Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Search Feature

What’s so useful and important about search boxes? Why should sites or blogs have a search feature? It’s important for sites and blogs to have a search function for the sake of their potential users and visitors.

People who come across your site and are searching for something specific should be able to easily find what they’re looking for by using the blog’s search box. They shouldn’t have to go through the entirety of your archives or articles list, if they don’t want to, just to find what they’re looking for.

You have to make things easy and convenient for your potential visitors and users because, otherwise, why would they bother to stay on your website or blog? With that said, you would expect platforms like Google Blogger and Tumblr to have a search feature, right? Let’s take a look at their search functions:

Google Blogger Search Feature

Google Blogger (blogging platform) has a built-in search feature, which you can easily add to your blog with no trouble or problem at all.

All you need to do is go to the design or layout part of your blog and choose to add a widget. Google Blogger offers the search feature as a gadget, which you can add in your site’s sidebar or footer. You can easily configure your search box by clicking on the edit widget link. You can name it and set it to search your blog, etc.

Tumblr Search = Laughable?

On the other hand, Tumblr’s search function, if you can call it that, pales in comparison to Google Blogger’s search feature. Seriously, it’s like they’re not fit to be mentioned in the same sentence. Why? What’s the problem with Tumblr’s search feature?

You Can Only Search for Tags on Tumblr

The biggest problem is how Tumblr only lets you search for tags. Who searches for tags? People don’t usually search for tags. Mostly, they search for keywords. Sure, some will search for tags, but they’ll also want to search for keywords alongside the tags.

Besides, it’s not like you can tag anything and everything on your Tumblr blog, so how can your visitors find what they’re looking for if they’re limited to searching by tags? Why does Tumblr set such an annoying limitation? How can this be useful at all?

If you want a decent and useful search feature, you obviously can’t make use of the built-in Tumblr search function, so you have to go through the trouble of looking around for possible alternatives and figuring out how to install or add it to your Tumblr blog. Needless to say, this is such an annoying and time-wasting hassle.

Update: Tumblr now lets you search using keywords, if you want to. However, from what I've experienced so far, it's just not as good as Google's search. Whenever I search for something on my Blogger blog, I always find what I'm looking for, even when I only type a single keyword.

Unfortunately, this is just not the case when it comes to Tumblr's search. Whenever I try to look for a post that I know is on my blog, I always have trouble finding it. I always have to try inputting several different combinations of keywords or look through pages of search results.

Sometimes, even then, I still won't end up finding what I'm looking for unless I go through each and every single page of my blog, which isn't feasible when I already have so many posts published.

Conclusion

Google Blogger definitely wins this round for having a superior search feature. Tumblr’s search function definitely needs a lot of improvement.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Kazenokaze (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone using the search box on their Google Blogger blog and trying to find a decent search feature for their Tumblr blog
- YouTube video shows you how to add the search box gadget to your Google Blogger blog
- This was previously published elsewhere

Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Adding Text on Footer and Sidebar

What kind of information or text content can you put on your blog's or site’s footer and/or sidebar? Is it really necessary to have text on your footer or sidebar?

Do platforms like Google Blogger and Tumblr make it easy for you to add any text you want on your website’s footer or sidebar? How can you add text to your Google Blogger or Tumblr blog?

What Kind of Content Should You Put on Your Blog's Sidebar and Footer?

You can put all sorts of information or content on your blog or site’s footer or sidebar. This depends on what you want those places to have.

For instance, you could have a copyright notice, a disclosure notice, a short list of your most popular posts, a list of your tags or labels, and more. You can even have a short introductory message there or even a mini bio about the blog author or some short tidbit about your site.

Take a look at the following screenshots from some of my blogs for examples:

The sidebar of the the Anime Meta Archives blog makes use of Google Blogger's Popular Posts Gadget. The blog's top 10 posts are displayed with large thumbnails. The post title shows up as an overlay on top of the image. If you hover your mouse over the title, a tooltip with a short excerpt from the post will show up.

My main Tumblr blog has a 2-column footer. Both have text content with links to the Disclosure, Disclaimer, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy pages. The footer also includes a copyright and credits section.

Google Blogger Text Gadget

If you’re using Google Blogger (blogging platform), you can easily add any text to your site’s footer or sidebar. All you need to do is go to the layout part of your Blogger blog, then click on the “add a gadget” link.

From the list of widgets that will appear, just choose the Text gadget and click on the link to add it to your site (you can choose to add this to either your footer or sidebar or both).

Google Blogger’s Text gadget allows you to type any text message or content that you want to show on your blog or site. You can easily edit or delete this whenever you want.

Adding Content to Your Tumblr Blog's Sidebar and/or Footer

Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site), on the other hand, doesn’t make things easy for its users at all. First of all, it doesn’t even have any built-in gadgets or widgets, so if you’re looking for a Text gadget, don’t bother because you’ll just end up wasting your time.

I know, it’s horrible, isn’t it? Things would be so much better and easier if Tumblr was nice enough to offer its users a Text widget. Don’t you wonder why Tumblr isn’t user-friendly enough?

