

Tumblr v5 Released - beaudeal
http://staff.tumblr.com/post/70947479/introducing-tumblr-v5

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

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mhp
Tumblr is sick, unreal and sexy as hell.

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kennyroo
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.

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unalone
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-...](http://unalone.tumblr.com/post/70951166/is-it-just-me-or-is-tumblr-
constantly-getting)

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fallentimes
So like Posterous, but the opposite?

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unalone
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.

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fallentimes
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).

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unalone
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.

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trickjarrett
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.

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

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jskopek
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

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bonaldi
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.

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unalone
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.

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

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unalone
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.

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bonaldi
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?

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unalone
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.

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bonaldi
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_.

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unalone
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.

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bonaldi
_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.

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lfittl
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 :)

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paul7986
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.... ?

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onk
I expected this: <http://tumbler.sourceforge.net/>

