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