Concepts: Image Tags vs Categories

[mckeephoto]

I looked in the documentation but think that this is a subject that a lot of people take for granted. However, I am coming to this a little late and have some holes in my digital education to fill:

A new image has a field for categories and description. Plus there is one for Tags.

Where do these tags get used?

The template I have moded didn't have those tags on it, so I haven't really used that field but am concerned that I am missing out on some SEO stuff.

I understand what categories are for in terms of the archive. How are tags different?

Also, there is confusion b/c the docs talk about Template Tags, which I get.

Can anyone define what the image tag field is about?

And, can you give me a clue as to how I should be using it?

The site that would probably use the tags is http://blog.mckeephotography.com

Thanks!

[Scarabaeus]

I use them to help viewers find a certain image type they like say flower photos. In my archive there is a drop down menu with all the tags to help filter the thumbnails down - especially useful if you have a lot of photos on your blog. I'm not great with SEO but i'd imagine they do help if they are displayed on a photoblog as they should be very similar to keywords.

[kevincrafts]

I use categories to place my photos into a few general groups, then I use tags to further define the images. For instance, my categories include landscape, architecture, hdr, etc while my tags could also include red, wood, rural, etc.

[mckeephoto]

Two replys and two different answers.

I guess I am treating them a bit like keywords in both web metadata and image meta data. I am putting them in the image_template under meta data and also as part of the image description in the visible part of the page.

I just wanted to see if I was missing the concept here.

Thanks!

[blork]

Categories are pre-defined. When uploading an image, you categorize it according to the set of categories you've already defined.

Tags can be applied dynamically. You don't have to pre-define them.

That's the short and incomplete answer. (Because, for one thing, I think you can create new categories on-the-fly.) But as someone said below, categories are good for overall sorting (it's best if you limit the number of categories), while tags can further define the image.

The concept of tags comes from the blogging world at large, and from Flickr, where they are often grouped into "tag clouds." A tag cloud shows the tags used, but also has some kind of indicator to show which are used more. For example, if you have lots of cat pictures and hardly any dog pictures, "Cat" might be shown in a much larger font. These indicators update automatically (you don't have to manually do it).

Behind the scenes, there are probably difference as well, but that's a whole other issue. For the most part, tags give you far more flexibility than categories.

[Hector]

I do the same as Kevincrafts

Also... two addons that are a must to install for categories and tags...

Ajax Categories Manager http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/ajax-categories-manager/

and Tag organizer http://www.pixelpost.org/extend/addons/tag-organizer/