If you want text on your Tumblr blog’s footer or sidebar, you’ll have to take the time to search around for possible ways to get this done. So trying to insert text on your Tumblr blog footer or sidebar isn’t easy at all.

However, there are Tumblr themes that allow you to easily add content to the footer or sidebar of your blog without having to code anything. All you need to do after installing the theme is to go to the theme options page of your blog. Then just copy and paste whatever you want to add in the appropriate textbox. Have a look at the following screenshots for examples:

You can put anything you want on the Clarent Tumblr Theme's sidebar widget, including HTML, Javascript, or just plain text.

Clarent even comes with a carousel widget, which you can use to showcase your arts and works. Check out the demo blog here. Learn more about this theme here. Check out my Themes List for more responsive, mobile-friendly, and easily customizable Tumblr themes for your blog.

Conclusion

With Google Blogger, all you need to do is select the Text gadget, input your text, and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about HTML or codes or CSS. It’s no wonder that Google Blogger wins this round.

Looks like Tumblr needs a whole lot of improvement, right? Well, that is, unless you choose a Tumblr theme that comes with text widgets for the sidebar or footer of your blog.

What do you think about this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to add text on their Google Blogger or Tumblr blog’s sidebar or footer
- YouTube video shows you how to add a Text gadget or widget to your Google Blogger blog’s sidebar or footer; it’s really easy
- This was previously published elsewhere

Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Widgets and Gadgets Feature

What are widgets? Why are they important? Why should Google Blogger and Tumblr offer their users gadgets to use on their blog or site? How does Tumblr fail to surpass Google Blogger when it comes to the use and availability of gadgets and widgets?

Widgets and gadgets are useful features or tools that you can add to your blog. For example, you can have a labels gadget, which can show all the tags that you use on your site. You can even have an archives widget, which can show a list of all the posts or articles on your website.

Let’s take a look at the gadgets and widgets offered by Google Blogger and Tumblr and see which of the 2 is better:

Google Blogger has Numerous Gadgets and Widgets

Google Blogger (blogging platform) offers you a lot of gadgets that you can use for your Blogger site or blog. These widgets can all be useful and helpful to you.

For instance, Blogger has a Contact Us form, so your potential visitors can easily contact you or message you if they want to. You can even have a Follow By Email feature so people can easily subscribe to your site or blog.

Blogger also has a Search Box, Popular Posts, Poll feature, and a whole lot more awesome widgets. You can also easily add a text message to your blog’s footer or sidebar with the Text gadget. If you want to add codes, you can do so by using the HTML/JavaScript feature.

The best part is how easy and simple it is to add whatever widget you want. All you need to do is go to the layout part of your Google Blogger blog then click on the “add a gadget” link. You’ll then be shown a list of all the possible widgets that you can choose to add to your site.

To add your selected gadget, all you need to do is click on the gadget name or the plus image next to it. It will automatically be added to your site, and you can then change its settings or configure it to your liking.

Tumblr has Zero Gadgets or Widgets

On the other hand, Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site) is not user-friendly at all, not when it comes to gadgets or widgets.

That's right. Unfortunately, Tumblr doesn’t have any gadgets or widgets. So if you want features like adding text on your sidebar or footer, then you’ll have to go to your blog theme’s HTML and figure out how and where to insert the text you want.

The same can be said for other features like the Follow By Email, Popular Posts, Contact Form, Polls, and more. If you want these things on your Tumblr blog, then you’re going to have to go through the trouble of researching and trying to find out how to add said feature to your site and it’s definitely not going to be easy.

Why does Tumblr have to make things so difficult for its users? If it offered gadgets and widgets like Google Blogger, things would be so much easier for people trying to fix and customize and modify their Tumblr blog theme.

With that said, Google Blogger definitely wins this round for having so many helpful and useful gadgets and widgets that you can easily add to your blog or website with a simple click.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Kazenokaze (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone using the widgets offered by Google Blogger blog and trying to find working gadgets for their Tumblr blog
- Second pic is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- YouTube video shows you how you can add Google Blogger gadgets to your blog; as you can see, you have what appears to be thousands of widgets to choose from
- This was previously published elsewhere

What to Like About Tumblr’s Signup or Registration Process?

Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site with a pretty easy sign up or registration process.

Seriously, it’s really quite simple and easy to create an account or a blog on Tumblr. But that’s not the only thing to like about the site’s signup process.

It’s Easy to Register or Create an Account on Tumblr

Tumblr makes its account creation process easy for all its potential users by simplifying things and presenting the necessary information a few at a time. For instance, when you get to the register page, you’ll only see three textboxes that you have to fill up.

This is better than having to see everything all at once and being overwhelmed and overloaded with too much information.

It’s only after you fill up the 3 textboxes (which asks for your username, password, and email address) and click on the next button that you’ll be brought to another page where you can fill out the next set of required information.

Once you’re brought to the captcha page, you’ll have to grin at seeing the next button labeled as “almost done!”. And, indeed, the sign up process is almost over as you get taken to a ‘welcome to Tumblr’ page upon clicking the aforementioned button. This page asks you to make a blog.

