Tackling Tumblr E-Book

Thord Daniel Hedengren

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 243

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

A comprehensive guide to the popular web publishing site Tumblr The popularity of Tumblr is growing by leaps and bounds, as it continues to make a name for itself as a reliable, accessible blogging platform. Yet, there is very little documentation on Tumblr, leaving newcomers confused as to where to start. That's where this helpful book comes in. Written by well-respected author Thord Hedengren, this step-by-step guide is an ideal starting point for Tumblr newcomers as well as web designers who want to take their Tumblblogs to the next level. You'll learn how to maximize the full potential of this amazing blogging and lifestreaming platform as you create your first post, make your Tumblr blog unique, create your own custom themes, and more. * Introduces you to the exciting world of Tumblr, the popular web publishing platform * Walks you through posting quotes, links, photos, audio, and more * Addresses finding and installing themes, using a comment system on your Tumblr site, and integrating third-party content * Demonstrates how to create your own custom theme, network in the Tumblr community, and modify your Tumblr themes with HTML and CSS * Explains ways to integrate Tumblr with other services, including Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr There's no need to grumble about learning Tumblr--this book is all you need!

Leseprobe

Tackling Tumblr — Web Publishing Made Simple

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Introducing Tumblr

Part II: Connecting with Tumblr

Part III: Advanced Tumbling

Part IV: Tumblr Theming

Keep in Touch

Part I: Introducing Tumblr

Chapter 1: This Is Tumblr

What Is Tumblr?

Blogging

Microblogging

Networking

A Bit of Tumblr History

What Can I Do with Tumblr?

Personal Blogs

Portfolios

Brand or Product Sites

Company Websites

Podcast Presence

News Sites

The Competition

WordPress.com

Blogger

LiveJournal

Posterous

Your Own Hosted Solutions

Summary

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Tumblr

Setting Up Your Tumblr Account

Signing Up

Setting Up Tumblr

Account Preferences

Creating Multiple Blogs

Using Your Own Domain or Subdomain Name

Summary

Chapter 3: Your First Tumblr Post

The Tumblr Post Types

Post Settings

The Queue

Writing Text Posts

An Example Text Post

Using Photo Posts

Quote It with Quote Posts

Link It with Link Posts

Talk It Out with Chat Posts

Audio P>osting

Posting Video Posts

Summary

Chapter 4: Choosing a Tumblr Theme

What Is a Theme?

Theme Options

Changing the Theme

The Theme Garden

Custom HTML

Free or Premium?

A Nice Selection of Themes

23 Sweet Free Themes

17 Nice Premium Themes

Summary

Part II: Connecting with Tumblr

Chapter 5: Networking with Tumblr

The Tumblr Community

Following Tumblr Sites

Liking Posts

Reblogging Posts

Ask Me Anything

Members

Tumblr Trends

F***yeahs

Bacon

Arts and Illustration

Animated GIFs

NSFW

Summary

Chapter 6: Connecting to Other Services with Tumblr

Feeding to Facebook and Twitter

Feed to Facebook

Feed to Twitter

Publishing RSS Feeds with FeedBurner

Other Services that Work with Tumblr

Can I Move My Site to Tumblr?

Summary

Part III: Advanced Tumbling

Chapter 7: Working with Comments on Tumblr

Comments versus Asks

Should You Allow Comments?

Advantages of Comments

Disadvantages of Comments

Hosted Comment Solutions

Using Disqus for Your Tumblr Comments

Getting Started with Disqus

Enabling Disqus on a Tumblr Site

Disqus in the Theme Code

Enabling Replies

Summary

Chapter 8: Beyond Blogging with Tumblr

Great Uses for Tumblr Sites

Using Tumblr for Small Businesses

Using Tumblr for Marketing

More Cool Uses for Tumblr

Making Better Use of Tumblr

Working with Pages

Adding Helpful Widgets

Additional Ways to Publish Content to Tumblr

The Tumblr Apps

Using the Tumblr Bookmarklet

Tumbling Using E-mail

Calling in Audio Posts

Summary

Part IV: Tumblr Theming

Chapter 9: Editing Tumblr Themes

Caution, Things Will Break!

The Working Environment

Six Tips for Working with Themes

How Tumblr Themes Work

More About Tumblr Tags

Under the Right Conditions

Picking the Right Theme to Edit

Finding Your Way in a Theme

The Declaration and Style

The Content

Theme Editing Exercises

Revisiting the Facebook Fan Page Widget

Adding Disqus to Non-Ready Themes

Adding an Ask Box Anywhere

Enhancing SEO on Your Tumblr Sites

Summary

Chapter 10: Your Own Tumblr Theme

Getting Started with a Theme

Getting the Graphics Right

About the File Formats

Building the Theme

A Quick Sketch

Building the HTML

Adding the CSS

Adding Tumblr Tags

Checking the Results

Adding More Features

Adding Notes

Adding Disqus Support

Adding Custom CSS Capability

Submitting Your Theme to the Theme Garden

Hosting Your Theme Outside the Theme Garden

Want to Sell Your Theme?

Summary

Appendix A: Using HTML and CSS with Tumblr

Books

Online Resources

Tackling Tumblr — Web Publishing Made Simple

Thord Daniel Hedengren

Tackling Tumblr — Web Publishing Made Simple

This edition first published 2011

© 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Registered office

John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book, please see our Web site at www.wiley.com.

