Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

For months now I’ve been wowed by the features of tumblr.com. I don’t think this site gets a lot of play as a beginning (or advanced, for that matter) blogging tool–at least, not in my circles. Blogger is great and offers a lot of options, but for on-the-go sharing, I think Tumblr is the way to go, and here’s why:

Posting Options

Are you a writer, photographer, videographer–or a combination of all three? Tumblr has a way to post whatever it is you want to share. Unlike other blogging tools like Blogger or Livejournal, Tumblr’s core competency isn’t just writing. You can even call a number from your phone and instantly upload audio of yourself speaking. (Or singing. That’s what I would do. If I could sing.) Tumblr’s taken the guesswork out of blogging processes that are often difficult for beginners.

Integration

Tumblr easily integrates Twitter, Facebook and iPhone. (Blackberry, too.) You can even use the Tumblr Dashboard as a Twitter hub, though I found that to be cumbersome (probably because I’m so popular). I also really like the Tumblr iPhone app, which looks just like the web interface.

Themes & Functionality

Yes, just like all the others, Tumblr offers free themes to bedeck your blog. Or you can customize it with your own CSS. But unlike a lot of other blogging tools, you can also add multiple pages to your blog, which means you can even use it for a (simple) full-blown website.

Other Perquisites

I love the ability to add audio. It’s unique from what other blogging sites offer. You can also post via email (this isn’t unique to Tumblr but still a necessary feature for some people) as well as via instant messaging! Or use the Queue to compose posts ahead of time and let the application post it for you later.

For most of my own website needs, I use the open-source version of WordPress, which I heart for its widgets, plugins, and most of all for the OS community. But I love Tumblr for its on-the-go options. So if you aren’t familiar with it, check out Tumblr. I would love to hear your feedback.

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An excerpt from the introduction of William Zinsser’s book On Writing Well:

“Two opposite things happened. The word processor made good writers better and bad writers worse. Good writers know that very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time or the fifth time. For them the word processor was a rare gift, enabling them to fuss endlessly with their sentences–cutting and revising and reshaping–without the drudgery of retyping. Bad writers became even more verbose because writing was suddenly so easy and their sentences looked so pretty on the screen. How could such beautiful sentences not be perfect?”

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