Don’t Feel Pressured or Stressed About Having to Make a Tumblr Blog

You get to choose from a number of colorful headers, or you can just upload a photo. You can also add an avatar as well as a blog title and description.

But before you start panicking and stressing about how you’re not prepared to make a blog yet and how you thought you were just creating an account for now, Tumblr is quick to reassure you by saying “and don’t stress about it. You can change this stuff whenever”.

And that’s absolutely utterly perfect because, of course, you’d want to change all this stuff later on especially if you haven’t made up your mind yet on what your blog is going to be about or if you haven’t fully ironed out all of your blog details yet.

So you don’t even need to fill out anything on this page. You can just click on the “make it” button right away. After that, you can decide to follow some blogs or you can head straight to your Tumblr dashboard where you can start exploring and looking around already.

You can do a number of things now, but you do need to verify your email address before you can access the rest of Tumblr’s features.

You can check out my main Tumblr blog here. I also have a Harry Potter Plotholes Archives blog, a Hetalia Axis Powers Archives blog, and an anything-goes blog called Soyuz Mir.

I've also started making themes for Tumblr. These themes are all responsive and mobile-friendly. Check out my Themes page, Themes list, Themes blog, and my Author page.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What do you think about Tumblr's signup or registration process? Do you like it? Do you have any blogs on Tumblr? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Note: info mentioned on this post was true when it was written, but Tumblr’s signup or registration process are subject to change without notice, so the info presented herein may no longer apply should Tumblr decide to change their account sign-up process.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by clasesdeperiodismo (CC:BY-SA) from flickr
- Second pic is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere

Why and How Tumblr’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Can Make You Smile?

There are many things to like about Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy, one of which is how the site helpfully included annotations to help readers understand all the legal jargon.

Another thing to like is how Tumblr was able to inject some humor in some parts of its terms and policies.

Humorous Snippets in Tumblr TOS and Privacy Policy

Saying things like:

“Yahoo! owns us and we share”,

“Google search and the far superior Yahoo! search”,

“should we get acquired (again!)”,

or

“if we dissolve (no way)”

can certainly make you grin or smile in amusement, at the very least.

And this is why it’s not all that boring to read through all this stuff even if it is really quite long.

Tumblr Terms and Policies Are Easy to Understand

A lot of these terms and policies are also pretty easy enough to understand even without all the annotations, which is just as well since Tumblr’s minimum age requirement is 13.

So it’s good to see that this microblogging platform actually cares enough to make sure that all its potential users, no matter how young, will be able to easily understand and comprehend all these legal stuff as well as all their rules and guidelines.

Many parts of these terms and policies have been written in a friendly manner. You can really feel or hear the nice and friendly tone of voice, and it’s like having a conversation with someone who might not be your close friend, but who you wouldn’t mind listening to because of the friendly tone injected with the occasional fun humor.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What do you think about this? Do you like the fun and humorous way that Tumblr wrote its terms of service and privacy policy? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Note: info mentioned on this post was true when it was written, but Tumblr’s terms and policies are subject to change without notice, so the info presented herein may no longer apply should Tumblr decide to change its legal info.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by clasesdeperiodismo (CC:BY-SA) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere

What Can You Say About Tumblr? What Is There To Like Or Dislike About This Site?

Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site that’s pretty similar to Google Blogger and WordPress. Do you know anything about Tumblr?

What’s your opinion on this blogging platform? Do you like it, or do you dislike it? Why? Would you recommend this site to other people?

I've been looking for information about Tumblr and trying to find out more about it. It does seem quite interesting, so I've been wondering if I should try it out or not. I've been considering and deliberating on whether or not I should join the site.

From what I've heard and read about this website, it seems that Tumblr is a pretty good blogging platform and that there are many who are using this site.

It’s also apparently possible to place ads on your Tumblr blogs, and you can even include affiliate links as long as you're not spamming the site. The large community is also something to take note of.

Edited to add: yes, as long as you're not spamming, it's okay to put ads on your Tumblr blogs. You can also include affiliate links such as the ones from Amazon. And Tumblr does have a pretty large community.

So, if you had a choice, would you blog on Tumblr? It would be interesting to hear more opinions regarding this website.

Update: I've created an account on Tumblr. I now have several blogs there. I've even made several themes for Tumblr and am planning to make more.

Here are some comments about this post, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

BarbRad wrote on August 3, 2014, 7:45 PM:
I currently have seven Tumblr blogs under two different profiles. For me it's more like Pinterest than the other sites you mentioned.

I don't see a lot of original material. It seems most of what comes through my feeds are posts reblogged from others. I reblog some again.

I think it's more of a curating site than a blogging site, but I guess you could blog there. Photos seem to do better than words. Maybe someone else could add to this.

I wish I knew which of my other friends were there. I'm following all people I don't know. I think it's hard to find followers there.

Freya Yuki replied to BarbRad on August 5, 2014, 3:44 PM:
Wow. That's a lot of blogs. The information I've been reading and seeing about Tumblr say you can post articles there and there are even some that mention SEO for Tumblr.

