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Tumblr Follow Mode

Update: Now you can surf your followers.

Update 2: Updated look for Tumblr Dashboard update.

Here’s how the other methods for following your Tumblr faves break down:

• Dashboard: See everyone you’re following’s posts as they happen. But you have to hit reload… and they’re not really fully rendered… and you can’t see their themes… and your own posts get lost in the onslaught.
• Bookmarks: See everyone’s themes, but to avoid reading a bunch of un-updated pages you have to coordinate with another source, such as Dashboard or an RSS reader. Tres manual.
• RSS Reader: Better rendering, but usually not updated as fast as Dashboard. Also we can’t see their themes and while rendering is better than Dashboard, it still isn’t complete (comment link, anyone?).

Enter Tumblr Follow Mode. Leveraging the killer duo of Firefox and Greasemonkey, this userscript uses the Tumblr API to keep an eye on your followed tumblelogs any time you have Dashboard loaded. When it sees that one or more have new posts, it displays a handy little indicator on Dashboard:

Click the “fresh” button, and you’ll be taken to one of your fresh tumblelogs. When you’re done there, just click the handy “next” arrow at the top:

If the arrow’s not there, then you’re caught up and can go back to Dashboard.

That’s about all there is to it. Get Firefox and Greasemonkey if needed, install the userscript, and start surfing the Tumblr Wide Web.

P.S. You can save a few clicks hiding other’s posts in Dashboard by using Tumblr Persistent Dashboard Filter. The two scripts get along fine (they should since they’re both mine):

Feedback and bug reports are welcome and encouraged. Just hit the comments link.

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