Tumblr v5 Released | Hacker News Reader

Tumblr v5 Released

staff.tumblr.com

34 pointsbeaudeal28 comments

Can someone summarize the video for those of us without speakers and/or at work?

Wider interface, more methods of exploring things - map, trendfollowing - more emphasis on your multiple blogs, directory of things you liked, sitewide search, "theme garden" for everybody to upload themes.

Tumblr is sick, unreal and sexy as hell.

Thx. That made me laugh. :) He clearly needs to tone down the bravado a bit in the voiceover, but I admit that it does look slick.

I already ranted about this on my tumblelog: I'm not at all a fan of this release. Ugly, cluttered design, new features that aren't entirely necessary, and a lot of wasted space. I joined Tumblr for its simplicity, for how every feature added something. Most of this stuff is redundant crap.

EDIT: the rant is at http://unalone.tumblr.com/post/70951166/is-it-just-me-or-is-...

So like Posterous, but the opposite?

What do you mean?

I still prefer Tumblr to Posterous. Themes are big. The user interface is big. Posterous has neither, and it suffers for it.

It's more that Tumblr's not perfect anymore. With v4, I couldn't think of anything I wanted added. It could have stayed like that for a decade and I'd still use it. It was fast, concise, beautiful, uncluttered. v5 is a step back. It adds clutter where there was none before.

I'm hoping it's temporary, because Tumblr's staff is incredible and they listen to users. (I hope more than just me complains about this.) But for now, it's pretty irritating, which is to say less than perfect. It's still the best on the market.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I was wondering if the adding of new features & function took away from the simplicity. I think thats the challenge for both Posterous and Tumblr: satisfying existing users while still making the end product dead simple for new users (e.g. my parents).

Ah! Gotcha.

I think Posterous is actually pretty good with adding features so far. Last I checked it was still dead simple. So's Tumblr, I guess, but now it FEELS more cluttered. Like it's doing more than it ought to. Even though it's still point-n-click, the page is more distracting.

Cluttered?????

...yeah?

Tumblr is a great example of a startup which follows the 'tribes' principle by Seth Godin. They came up with an idea, began with the product, and let the tribe dictate where it goes next.

It's expanded to much more than a overly simple blogging interface, now it's a full fledged blog app. V5 looks amazing and the video demo does it great justice.

Leading-edge "tribes" is also the best of cultural New York.

The new features look great, but I'm surprised no one has discussed that screencast. That was the slickest and sexiest product demonstration I've ever seen; I watched the entire thing, and I dont even own a tumblog

I can't see it because I don't have flash on this machine, but am opposed in general to screencasts, videos and co. Unless you actually have a spectacle to show, just tell me wtf is new, please.

I can read a paragraph of text before the loading icon on yr goddamn video has even begun to spin.

Well, Tumblr v5 launched, so you could just go on the site and see what's new. I did that before watching the vidcast.

But a launch should be about spectacle. It's completely fine to have fun if you're not getting in people's ways.

A launch shouldn't be about alienation. Is there any reason the video couldn't have been accompanied by text?

Text would have been redundant. The entire thing is launched. The interface is self-explanatory. (If you've never used Tumblr, it really is beautifully simple, despite this new clutter.) The video is there to get you excited, not to tour the site. Lines like "The first thing you'll notice about the new Tumblr is that it is sexy as hell" don't guide, they boast. Tumblr's staff blog is often very much about the people behind Tumblr rather than about the site itself, and this video as no different.

Text would not have been redundant: it would have allowed users to see everything that was new instead of having to crawl over the site looking for new stuff. Eg: I have to check three or four possible locations to see if I can now see who my friends are reading, instead of checking a list of new features.

The evidence that text wouldn't have been redundant is even on this thread -- poster asks what's new, is answered in a sentence. A line like that accompanying the video, or even in a separate post, would have been of unquestionable utility to users.

Or, hell, Apple software is pretty self-explanatory too. Perhaps their minimalist "bug fixes" change notes are sufficient after all?

See, I've never been a fan of directly announcing feature lists. I don't think that's Tumblr's responsibility (or Apple's, for that matter). I think they can choose what they want to highlight, and people can discover what they like on their own.

Tumblr's video announcement wasn't the release. The release was the release. The idea's that you'll notice what's new while you're using the service. It shouldn't be a scavenger hunt. Most users don't work like that.

The video was just a fun little announcement because David and Marco like flashy things.

Well, hang on, first of all providing accompanying text for the flash-challenged was "redundant" -- despite you yourself doing it here and getting karma accordingly -- and now it's merely something you're not a fan of?

I'm not interested in a scavenger hunt; I just want a changelog so I can quickly see if any of my bug-bears have been fixed, without having to sit through a video that increasingly sounds vacuous and low on actual content anyway. Most users work like that.

The difference is that somebody here was at work and asked a question, and I answered it. I'm sure if you'd emailed Marco of David, they'd answer as well. But if you want to see if the bugbears are fixed, go to the site and look.

I didn't answer for karma. I answered because somebody was curious.

It's completely fine to have fun if you're not getting in people's ways. So you have to go on a scavenger hunt to see if bugbears are fixed, or bother Marco or David? That sounds like getting in the way. And wondering what's going on in the video is valid if you're at work? Seems like that line or two of accompanying text wouldn't have been redundant in the slightest.

Yeah. David gave a great presentation, and it was animated something incredible.

It pales before Charles Forman's presentation from Iminlikewithyou, though: he's part of the NY Tumblr crowd. This was easily the most over-the-top thing I've ever seen, and it's hilarious:

http://www.vimeo.com/1925542

Speaking of slick product presentations, try watching this one by a former YC company http://blog.iminlikewithyou.com/post/53933144/my-presentatio...

Sexy video, and the fact that they mostly iterated on their previous features is probably a good choice.

This is going to be an interesting year for tumble & microblogs, can't wait to see what's next :)

Do any start-ups here power their (startup) blog using Tumblr?

If so why did you choose Tumblr over creating your own; easier to create/maintain, better SEO, additional way to promote your work.... ?

I expected this: http://tumbler.sourceforge.net/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com