Creating stackoverflow like tags

Question

I'm trying to create stackoverflow like tags. Currently I'm using an \fbox{text} to create the tags, which works, but not all boxes have the same height (it seems that letters like 'p' make a box take more height).

Is there a way to create something like \fbox but with a fixed height?

(They don't need to have a drop shadow or something like that. Just simple framed boxes)

Answer 1

You should add a \strut so that all boxes have the same maximal height and depth, otherwise the framed box will depend on the height of the content. This means that an a gets a small box and Xy gets a higher and deeper one. With \strut a invisible rule is added which has the maximum height and depth of the current font size.

\newcommand*{\tag}[1]{\fbox{#1\strut}}

Fancier boxes can be created using the fancybox package.

Answer 2

It might be simplest (although possibly overkill) to do this with tikz:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand{\mytag}[1]{
\begin{tikzpicture}[baseline={(TAG.base)}]
  \node[draw, minimum height=4ex] (TAG) {#1};
\end{tikzpicture}}

\begin{document}
\mytag{a tag}\mytag{Another Tag}
\end{document}

It's overkill because the \strut solution is simpler. It's not overkill if you want to make the boxes fancier than the fancybox package can give you. A fancier version of the command would allow you to specify more parameters to the node command:

\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}

\newcommand{\mytag}[2][]{\begin{tikzpicture}[baseline={(TAG.base)}]
\node[draw, minimum height=4ex,#1] (TAG) {#2};
\end{tikzpicture}
}

\mytag[fill=red!40, very thick,double, rounded corners]{a tag}

\mytag[ellipse,draw,blue]{Another Tag}

Answer 3

I'm not sure you need any fancy stuff for the tag frame or whether you want to add some icons (like in the actual badges), but in case you do, you can use the mdframed package:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}

\usepackage[framemethod=TikZ]{mdframed}

\begin{document}
\global\mdfdefinestyle{tag}{%
innerlinewidth=2pt,innerlinecolor=red,%
middlelinewidth=3pt,middlelinecolor=white,%
outerlinewidth=2pt,outerlinecolor=blue,%
}
\begin{mdframed}[userdefinedwidth=4cm,style=tag]
this is my tag
\end{mdframed}
\end{document}

This is what the output will be:

As a note I'd add that this is also based on TikZ (see the global option framemethod=TikZ in the preamble when you load the package) and also, the width of the box has to be set manually in the example, but I'm sure a method to automate this exists.

EDIT: I just couldn't leave it like that and had to fiddle with my code to produce an extended version that recreates the badges on our beloved site. :) The style is still created with mdframed and the medal is drawn with TikZ. The 'badge' takes two arguments: metal and badge text. Enjoy! :)

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage[framemethod=TikZ]{mdframed}

\global\mdfdefinestyle{tag}{%
innerlinewidth=1pt,innerlinecolor=black,%
middlelinewidth=2pt,middlelinecolor=white,%
outerlinewidth=1pt,outerlinecolor=black,%
backgroundcolor=black,fontcolor=white,%
}

\colorlet{gold}{yellow}
\colorlet{silver}{gray!20}
\colorlet{bronze}{orange}

\newcommand{\badge}[2]{%
\begin{mdframed}[userdefinedwidth=5.5cm,style=tag]
\tikz{\draw[very thin,gray!75,fill=#1] (0,0) circle (1ex);\pgfmathsetmacro{\triangleside}{sqrt(3)}\draw[very thin,gray!75] (0,1ex) -- ++(240:\triangleside ex) -- +(0:\triangleside ex) -- cycle;} #2
\end{mdframed}
}

\begin{document}
\badge{gold}{This is my \TeX\ badge}
\badge{silver}{This is my \TeX\ badge}
\badge{bronze}{This is my \TeX\ badge}
\end{document} 

Answer 4

You don't need drop shadow or something like that, but you could use/misapply keystroke

MWE:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{keystroke}

\begin{document}

\keystroke{aa}
\keystroke{AA}
\keystroke{p}

\end{document}

Result: