What I am Doing Now (28 July 2023)

Firstly, thank you so much for those of you downloading my free eBook, Getting Started with Long Exposure Photography from the last post. 😀 Today, let me talk about Tumblr, my main social media platform since 2014.

Tumblr is unique in a way that doubles as a social media platform and a fully customisable free website, but I’ve recently realised that Tumblr has changed the coding structure (by enforcing Neue Post Format, a.k.a. NPF), resulting in breaking some existing themes.

My hand-coded Tumblr website is also affected by this (some of the theme options are no longer working), and so is four themes I’ve developed for them (637 active installs by fellow Tumblr users, as of writing).

At this moment, I’m not sure how to fix them, but also not sure whether I want to fix them. 😅 If it’s too troublesome, I’ll probably sunset my themes altogether.

As for my own Tumblr account, I’m thinking about disabling the website, which means my page can only be viewed by Tumblr users on their dashboard or on the mobile app. I guess the move will have little to no negative impact, as my Tumblr website doesn’t get many views by people outside Tumblr, anyway.

I’ve seen Tumblr users complaining, but this is a typical problem of not owning the website. The owner (Tumblr in this case) can introduce any changes at a whim, and we have no say. 😢

That’s why I prefer this self-hosted website powered by WordPress (.org) as my “home”, because I do own this website (I pay for the domain name and the web-hosting). That said, running the website is still partly reliant on WordPress, so if there comes a day that WordPress makes a bad move, like enforcing Block Editor to everyone, then it’s time to go back to static HTML. 😅

Updated on 28 July 2023 from Singapore.

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About the Author: LASTLIGHTS.NET is a passion project of Joey J, a Singapore-based Japanese photographer primarily shooting cityscape photography with long exposure at blue hour. Visit his Home Gallery (30 most favourite photos taken) or download his free eBook, Getting Started with Long Exposure Photography.