Yeah, I heard about reblogging, and it seems that a lot of people there are doing that. Is it really hard to find or get followers on Tumblr?

I heard the community there was vast and pretty nice or friendly, so I thought it might be nice to try to blog there so you can also socialize and get to know people who might share the same interests as you, etc. Looks like I need to do more research about Tumblr.

BarbRad replied to Freya Yuki on August 5, 2014, 9:38 PM:
It's easier to find people with common interests than it used to be. I just wish each blog could stand alone without having to be under a main account.

I opened two accounts to cover my nature and gardening blogs. The feed pretty much goes to the main blog.

Freya Yuki replied to BarbRad on August 6, 2014, 2:52 PM:
Thanks for the additional info. Yeah, I read that you can have a primary blog and several secondary ones, but that there were some limitations on what you can do with those secondary blogs.

Do you write long articles there or just short ones? Or do people just reblog and not write anything original? Is it all about images there? Or will articles also do well?

nbaquero wrote on August 5, 2014, 5:28 AM:
Freya Yuki, I have just used Tumbler to share my posts from another writing site, but beyond that, I have not really found it to be a great platform. As BarbRad says is more like Pinterest.

Freya Yuki replied to nbaquero on August 5, 2014, 3:55 PM:
Thanks for the information about Tumblr. How is sharing your articles from another site on Tumblr working out then? Can you recommend another blogging site that's similar to Tumblr then?

nbaquero replied to Freya Yuki on August 6, 2014, 3:56 AM:
Freya Yuki It's only given an extra view or two per article which is not much but helps, besides it is some sort of repository for my posts, as BarbRad indicated is more like a curating site.

I haven't explored enough to find sites similar to Tumblr, being used as blogging platforms, but I would say for a full blog you can go with Google Blogger or WordPress as you already mentioned.

Freya Yuki replied to nbaquero on August 7, 2014, 3:17 PM:
Ah, I see. But you can still write original articles there, right? You can't advertise on a free WordPress blog.

You'd have to go with the paid version to advertise, but there's no guarantee that it will be worth it, which is why it's best to go with a free blog first unless you have funds.

I've tried the free Google Blogger, but it doesn't seem to have any community at all, not for socializing or interacting anyway. I heard Tumblr was good for those things and that it has a nice community. Is that true?

It would be nice to, not just get readers for your posts, but also get the chance to interact and socialize with people like what happens in sites like this where people comment and have conversations with each other.

cmoneyspinner replied to Freya Yuki on March 31, 2015, 2:51 PM:
RE: Tumblr -
* Can you write original articles there? Yes.
* Can you advertise there? Yes.

RE: Blogger -
* Free Google Blogger doesn't seem to have any community at all …? True. But use it anyway.
Try to interface it with Google Plus, if you're on G+.

*Notes:
- Image is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere on Monday, December 26, 2016 at 11:41 AM

How and Why Tumblr's Terms and Policies Can Make You Feel Welcome?

Okay, it’s been established (in another post anyway) - one of the things that makes Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy cool and likable is how it makes use of annotations to help readers understand all the legalese and legal jargon.

But, guess what? That’s not the only thing to like about Tumblr’s terms and policies. Another thing that makes all these stuff pretty awesome is the tone of voice that the site uses in order to explain everything to its users.

The tone of voice in the way Tumblr has written its terms, rules, guidelines, etc, comes across as quite friendly and many parts of these pages even have a humorous tilt or angle to it, all of which can make your smile or grin in amusement, at the very least.

For example, in the privacy policy page, you can find gems like:

"Should we happen to get acquired (again!) or go out of business (no way)"

or

"like Google Search, or the far superior Yahoo Search"

This one about Google and the others like it are extra amusing, not just because Yahoo! owns Tumblr, but also because Tumblr’s Blog Customization page includes a section on Google Analytics and how it can be used on a Tumblr blog.

In their account security page, they even recommend the Google authenticator app to be used for their 2-factor authentication feature.

Seeing things like this really makes reading all these legal stuff less of a troublesome chore. The friendly tone of voice and the humorous parts of these papers really help to prevent you from being bored to death.

And it can even make you feel welcome as this serves to paint Tumblr into a nice, friendly, and welcoming community.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What about you? What do you think about all this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 11:39 AM

How Tumblr Is Different From Other Sites Based on Its Terms and Policies?

Why would I even be reading Tumblr’s (social networking site and microblogging platform) terms of service, privacy policies, guidelines, rules, and other such information anyway? Sounds like such a boring chore, huh?

Actually, it’s not that bad. But let’s start with the first question. Tumblr seemed interesting enough to me, so I considered starting a blog on Tumblr.

(Update: I've started several blogs on Tumblr and have even made some themes)

Of course, before I registered or signed up, I first wanted to know all about its TOS, policies, rules, etc, so I know what I’m agreeing to and what to expect and what will be happening.

I thought reading all this would be like reading most of the usual terms and policies wherein everything would be full of legal jargon and it would take a while before you can finish reading all of them.

