#radarwhat

[freyayuki]

Tumblr Suggestion: Choose Post On Radar

Or, to be more precise, this post is about being able to choose the type of post that appears on the Tumblr Radar.

As I mentioned in this post, it’s been a while since I last logged on to Tumblr to check my blogs. After having been away for what feels like a really long time, I’m now trying to be more active here on Tumblr. When I checked my main Tumblr blog (this blog), I saw that I had a lot of posts on my drafts page. This post was one of those.

I’m not sure how long this has been on my drafts page, but it’s definitely been more than a few months. I thought the post might not be relevant anymore, but, after logging on to my Tumblr account after a long hiatus and trying to post new articles on my blogs, I see that the radar thing is still very much an issue. So, what’s this radar thing anyway?

What is the Tumblr Radar?

After logging on to your Tumblr account and being taken to your dashboard, you can see the Radar on the right side of the page. It shows up right below the Recommended Blogs list. 

The Radar shows what appears to be a random photo post from another Tumblr member/user. This includes the userpic of that member, their blog name, and their blog tagline or heading. On the right side of this info is a square button with a plus inside. Clicking on this button will allow you to follow this person’s Tumblr blog.

Right below all this info is an image from one of this person’s photo posts. Below the image, you can see how many notes this particular post has received. On the right side of this, you can see the like and reblog buttons.

Aside from the dashboard, you can also see the Radar on any of your blogs. For example, when you check out your drafts page or when you start a new post, you can see the Radar on the right side of the page.

Problem with the Tumblr Radar

I don’t really mind the Tumblr Radar. It doesn’t always show pics that interest me, but it does sometimes show pics that look nice. Of course, this is all subjective; depending on a person’s preferences, they might like a photo, but others might not think the same.

The problem or issue isn’t with the pictures or even the Radar itself. It’s with the GIFs that the Radar sometimes shows. For me, I’m not at all fond of this. I like GIFs, but I prefer not having to see them on the Radar.

Issue with seeing GIFs on the Tumblr Radar

What’s wrong with seeing GIFs on the Tumblr Radar? For me, the issue is that I find this distracting. GIFs keep moving and this is very distracting when I’m trying to write a post on Tumblr.

Note: You can’t see the Radar in the pic above, but that’s deliberate because taking a screenshot of the Radar won’t show the GIF moving anyway. Just know that it shows up on the right side of the page, and you can see it (though it is blurred) even with the text editor open. 

When you open the text editor, you can still see the Radar on the right side unless you end up writing something long enough to let you scroll down and get away from said Radar. Or unless you’re working on one of your drafts that show up at the bottom of the page where the Radar can no longer be seen.

If it’s just a pic on the Radar, it’s perfectly fine since the text editor blurs the left and right side of the page while you’re writing. However, if the Radar is showing a GIF, even with the text editor blurring it out, it still moves and you can still see it moving, which can be very distracting and annoying. It can be hard to concentrate on whatever you’re writing or working on when there’s a moving GIF that you can see on the right side of the page.

Let users choose the post on Tumblr Radar

A possible solution for this issue would be for Tumblr to let users choose what kind of post would show up on the Radar. Maybe something could be included in the settings page of our account or even right there on the Radar, which will give us the option to choose if we want the Radar to display GIFs or not.

Let users close the Tumblr Radar

Alternatively, maybe Tumblr could give us the option to close the Radar. Maybe aside from the follow button, there could also be a close button so if a GIF shows up or if a photo post we’re not interested in shows up, we can click on the close button to make it disappear. 

Or, instead of just making the unwanted Radar post disappear, Tumblr could even add a button, which, when clicked, would show us another post. Then, we can just keep on clicking this button until we see an image that’s more to our liking.

Share your thoughts and opinion

What about you? What do you think about this? Do you like the Tumblr Radar? Do you like seeing GIFs on the Radar or would you prefer if we only got to see images there? Do you want to be able to choose what kind of post you see on the Radar?

Photo credits: screenshots from my Tumblr account