Tumblr tutorial
May. 24th, 2012 10:10 am(If you want to link to this and keep the cut tags intact so it isn't overwhelming, link to the archive page: http://arduinna.dreamwidth.org/2012/05/24/ )
So I have a tumblr (as![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
aka-arduinna), and have been trying to figure it all out. Which is a whole lot less easy than it should be.
Tumblr in general takes the attitude that it's so incredibly intuitive that nothing needs to be explained, even in the Help pages that you'd think would be, you know, helpful. But if it's intuitive, it's for people who aren't me; I find it ridiculously opaque and cumbersome and illogical, and it's taken me months to figure out and/or remember what to click to do what. I wind up doing desperate web searches hoping someone somewhere has explained things, since the Tumblr help files are largely useless for the basics.
I've been frustrated with the fannish tutorials I've stumbled across, since most of them seem to be "First, get a tumblr. Second, here's a list of tumblrs I follow to get you started!" without actually explaining how to use the site. My impression is that once you're comfortable on it, you just forget how freaking opaque it is to start with. (Or they're people for whom Tumblr really is intuitive and simple, and don't realize that for some of us, it's really not.)
I have found some posts about specific things that have been very useful, for things like "how to get a permalink for a post" and "how to add a tag cloud", which is great, but the lack of a basics post was really getting to me.
So I figured, well, I should do something about that.
First, a GIANT CAVEAT: I still pretty much suck at tumblr. I've been poking tentatively at it for months, badly hampered by the speed, the lack of convo, my cultural conditioning not to pass other people's content along but rather to either respond directly or link back to it, and the rampant flashy animations that make my eyes hurt. But otoh I figure that means I still have a pretty good grasp on what stuff may be confusing, so.
(You can't avoid the flashy animations, as far as I can tell. Figured I should say that upfront.)
Second, a smaller caveat: my tumblr is in the default free theme, at least for the moment. All my images and instructions relate to that; I have no idea how they may change with other themes. But hopefully this will be enough to at least point you in the right direction.
So! Let's talk tumblr.
( Using tumblr without an account )
It's still going to be easier to learn and play with tumblr if you have an account and are logged into it, though, since you'll be able to participate and do things like save your searches. So the rest of this tutorial is still based on "get a tumblr and go from there".
So first, sign up with tumblr. Once you've got an account, you can start customizing.
( Customizing your tumblr )
( Adding the things tumblr left out: tag lists and comments )
Okay, so now you have a tumblr, and it looks the way you want it to. Time to start doing things with it!
( Navigating tumblr )
( Finding content )
( Producing content )
( Avoiding content )
( Communicating with people )
Annnnnd I think that's it. Hopefully people will stop by and correct any errors!
Also, I would love to see pointers to people's favorite tumblrs, to help folks get started once they're set up!
A million thanks to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
therienne and mollyamory, who betaed the first draft of this when I sprang it on them out of nowhere, and pointed out broken images and incoherence like champs. ♥ I've added more since then, and any remaining incoherence or bustedness is all on me.
So I have a tumblr (as
Tumblr in general takes the attitude that it's so incredibly intuitive that nothing needs to be explained, even in the Help pages that you'd think would be, you know, helpful. But if it's intuitive, it's for people who aren't me; I find it ridiculously opaque and cumbersome and illogical, and it's taken me months to figure out and/or remember what to click to do what. I wind up doing desperate web searches hoping someone somewhere has explained things, since the Tumblr help files are largely useless for the basics.
I've been frustrated with the fannish tutorials I've stumbled across, since most of them seem to be "First, get a tumblr. Second, here's a list of tumblrs I follow to get you started!" without actually explaining how to use the site. My impression is that once you're comfortable on it, you just forget how freaking opaque it is to start with. (Or they're people for whom Tumblr really is intuitive and simple, and don't realize that for some of us, it's really not.)
I have found some posts about specific things that have been very useful, for things like "how to get a permalink for a post" and "how to add a tag cloud", which is great, but the lack of a basics post was really getting to me.
So I figured, well, I should do something about that.
First, a GIANT CAVEAT: I still pretty much suck at tumblr. I've been poking tentatively at it for months, badly hampered by the speed, the lack of convo, my cultural conditioning not to pass other people's content along but rather to either respond directly or link back to it, and the rampant flashy animations that make my eyes hurt. But otoh I figure that means I still have a pretty good grasp on what stuff may be confusing, so.
(You can't avoid the flashy animations, as far as I can tell. Figured I should say that upfront.)
Second, a smaller caveat: my tumblr is in the default free theme, at least for the moment. All my images and instructions relate to that; I have no idea how they may change with other themes. But hopefully this will be enough to at least point you in the right direction.
So! Let's talk tumblr.
( Using tumblr without an account )
It's still going to be easier to learn and play with tumblr if you have an account and are logged into it, though, since you'll be able to participate and do things like save your searches. So the rest of this tutorial is still based on "get a tumblr and go from there".
So first, sign up with tumblr. Once you've got an account, you can start customizing.
( Customizing your tumblr )
( Adding the things tumblr left out: tag lists and comments )
Okay, so now you have a tumblr, and it looks the way you want it to. Time to start doing things with it!
( Navigating tumblr )
( Finding content )
( Producing content )
( Avoiding content )
( Communicating with people )
Annnnnd I think that's it. Hopefully people will stop by and correct any errors!
Also, I would love to see pointers to people's favorite tumblrs, to help folks get started once they're set up!
A million thanks to
therienne and mollyamory, who betaed the first draft of this when I sprang it on them out of nowhere, and pointed out broken images and incoherence like champs. ♥ I've added more since then, and any remaining incoherence or bustedness is all on me.