Why? Because, not only will these stuff be horrendously long, it will also be utterly boring and you’ll definitely be needing a break every now and then (because who can read all this in one sitting, right?).

It’s different with Tumblr though, and it’s a good kind of different. Of course, it still took me a while to read all those stuff because there’s a lot, and I've other things to do and take care of.

But reading all those terms and rules didn’t really feel like a chore at all, and it wasn’t all that boring either.

*Notes:
- Image is by tsukkaomi (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Friday, December 2, 2016 at 11:37 AM

Why Reading Tumblr's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Isn't Such a Boring Chore?

A website's (as well as programs, software, services, etc) terms of service and privacy policy is usually long, boring, and difficult to understand with all the legal jargon, so it's such a chore to read.

So when I find sites that have readable TOS and that actually make an effort to make all the legal stuff interesting and easy for their users to understand, I write about it.

How come reading all about Tumblr’s (microblogging platform and social networking site) terms of service or terms of use, privacy policy, rules, guidelines, etc isn’t such a boring chore?

What makes it so different from the usual terms and policies that you can see on other sites, programs or services?

Well, for starters, Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy actually have annotations.

These annotations make it easier for people to understand all the legal jargon and the like because the key points that you need to know are summarized in a way that doesn’t bore everyone to death.

This really makes it seem like Tumblr cares about its users and potential users and that it wants to make sure that everyone can easily understand all these agreements and policies and rules.

This makes them vastly different from many other sites who just list everything in a drab, boring, and dull manner and who can really come across as uncaring especially with how these websites don’t seem to care even if their users don’t understand a single word of what their TOS or policies say.

This perception is reinforced by how these sites seem to have no qualms using long and complicated words and legal jargon. Actually, Tumblr uses those kinds of words too, but it makes up for it by providing annotations.

*Notes:
- Image is by sayuko (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 11:35 AM

Is WordPress.com Restrictive?

Do you think that the WordPress.com blogging platform is restrictive? Does it have way too many limitations, or do you actually get lots of freedom and choices if you use this platform for your blog?

Some Facts About WordPress.Com

• You are not allowed to edit the CSS of your blog theme… unless you pay
• You are not allowed to use Google Analytics on your blog… unless you pay
• You are not allowed to use any other polling service… except PollDaddy
• You get a Gravatar account with your WordPress blog… whether you like it or not
• You don’t get customer support from WordPress… unless you pay
• You can’t turn off the infinite scroll feature for real… unless you pay
• You can’t add a copyright link to your blog… unless you pay

Some Things That You Can’t Get or Do on WordPress.Com Even if You Pay:

• You are not allowed to edit the HTML of your blog theme
• You are not allowed to upload your own theme to WordPress
• You are not allowed to add ads to your blog (unless you get WordAds, but you only get a shot at this if your blog gets lots of traffic)

Update: if you're on the WordPress.com Premium or Business plan, you get access to WordAds. If you're on a Free or Personal plan, your blog needs to have high traffic in order to get the option to apply to the WordAds program

• You are not allowed to remove the attribution credit links on your blog (the ones that say “powered by WordPress” and “theme made by [theme maker’s name here]”)
• You are not allowed to add or use Google Fonts on your blog
• You are limited in what you can do in terms of customizing your blog even with the Custom Design Upgrade, which only lets you edit the CSS of your theme (for example, you can’t import files)

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, is the WordPress.com blogging platform restrictive? You tell me. What do you think? What are your thoughts and opinions about this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by 27707 (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- Second image is by pixelcreatures (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 11:33 AM
- Info presented above was true when it was written, but everything is subject to change without notice like if WordPress decides to change their rules, etc.

Sources:

• https://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/infinite-scroll/
• https://store.wordpress.com/plans/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/custom-fonts/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/code/
• https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/google-analytics-for-wordpress-com-business-sites/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/google-analytics/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/adding-new-themes/
• https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/add-copyright-to-footer
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/polls/
• http://support.polldaddy.com/using-wordpress-com-connect-to-sign-into-polldaddy-com/not-interested-in-signing-up-for-wordpress-com/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/no-ads/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/help-support-options/
• https://en.support.wordpress.com/live-chat/

Problems With Adding Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog

What’s wrong with adding polls to your WordPress blog? Are you allowed to add polls to your blog? What’s there to like and dislike about this?

Can You Add Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog?

Yes, you can. What’s the catch? The catch is that you can only add polls using PollDaddy. This is a polling service owned by Automattic, the same company who owns WordPress.

What’s Wrong With PollDaddy?

Dunno. Nothing, maybe. Those who use this polling service will be able to tell what its strengths and weaknesses are. This isn’t the issue though.

What Is the Problem With Adding Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog?

The problem is how you’re stuck with PollDaddy. If you want to add polls to your blog, you have to use PollDaddy. You’re forced to use PollDaddy. You don’t have a choice.

Want polls on WordPress.com? Use PollDaddy or have no polls at all. But what if you don’t want to use this particular polling service?

After all, this isn’t the only polling service out there. There are many more sites that allow you to add polls to your blogs or websites like Opinion Stage.

