mbrosen:

ATTN: Tumblr —- The Dashboard needs work.

Why doesn’t Tumblr, particularly the Dashboard, support native mixed media posts?

Not those Wordpress tool embeds for when you want to post, say, a picture in a “Video” thread, or vice-versa.

For example, I often see a “blank” post when someone embeds code in the Tumblr html editor from an uncommon video source, i.e. not YouTube or Vimeo, when I’m viewing my feed from the Dashboard. I’m usually careful to check how my posts appear beforehand, and will add a direct link or a note suggesting readers “click through to view,” but not everyone does. When blank spots appear, or an image that helps explain a narrative is “invisible” (see image above), or requires viewing from the actual Tumblr post page, it makes the platform appear “broken” and that reflects poorly on you, not the poster.

The Dashboard is basically a simplified RSS reader. “Follow?” That’s “Subscribe” in layman’s terms.

Other RSS readers parse mixed media Tumblr posts just fine (see images above).

Come. On.

I can just about mimic the behavior of the Dashboard in my RSS reader (To those curious: Create a new folder in your reader of choice, name it ‘Tumblr,’ and subscribe to the RSS feed(s) of the Tumblogs you follow.) Doing so, I can actually see entire posts as they were meant to appear without having to click away from my makeshift “Dashboard,” the way a majority of Tumblr users are consuming content on the platform.

If someone would write a Tumblr FeedFlare for Feedburner, with Follow, Reblog, and Like commands, I’d be set.

Any work being done on this?

Thanks in advance.

Reblog if you bump up against this issue, as well.

I agree with Matt on this one. I also think Tumblr is missing the boat on many things that Postling is doing to enhance the way Tumblr can be used.

I suppose what Postling allows me to do, essentially pull in multiple RSS feeds into my dashboard and allow me the option to reblog items that aren’t just from Tumblr blogs to my Tumblr, isn’t something the average Tumblr user cares about.

I get that, and I can simply go to Postling to get it. But what Matt is describing here is something every Tumblr user needs and would benefit from. Please consider it.