Posts tagged: Tumblr
Check out this crazy theme I’m tinkering with. CHOOSY THEME. I’m not fully sure where exactly to take it yet. It’ll never pass muster with the Theme Garden because it uses the Tumblr API to get the posts directly and not the normal Tumblr template system.
At this point, the theme is really more of an experiment. It’s really limited, but I thought I’d throw it out there and let people toss ideas at it if they want to. You can leave suggestions or ideas here..
(I’ve really only tested it in Safari so far, so be warned. And get Safari if you don’t have it.)
Also, I don’t have any caching working yet (would love some tips if anyone has any), so it may just break from time to time because Tumblr’s servers don’t always return the JSON consistently.
Beautiful new theme for Tumblr. Kudos to Andy Taylor.
Brilliant.
The new Tumblr iPhone app is out! And it’s great! (Only wish it included support for answering questions, photo replies, and posting multiple photos at a time.) If you don’t have it, go get it!
Hmm… this looks strangely familiar… except about 1/20 as well done. Lame.
Just join Tumblr, people.
I really wish Tumblr would change the icon on the official Tumblr app. It’s starting to feel dated. Kind of like an early 2000’s Volkswagon Jetta. Cool for it’s time, but past it’s prime. That thick chrome rim and the corny dotted background. I think it’s time to get it up to snuff with the cleaner, crisper, more refined look the web interfaces are taking on.
This Tumblr app on the iPhone is suprisingly nice (despite the absolutely atrocious icon and the horrible name). For simply viewing your dashboard, and quickly and easily “liking” or reblogging posts, I think it’s a more pleasant and “quick” feeling experience than the official Tumblr app.
Because you tap through posts one by one, and can even play them sequentially with timing in a slideshow mode, it just feels snappier, and somehow easier to me than either the Tumblr app or the MobileSafari web view. And for those people who like to reblog posts a lot, this app make the process incredibly easy.
It uses some Growl-like visual feedback notifications which, although a little over-done, are actually quite nice. And it shows activity on your own posts (likes and reblogs by others) in a familiar way with links to the pages.
It’s nowhere near being a replacement for the “real” Tumblr iPhone app (the new version of which looks great and should be out any day). But it does have some really good ideas and executes them very well. I hope they keep developing it.
![PhotoBoard 2.0!
PhotoBoard has been completely redesigned. It now supports all post types and incorporates many of Tumblr’s new advanced theme tags. It has been tested, and works, in Firefox, Safari, and yes even IE7.
FEATURES:
Two viewing sizes. Great for photos. This option can be turned off on the Appearance tab.
Upload your own background image from the Appearance tab.
“Flip” the post over by clicking the “i” button to view Tags and other info.
Choose from other available display options on the Appearance tab.
The layout is fluid, so you can resize your browser window and fill your whole screen with images. Looks especially good on a large monitor of course.
The captions and tags on images and videos stay out of your way until you hover over the images.
Temporarily remove photos from view using the “X” button above each photo. THEY ARE ONLY REMOVED FROM VIEW TEMPORARILY, they return upon page refresh.
Sort your posts by dragging them into any order you want using the double-arrow button. (These also return to their normal order upon page refresh).
INSTALL NOW
If you encounter any major problems with it, let me know. Email “my first name and last name together [at] gmail.com”](http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/bendelaney/196780926/1/tumblr_kqjhw4wdyK1qz6i55)
PhotoBoard 2.0!
PhotoBoard has been completely redesigned. It now supports all post types and incorporates many of Tumblr’s new advanced theme tags. It has been tested, and works, in Firefox, Safari, and yes even IE7.
FEATURES:
- Two viewing sizes. Great for photos. This option can be turned off on the Appearance tab.
- Upload your own background image from the Appearance tab.
- “Flip” the post over by clicking the “i” button to view Tags and other info.
- Choose from other available display options on the Appearance tab.
- The layout is fluid, so you can resize your browser window and fill your whole screen with images. Looks especially good on a large monitor of course.
- The captions and tags on images and videos stay out of your way until you hover over the images.
- Temporarily remove photos from view using the “X” button above each photo. THEY ARE ONLY REMOVED FROM VIEW TEMPORARILY, they return upon page refresh.
- Sort your posts by dragging them into any order you want using the double-arrow button. (These also return to their normal order upon page refresh).
If you encounter any major problems with it, let me know. Email “my first name and last name together [at] gmail.com”
Designing a new theme in Tumblr, while AWESOME on so many levels, is incredibly difficult. See, the sample theme that you use in the “customize” interface doesn’t have all the available variables. This is actually understandable, given the number of variables and tags that exist. So what do I do? I use a “testing account”… where I put in every type of post, with tags, etc. to simulate a full blog.
Here’s the problem: every damn time you hit “Save Changes” in the customization interface, you are forced to leave the customization interface! So SAVING is necessary, but such a pain! I’m constantly hitting BACK in the browser to get BACK to the customization UI… waiting for it to load… making tweaks… SAVING… waiting… hoping… returning… waiting… etc. etc. This is really cumbersome.
THE SOLUTION… two buttons: ”Save” and “Save and Close”. SAVE just saves. Duh. “Save and Close”, you guessed it, saves AND closes.
This is a no-brainer.
Am I missing something? Is there a way to do what I’m talking about already??
For people who spend any significant time in their Tumblr dashboard, I would be willing to bet that at some point you’ve wanted to reply to a post that you have enabled replies on. That is, you ask something… someone answers… and then you have no way of replying back (outside of making a new post, which just seems wasteful).
I suspect that Tumblr doesn’t allow this for one of two reasons: They just haven’t quite nailed it down technically, or they don’t want to turn it on because it too closely resembles “comments”, the lack of which is a unique selling-point of Tumblr.
As someone who works designing and implementing web applications most days, I have a hard time believing it’s a technical hurdle (though it’s possible). My theory is that they don’t want to succumb to the idea of “comments”. And in principle I completely agree. Comments, as they exist everywhere else, would be absolutely awful. However, I think that IF a person goes to the trouble to check the “Let people answer this” box, then it implies that they are interested in some form of conversation. And as we all know, a one-way conversation is no fun at all. If I ask a question and someone answers, I want to be able to talk-back. It only makes sense.
The only semi-effective way I’ve seen to have any kind of talk-back, and a way that I’ve seen Tumblr staffers use, is to take a screen shot of the question, post it back as a new photo post, and put your answer in the caption. I think the inefficiency of this is obvious.
Perhaps there is some other reason I can’t see from this vantage point. I’d sure love to know though.
(For the record, I sincerely hope my comments don’t come off as mere complaining. I LOVE Tumblr and have had nothing but spectacularly great interactions with everyone from Tumblr whom I’ve ever interacted with.)