What if You Already Have an Account on Another Polling Service?

Some polling services make it possible for you to use their polls on various platforms, so you don’t have to sign up to so many different services.

For example, you can use Opinion Stage on Tumblr, Google Blogger, WordPress.org, and more.

So, if you already have an account on another polling service, wouldn’t you want to use that on all of your sites and blogs so you don’t have to create yet another account for the same service?

On WordPress though, you’re forced to use PollDaddy whether you like it or not or just go without polls because they don’t care if you have another account elsewhere or not.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think about this? Do you use PollDaddy? Do you like it? Do you use Opinion Stage? Do you like it?

Do you think WordPress should give people a choice in terms of what polling service they can use on their WordPress.com blogs?

Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by Alan Klim (CC:BY) from flickr
- Second image is by pixelcreatures (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 11:32 AM

5 Things to Dislike About the Latest WordPress Update Version 4.1

What’s not to like about the latest WordPress update version 4.1? Is something wrong with it?

Things to Like About the WordPress Update

One thing I like about the WordPress update is how it never drastically changes the appearance of the dashboard, so the Daily Two Cents* and Writegde* dashboards still look pretty much like how I remember them before the version 4.1 update.

I like that because I’m used to what the dashboard looks like. I’ve learned to like its appearance so it would just feel and seem wrong if it suddenly changes without warning.

*Writing sites that used to pay per view, but have since changed their payment model, unfortunately, where you can earn some passive or residual income by posting articles

Gigantic Text

Now, one of the things I don’t like about the latest WordPress update is how the text on the text post editor is way too big.

Before the update, the text was kind of small (fortunately, it’s still readable), and I definitely would have wanted it to be bigger, but not this big.

This time, the font size is just too much. It’s so huge that it borders on ridiculous.

Text Post Editor and Preview

What you see is definitely not what you get thanks to the version 4.1 WordPress update.

Whenever I preview the articles I write on the Writege and Daily Two Cents text post editor, it always looks different from how it’s presented in the editor.

On the text post editor, you can see the gigantic font size, but, when you preview your post, it goes back to a smaller font.

As such, just because it looks like you have such a huge paragraph on the editor, it doesn’t mean that that’s the case when you preview your article.

Adding Images

Thanks to the discrepancy between the text post editor and the preview, it’s very difficult to fix the images that you add to your article.

On the editor, the picture might look huge and it might look like it’s aligned with only a few paragraphs, but, when you look at the preview, you’ll see that it looks very different.

So you will need to use trial and error when you move things around so you can find the perfect placement and positions for your photos.

Word Count

On Writedge and Daily Two Cents, there is a live word count that is located at the end of the text post editor textbox.

Before the WordPress update to version 4.1, this live word count used to stay in a fixed position so that, even if you scroll up on the editor to get to the top of the page, you can still see your word count.

This is very useful because you can see right away if you still need to add more words or if you’re already past the minimum word count.

After the update, the live word count is no longer in a fixed position so you can only see it when you scroll down to the end of the text post editor.

What are your thoughts on the WordPress version 4.1 update? Do you like it or not?

*Notes:
- First image is by 27707 (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- Second image is by StockSnap (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 11:31 AM
- YouTube video features the Writedge and Daily Two Cents WordPress dashboard

A Complete Guide to Using the Niume Post Editor

I wrote this post as a guide or tutorial on how to use the Niume post editor while also mentioning its quirks and the things you might need or want to know about it. However, with Niume's latest update, a lot of things have changed. So, here is the new and updated guide to using the Niume post editor.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Adding Images to Your Niume Post

There are two kinds of images that you can add to your Niume post:

1. The background or cover pic - this one shows up on top of your article before the post title. You can only have one of this kind of pic.

2. The pic inside the post itself. This can show up anywhere inside your article as long as it's below the post title. You can have several photos like this.

How to Add Pics Inside Your Niume Post?

1. Press the enter key on your keyboard while you're on the Niume post editor. This will start a new line.

2. You will then see a circular icon with a plus sign on the left side of the editor.

3. Click this icon and you will see the plus sign change to the minus sign. In addition to that, you will see two more circular icons.

4. Let's focus on the first icon, the one with the pic of a camera. If you hover your mouse on this icon, you will see the words "Add a photo".

5. Click on this icon and you will be prompted to upload a photo from your PC.

Here's an example:

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding Images to Your Niume Post:

- Accepted file types include: .PNG and .JPG

- There is no way to resize an image once it's been uploaded to Niume so if you want to change the size of your pic (such as making it bigger or smaller), you'll have to do it before adding it to your post.

- As part of Niume's rules, you're required to have at least one image or video on your post. I'm not sure how strict Niume is in implementing this rule as I've seen some posts that only contain text. Still, I suggest adding even just one pic to your article to make it more colorful.

- The only way to add photos to your post is by uploading it from your computer to Niume. Unfortunately, there's no way to add pics via their image URL.

- The first pic that shows up on your post and that was added using the camera icon will become the cover photo of your post. See the old guide (linked above) for more details.

