Wet And Dreary

WWDC21 and Tumblr… Recap!

By: Praveen Nagaraj

This year’s WWDC focused a lot on bringing improved experiences across iOS and macOS rather than adding a whole lot of new features. 👏

There was a lot of focus on making apps more inclusive and designing for accessibility. ♿️

Here is a summary of all the improvements I think Tumblr can make to its iOS app to improve the user experience! 🎈

1. Better support for larger screen sizes 🖥

This year, Apple improved upon the multitasking experience for the iPad.

Tumblr’s support for large screen sizes is rather poor 😔. The current approach is to include large white spaces on either side of the feed to compensate for the large screen size. The implementation is also rather inconsistent, as many places still have full width views.

Places like the post editor ✍️ on the iPad are full width, and do not represent how the post will look like when published. Paragraphs look more like a single sentence. This is one example of where better optimization for the larger screen will benefit the user experience.

It would be better if Tumblr could implement some sort of sidebar or complementary content to the side of the feed, to take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen size. Being a media-centric 🌄 platform, this would greatly improve the user experience.

2. Support for Quick Note ✏️

This year, Quick Notes were introduced to allow a user to quickly bring up a sticky note like user interface to make a note. 📝

Many use Tumblr for scrolling through fashion 👗 and decor inspiration. I personally know friends that use apps like Pinterest and Tumblr to search for inspiration, while jotting notes on the side.

Support for Quick Notes will allow Tumblr to show thumbnails of previously jotted Quick Notes for a specific post, when revisited. This will help users that use the app for this purpose quickly re-gather their thoughts 💭 .

3. Support for widgets 👀

This year’s updated support for more intelligent 🧠 widgets showed the importance of providing at least a few widget options to users.

Tumblr is filled with beautiful images in its posts. The iOS 14 widget craze showed how users love customizing their springboard.

By making widgets that show suggestions, trending posts, etc., it would be a great way to encourage more engagement on the app. It is also a better way to get the user’s attention.

4. Support for keyboard navigation ⌨️

One of the key focuses this year was on improving accessibility to our apps. ♿️

Supporting keyboard based navigation in our apps allow users that cannot easily access the touch screen to use the app.

There are special bluetooth input devices that these users can use to navigate through the app, if we support keyboard based navigation.

Conclusion

It was a great WWDC 🚀 , and it was definitely really fun taking a deep look at Tumblr’s iOS app and thinking about how to improve it! 😁

Reblogs, likes, replies, @mentions—these interactions already show up on your desktop activity screen. You knew that. What you might not already know is that you can now filter different activity types on mobile.

Want to see @ mentions, replies, or reblogs separately on the go? Simply tap “All Activity” in the app, and pick from the drop-down menu that appears. Want to see how folks are interacting with your post about frogs in the kitchen? It’s all here—choose the “Custom” option and tailor your activity screen to suit your lifestyle. That’s really all there is to it. ✨

Star Wars: Visions

All Episodes Now Streaming on Disney+

FRIDAY FOLLOWS 👀

Blogs to watch // Blogs we love

1. @melanated-violet brings all things aesthetic, black and excellent to your dash, peppered with quotes & flowers for a little day ✨brightening✨

2. We get it, you’re artsy. Follow this Toronto native who makes music and makes your day by curating calming aesthetics, fashion and interiors.

3. In need of fashion inspo? We got you. Follow @blackfashion

4. Oh, you fancy? We have the blog for you: @blvksupreme

5. Do your dash a favor and follow @melaninblackmagic for all the aesthetics

Talk to me — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3kyGecs

Exploded Console Posters made by Angerinet

Can’t wait!!

Mortal Kombat - Opening Seven Minutes 

Hanzo Hasashi’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) life is forever changed when his compound is attacked by a few uninvited visitors. 

Mortal Kombat is in theaters April 23 and streaming exclusively on HBO Max at 12:01 am PT/3:01 am ET in the US only.

Mondays suck.

Mondays coupled with seasonal affective disorder & holiday blues? Even worse. 

Put yourself first and spend some time with a meditation practice. It might sound tough, but 10 minutes isn’t a long time—and sometimes just taking a moment to breathe can make the rest of your day more centered and calm.

Meditation can:

Reduce stress

Control anxiety

Lengthen attention span

Improve sleep

Boost overall health

It’s also free and can be done anywhere, which is why it is one of our favorite forms of self-care 🤗. Give it a try and tune in.

📿Mindful Mondays📿 with our host Jarrick The Floating Yogi for SIFT Meditation at 8am ET

About the class:

Participants will discuss SIFT Meditation and ways to incorporate it into daily life, then meditate with sound bowls from Buddah A Blessing LLC. Meditation simply puts sustained focus on something. SIFT is an acronym for Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts. SIFT stands for Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts. This is an excellent technique for youth to scan and get acquainted with their subjective experience. Jarrick will host a Meditation session where users can observe these SIFT’s and the Meditations ability to create space between them, their triggers, and responses. This will also allow participants to feel more confident if their identified triggers were to arise in daily life. SIFT meditation clears up our Mindspace to make more balanced decisions in tense situations.

Meet Jarrick

Jarrick The Floating Yogi has been practicing yoga and incorporating its philosophy into his life since 2014. He’s trained in Power, Dharma, and Ashtanga Yoga and holds a consistent Ashtanga practice to this day. For several years in his younger days, he was in a band, so he quickly took to Cymatics, the effects of sound, frequency, and vibration on matter and consciousness using sound bowls and other instruments. Jarrick was introduced to Yoga through the fanciful world of Japanese Anime. There he found a world of parallels through the teachings and parables. Jarrick’s kind and gentle manner is well suited to lead students of all levels to integrate the lessons learned on our mat into our daily lives.

These are 🔥 

FOR TOM - The TOM N.4 Sunglasses.

Athleta Girl x Simone Biles

It’s here: a collection co-created with the GOAT herself, plus exclusive content—all made to fuel girls' confidence in who they are.

Girls, this one’s for you.