let me know what new tags you’d like to see. Thanks!

Decent Films Doings