The only thing that's different is that there is no more picture when you link to your post on Niume (either via the comments section of a post or another article).

- If you don't add a pic using the camera icon, but you add a background pic to your post (see section below for more details), this pic will become the cover photo instead.

How to Add a Background Photo to Your Niume Post?

1. On the upper right side of the post editor, to the right of the post title textbox, you will see the words "Add Cover" as well as a small mountain pic icon.

2. Click this link icon and you'll be prompted to upload a pic from your PC.

.JPG is the only accepted file type, as far as I know (it's the only one I've tried so far aside from .PNG, which is not accepted).

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding a Background Pic to Your Niume Post:

- See this post for more details on the recommended size of your background photo

- Note that you might need to resize your pic and upload it several times before you can get the proper placement. For instance, I had to do the same with the background photo of this post otherwise I'd end up with something like this:

For reference, the entire pic looks like this:

- There is no way to resize the cover image after uploading it so you will need to change or fix the size elsewhere before adding it your post.

- There's also no way to add pics by using their image URL. You need to upload the photo from your computer to Niume.

- You don't need to add a cover photo to your post especially if you already have several pics in the body of your article.

- See the old guide (linked above) for more details

How to Add Tags to Your Niume Post?

1. Choose a sphere or category for your article. You can choose from the drop-down list right below the post title in the Niume text editor.

2. As soon as you select a sphere, if you scroll down to the end of the text editor, you will see several tags that you can choose to add to your post.

3. Click on an available tag to add it to your post. If it's the wrong tag, just click on the x icon to remove it from the list.

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding Tags to Your Niume Post:

- If none of the available tags match your article, don't worry because Niume's latest update has made it possible for us to create our own tags. Just type your tag on the textbox provided.

As soon as you start typing on this textbox, the editor will automatically start searching for similar tags. You will then see a drop-down list of possible tags you can add.

If you see a tag that matches what you're looking for, just click it and it will be added to your article. If the tag you want doesn't show up, just type it fully and then press the enter key. This will make it show up as a tag for your article.

- There's a limit of 4 tags per post.

Changes to the Niume Post Editor Thanks to the Update:

- Before, we were stuck with having to use the available tags, which may not always be relevant to the article we're writing. Now, it's possible to create our own tags.

- Before, Niume had two types of links. Now, there's only one type of link. Niume removed the link cards that allowed us to showcase links similar to Twitter Cards complete with the post title, a short snippet and even a small pic from the article.

For More Information on the Following:

- Adding a sphere to your post as well as things you need to know about the Niume spheres

- Adding a title to your post as well as title tips

- Adding a video (such as from YouTube) to your post

See the old guide (linked above) for more details.

For a tutorial guide on how to add links to your posts, see this article.

For info about the Niume dashboard, see this post.

If you're having problems publishing posts on Niume, see this article.

Conclusion

All-in-all, the latest update improved the Niume rich text post editor. Being able to add or create our own tags is a very welcome change.

However, it's too bad that the link cards were removed as this was a useful and cool feature.

Overall, the text editor could still use more improvements such as giving us more formatting options like being able to resize pics after being uploaded and being able to use numbered and bulleted lists and more.

Questions? Need Help?

What about you? What do you think about the Niume rich text post editor? If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to ask.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Linda Kaaz said on 22/2/17
very helpful information

Jim Bauer said on 9/2/17
I always find these interesting and helpful especially considering the site really does lack tutorials.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 18/2/17
Thanks :-). Yeah, when I was new here, I looked everywhere for tutorials and guides, but couldn't find any so I decided to write some after figuring things out.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 30 Jan 2017 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Second pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Fourth pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Why You Absolutely Really Need to Edit Your Niume Posts Right Now?

Yes, you do. Don't worry. It's not just you. It's me too and everyone else who did this certain thing in their Niume posts. If you didn't, then you don't have to edit or update your posts like right this second or something.

So, what's going on?

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Niume Update and Changes

If you've logged on to Niume or visited the site, you've no doubt seen that there's been some changes.

The site looks new and improved with a layout that now includes both a scrolling sidebar (meaning, the sidebar stays where it is no matter how much you scroll down the page unless you direct your mouse to the sidebar itself and scroll from there) and a fixed top header (meaning, no matter how much you scroll down, the header will always be visible).

They've made other changes, but I'll talk more about that in another article.

Anyway, the point is that it's because of the recent site update that now requires you to edit your previously-published posts on Niume. Because this particular feature was working perfectly fine before the update.

Something wrong seems to have happened though, and, now, it's not working anymore.

Niume Cards Feature

Niume used to have this cool feature that was similar to the Twitter Cards feature. You'll find more info about that in this post (see the section entitled, "How to add links to Niume posts?").

If you want to be technical about it, it appears that Niume still has this feature, but it's no longer working correctly.

How the Niume Cards Feature Worked?

What used to happen was that if you add a URL link (it doesn't matter if it's a link from Niume or somewhere else) using this feature, a nice little box will show up that will display more info about this link including some text and even an image from said link.

