I wish Tumblr would invest in its theme features

Like many internet girlies, I learned to code on tumblr dot com. My technical skills have never really progressed far beyond this (html and css), which has always been a source of embarrassment, but alas, I was simply not interested.

My friend Faiz recently posted about some of his pet peeves about how Tumblr themes work, which got me thinking about how I desperately wish Tumblr would invest in its whole themeing ecosystem. I’m biased, since my skills are a product of it, but I really do think that it’s such an excellent platform to learn how to code.

There are a ton of online learning resources now—it’s such a bananas field, when I started I looked at w3schools and codecademy (which was in its infancy) and that’s about it—but I think what makes tumblr really special is that it’s a social network.

Learning how to code is a byproduct of the time you spend on the service. It enhances your experience because it gives you the tools to customize your blog. It has a low barrier to entry: you edit your blog theme in one big html file in the browser. The rewards of learning are immediate and tangible.

I set out to write out things I wish Tumblr would do differently, but then I realized I haven’t actually used its themeing features in a few years and things may have changed since then. It doesn’t look like it, but then it got me thinking that it would be a worthwhile endeavour to revisit this and refresh my theme a bit. This platform has a lot of sentimental value to me, so it always feels comforting to return to it.

So. No promises (I am already trying to do a homepage redesign rn as well, lmao), but maybe this month I can put together a new theme to use and be able to have a more informed opinion about this.