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Tumblr product screenshots are reproduced courtesy of Tumblr, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in the book. This book is not endorsed by Tumblr , Inc.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

978-1-119-95015-8

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in 10/12.5 Chapparal Pro Light by Wiley Composition Services

Printed in the United States of America by CJ Krehbiel Company

About the Author

Thord Daniel Hedengren is addicted to words. He has written two web publishing books prior to this one: Smashing WordPress (now in its second edition) and Smashing WordPress Themes, both covering WordPress. Thord runs a web agency called Odd Alice in Stockholm, Sweden, and is a frequent freelancer and occasional editor for various publishing houses. He still thinks content is king, which either makes him an utter moron or just proves his genius. Online you'll often find him under the moniker TDH. You can catch all his antics through http://tdh.me, where you'll also find the necessary means to stalk him across the social web. Don't worry, he likes that stuff.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all of you who are using the Web to publish your content. Your words, your thoughts, and your opinions are just as important as the next guy's. We live in a wonderful time when everyone can be heard, so use your voice and speak your mind. It is imperative.

Publisher's Acknowledgments

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Editorial and Production:

VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete

Associate Director- Book Content Management: Martin Tribe

Associate Publisher: Chris Webb

Publishing Assistant: Ellie Scott

Development Editor: Sara Shlaer

Technical Editor: Jon Phillips

Copy Editor: Maryann Steinhart

Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen

Senior Project Editor: Sara Shlaer

Editorial Assistant: Leslie Saxman

Marketing:

Associate Marketing Director: Louise Breinholt

Marketing Executive: Kate Parrett

Composition Services:

Compositor: Wiley Composition Services

Proofreader: Susan Hobbs

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

Introduction

There is something special about publishing online using a hosted service like Tumblr, the topic of this book. Today you have so many options when it comes to getting your message out there that it might be hard to pick the right one, but some avenues are definitely better choices than others.

Tumblr is a great choice for a publishing platform, and one of the more interesting publishing solutions as well. Contrary to popular belief, Tumblr is not solely for traditional blogging. You can use the strengths of the platform for so much more.

Despite having a low entrance barrier and being so simple to work with, Tumblr offers tremendous possibilities. In a way, Tumblr is to online publishing what the compact camera was for photography: just point and shoot and there you go — published!

I love that. And I bet you will too.

This book will teach you all you need to get started publishing on Tumblr, from signing up to creating all types of posts. You'll learn how to tie into the Tumblr community and how to link your Tumblr site to other social networks. The book goes beyond the basics, showing you how to use Tumblr for non-blogging purposes such as marketing or small business sites. And if you have some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS (or are willing to learn a bit about them), you can learn how to edit existing Tumblr themes and create new ones.

Tackling Tumblr is divided into four parts.

Part I: Introducing Tumblr

In the first part of the book you'll learn what Tumblr is and how you can use it. You'll set up your first Tumblr site, post your first few posts, and learn about the various types of posts and how to pick the right theme.

Part II: Connecting with Tumblr

Tumblr is so much more than just publishing content. In Part II you'll learn about the Tumblr community and its offerings. You'll also take a look at how you can spread the word to other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Part III: Advanced Tumbling

Part III kicks it up a notch with more advanced features, such as adding comments to Tumblr sites. You'll also take a more in-depth look at how you can use Tumblr “beyond blogging.”

Part IV: Tumblr Theming

In Part IV you'll learn more about Tumblr themes, from how to edit existing themes to actually building a brand new one from scratch. If you know a bit of HTML and CSS, you'll be modifying or perhaps even creating your own theme after finishing the last chapters of the book.

Keep in Touch

I can't wait to see what you'll create with Tumblr. In fact, why don't you tell me? You can find me on these fine sites and social networks:

• http://tdhftw.tumblr.com— My less-than-serious Tumblr blog

• http://twitter.com/tdhedengren— Follow and tweet me on Twitter

• http://fb.com/tdhftw— Keep up with my writing from my Facebook fan page

• http://tdh.me — I have a regular website as well

Top these off by keeping an eye on http://tackling.tumblr.com, where the Tackling theme lives and breathes. I'd like to hear from users of the theme, so don't be shy, get in touch.

Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Part I: Introducing Tumblr

Chapter 1: This Is Tumblr

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Tumblr

Chapter 3: Your First Tumblr Post

Chapter 4: Choosing a Tumblr Theme

Chapter 1: This Is Tumblr

In This Chapter

• Learning about Tumblr

• Exploring the uses of Tumblr

• Comparing Tumblr to the competition

This chapter serves as both a quick introduction to Tumblr and an inspiration for what you can do with it. Tumblr's not all posting pictures of bacon (a popular meme) and looking at funny GIF images after all. No, there's a lot more to it, and while we'll tackle the specifics in-depth later in the book, this introduction will get your mind started on the possibilities.

What Is Tumblr?

Tumblr is a hybrid service—part blogging, part microblogging, and a social network to boot. Not a very definite description, is it? The thing with Tumblr is that it really becomes what you make of it. It's not just about understanding how the Tumblr service works, but also how you can use it for your own needs.

Blogging

Tumblr is a great blogging platform. It's easy to publish posts, there are great mobile apps for your tumbling on the go, and you've got a living theme ecosystem that offers multiple options to make your site look good. Just take a look at the Tumblr Staff blog, shown in Figure 1-1, to get an idea of the diversity of available styles and possibilities. The practice of blogging has changed dramatically during its relatively short lifespan; thanks in part to Tumblr and its cohorts you can easily publish not only blog posts but also videos, quotes, audio files, and so on. Add to that the rise of social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and you have a whole new beast.