That was really cool, which was why I used it a lot of times in my posts.

How the Niume Update Breaks the Niume Cards Feature?

But look what happened now that the new site changes have been implemented:

The above screenshot is from this post. What's that horizontal line, you ask?

Well, let me tell you now, it was never there when I first published this article. Instead of that line, what was in between those 2 paragraphs was a Niume card featuring a link to the post I'm talking about.

The cards were showing up perfectly fine with no problems before this update happened. Now, all the cards have been transformed into these horizontal lines. All the links are now gone.

Basically, if you added a link to your article using the Niume cards feature and you then mentioned the link in said article (for example, if you're explaining something and you need to reference the link), then, now, your article no longer makes sense because the referenced link is missing.

Reason to Edit Your Niume Articles as Soon as Possible

I thought it was really kind of bad, so I've been working on editing my posts to add the missing links.

This is the view I get when I click on the edit link on the article I mentioned above:

As you can see, there is something wrong with this feature, unfortunately.

In fact, when I try to add a URL link via Niume cards feature on this post, this is what happens:

In short, nothing happens. The loading icon shows up and keeps spinning, making you think that something is happening. But it just keeps on spinning before disappearing, leaving nothing but white and blank space.

How to Fix This Niume Link Mess?

In my case, I simply click on the edit button to go to the edit page for my article. I then add the link I'm talking about the old-fashioned way, but I decided to leave the links added via the Niume cards feature as-is.

Why? Well, just in case Niume decides to fix this feature. After all, it really was kind of cool. I wish it wasn't broken.

Ugh. Well, that was the plan anyway. But, look what just happened:

I added the link that I was talking about in that post like I just said I would.

I definitely did NOT click on the x button to close or remove the link added via the Niume cards feature.

When I clicked save on that post, the link added via the Niume cards feature was still there.

But, when the page refreshed to show my updates, only the new link I added was there. The one added via the Niume cards feature and which I never deleted or removed was no longer there.

Why You'll Be Afraid to Edit Your Niume Posts?

Well, this is frustrating. I don't know what's going on, but it makes me reluctant to edit my other posts for fear of what it will do.

What if something happens and I end up losing chunks of text instead of just the links?

What a hassle.

Unable to Update My Niume Articles

And, honestly, I really do want to edit my posts, not just to fix up the links mess caused by the Niume cards fiasco, but also to update the articles themselves and add some more info.

For instance, in my post about the problems with the Niume dashboard, I wanted to add the updated info that I contacted Niume about the issue.

But, at the same time, I don't want to risk losing the text, images, links and other such info that's already on the article.

*Sigh. Must resist the urge to edit and risk losing chunks of info on posts until this entire issue is resolved (hopefully as soon as possible)*

Share Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What are your thoughts and opinions regarding this matter? Have you used the Niume cards feature on your own articles? Have you experienced this link mess too? Have you tried to fix it?

P.S. I decided to put this post on the Interesting sphere because where else should it be placed? If you have any ideas, let me know and I'll change the category/sphere to a more appropriate one. Thanks.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Glenn Stok said on 22/4/17
I realize you wrote this some time ago and it seems these issues have been resolved. I just started using Niume and I find it interesting to see what went on months ago with updates and bugs.

Linda Kaaz said on 12/1/17
I had keep putting my updated picture on it time after time. if it did say it was published then in a few minutes it was gone again My word of advice! If you aree having this problem maybe think about wait a few hour or try it next day. I know this sounds strange but it published it using internet explore but not from Google. I do not know why but it helps most of the time

Freya Yuki replied to Linda Kaaz on 18/2/17
Yeah, I've experienced something like this too and even wrote a post about it. But, thankfully, it looks like the issue has been resolved already.

Gina145 said on 9/12/16
I didn't know about the cards feature so it doesn't affect me (for now). However it sounds good so I hope they fix it.

Freya Yuki replied to Gina145 on 10/12/16
Yeah, I do hope they eventually get around to fixing this feature as it was good and useful in showcasing the contents of a link.

Travel Notes said on 8/12/16
PS. The posting in the right sphere can be a little grey area at times.

Freya Yuki replied to Travel Notes on 9/12/16
Yeah, I've noticed that too. There are only 20 spheres/categories, but there are lots of topics to write about. The Interesting sphere contains a mishmash of a lot of different topics. What might be interesting to some, may not necessarily be the case for others. But, at least, the recent site update now allows us to create our own tags. It should help in further categorizing our posts.

Travel Notes said on 8/12/16
I noticed that links feature (and thought how cool) when making my first post, then that it no longer worked when making my Christmas Markets post. Now I'm worried about editing the first post, but the text under the line doesn't look that bad (in my case).

Freya Yuki replied to Travel Notes on 9/12/16
I liked the feature too and I do hope that they will get around to fixing this soon. I haven't edited any more posts for now. I could live with the line, but the problem is the missing link. If your post mentioned a link and you used this feature to showcase it and even talked about the link in your article, it would look weird with no actual link and just a line showing in between the text.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 7 Dec 2016 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Second pic is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt