#web app examples

[gurutechnolabs]

How to Build a Web App Like Starbucks?

Are you an entrepreneur and want to start a coffee house business with a web app? You're in the right place. Stay connected with us, and we will look into how you can build a web app like Starbucks. As one of the leading coffeehouse chains globally, Starbucks has set a benchmark for providing not only exceptional coffee but also a stellar digital experience through its web application. However, There are different types of web applications in the market, but choosing the best web development company helps you to build as per the needs of the business. 

In this guide, we'll explore the essential features and design implementation required to build a web application that mirrors the success of Starbucks.

Features to Build a Web App like Starbucks

User Authentication & User Profiles

Implement secure user authentication mechanisms such as email/password login, social media login, or biometric authentication to ensure user privacy and data security.

Allow users to create personalized profiles where they can manage their preferences, payment methods, and order history. Personalization is key to enhancing the user experience and fostering customer loyalty.

Menu and Product Catalog 

Display a comprehensive menu of products, including coffee, beverages, food items, and merchandise. Organize products into categories and provide detailed descriptions, images, and pricing information to facilitate informed purchasing decisions.

Ordering and Checkout 

Enable users to place orders directly through the web app with ease. Implement intuitive navigation, add-to-cart functionality, and secure checkout processes. Offer multiple payment options and integrate with payment gateways for seamless transactions.

Store Locator 

Integrate a store locator feature that allows users to find nearby Starbucks locations based on their current location or specified criteria. Provide essential information such as store hours, contact details, and directions to enhance convenience for customers.

Reward Programs

Implement a loyalty program similar to Starbucks Rewards, where users can earn points or rewards for their purchases and redeem them for discounts, freebies, or exclusive offers. Gamification elements such as progress tracking and tiered membership levels can incentivize repeat purchases and drive customer engagement.

Order Tracking and Notifications 

Keep users informed about the status of their orders through real-time tracking updates and notifications. Notify users about order confirmations, estimated delivery times, and any changes or delays to their orders to manage expectations effectively.

Feedback and Reviews 

Solicit feedback from users about their experience with the web app and the products/services offered. Allow users to rate and review products, provide suggestions for improvement, and share their testimonials to build trust and credibility.

Accessibility

Prioritize accessibility features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and alternative text for images to ensure inclusivity and usability for all users, including those with disabilities.

Social Media Integration

Seamlessly integrating social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram into your web app, like Starbucks, you can enhance user engagement, drive brand visibility, and foster a sense of community among your customers.

With social media integration, users can easily share their favourite Starbucks moments, order experiences, or special offers with their friends and followers with just a few clicks. You can implement features such as: 

Social Login: Allow users to sign in to your web app using their existing social media accounts. 

Social Sharing: Enable users to share their orders, reviews, or rewards milestones directly to their social media profiles. 

Social Feeds: Incorporate live feeds or widgets showcasing the latest posts, tweets, or photos related to Starbucks from various social media platforms.

User-generated Content: Curate user-generated content such as photos or reviews shared by customers on social media and feature them prominently within your web app. 

Coupon Generation

Coupons are a powerful tool for driving sales, rewarding loyal customers, and attracting new ones. In your web app like Starbucks, implementing a coupon generation feature can add an element of excitement and incentive for users to make purchases and engage with your brand.

Create various promotional campaigns and offers such as discounts, BOGO deals, or freebies for specific products or events. Use a coupon generation tool to generate unique coupon codes for each offer.

Help Centre

In any web application, providing reliable customer support is essential for ensuring a positive user experience and addressing user inquiries or issues promptly. A Help Centre serves as a centralized hub where users can find answers to commonly asked questions, troubleshoot technical issues, and seek assistance from customer support representatives.

The key component of the help centre is the FAQ section. Compile a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) covering topics such as account management, ordering, payments, and troubleshooting. Organize FAQs into categories and provide clear, concise answers to address users' concerns effectively.

Payment History

Incorporating a payment history feature into your web app, like Starbucks, provides transparency and convenience for users while facilitating accounting and reporting tasks for your business.

Maintain a record of all orders placed through the web app, including details such as order date, items purchased, quantities, prices, and payment methods. Organize orders chronologically and provide users with options to filter and search for specific orders.

By incorporating these essential features into your web application, you can create a digital experience that rivals the success and popularity of Starbucks' web app. Also, find the web application software examples to understand the web app features, market and build the best one for you. Remember to continuously iterate and improve your web app based on user feedback and market trends to stay ahead of the competition and deliver exceptional value to your customers. 

Design Implementation to Build a Web App Like Starbucks

Offer Seamless Integration

Ensure that all components of the web app seamlessly integrate with each other to provide a cohesive and smooth user experience. From navigation menus to payment processing and user profiles, every element should work together seamlessly to streamline the user journey and enhance usability.

Reduce Unnecessary Items

Keep the design clean and clutter-free by minimizing unnecessary elements that can distract or overwhelm users. Focus on essential features and functionalities that align with the core objectives of the web app, eliminating any extraneous elements that do not add value or contribute to the overall user experience.

Reward Integration

Integrate a rewards system into the web app to incentivize customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. Offer rewards for various actions such as making purchases, referring friends, or engaging with the app, and prominently display users' reward status and progress to motivate continued participation.

Gamification

Incorporate gamification elements into the design to make the user experience more engaging and interactive. Implement features such as progress bars, achievement badges, and challenges to encourage users to explore different aspects of the app, complete tasks, and unlock rewards. Gamification can add an element of fun and excitement to the user experience while also driving user engagement and retention.

Conclusion 

Creating a web app similar to Starbucks involves carefully thinking about important features and implementing them with precision in design. By teaming up with a trusted web app development company, entrepreneurs can ensure their ideas become a successful digital platform. The cost of making such an app can vary based on what you need and how customized you want it. However, it's crucial to invest in features that make the user experience great, keep data secure, and allow for future growth.

Making a web app like Starbucks isn't just copying what's already there. It's about being innovative and giving customers a unique online experience that makes your brand stand out. With the right strategy and dedication to quality, entrepreneurs can build a coffee business that thrives in the digital world. Considering the cost of building a web app helps you to get started. Collaborate with experienced developers for a personalized estimation of your project. 

[itstimetodrew]

I've had the new shitty tumblr layout for a while but...are they getting rid of icons, too?

I can see the icons of people in a reblogged post, like the chain of commenters, but the icons of the actual people I follow and use those icons as visual shorthand to identify are gone. 😐

Dash now versus what it looked like last month

This place just keeps getting better!

[nitor-infotech]

Have you heard of Backend for Frontend (BFF)? Read our blog to know about its transformative potential in web development, where it elevates user experiences, tackles challenges, and optimizes your web development journey.

[aaksconsulting]

Building A Strong Online Brand Identity: Tips And Examples

Are you ready to take your online presence to the next level? In today’s digital era, establishing a strong brand identity is crucial for success. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a seasoned marketer, this blog post is here to guide you through the process of building an irresistible online brand.

From crafting compelling visuals to creating authentic messaging, we’ll dive into expert tips and real-life examples that will leave a lasting impression on your audience. Get ready to unleash your creativity and make waves in the vast ocean of cyberspace!

INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE BRAND IDENTITY

In today’s digital age, having a strong online brand identity is crucial for any business or individual looking to establish their presence and stand out in the competitive online market. With the increasing use of social media platforms and the rise of e-commerce, building a recognizable and consistent brand identity has become essential for success.

Online brand identity refers to how a brand is perceived by its target audience in the digital space. It encompasses all aspects of a brand’s online presence, including its website design, visual elements, messaging, tone of voice, and overall personality. In simpler terms, it is what sets your brand apart from others and makes it easily recognizable to your audience.

Why Is Online Brand Identity Important?

There are several reasons why having a strong online brand identity is crucial for businesses:

1. Builds Trust: A well-defined and consistent online brand identity helps build trust with your target audience. When people see your logo or come across your social media posts consistently, they begin to recognize you as an established and reliable brand.

2. Creates Differentiation: In today’s overcrowded marketplace where competition is fierce, having a unique and memorable brand identity can help you stand out from the crowd. It allows you to differentiate yourself from other businesses offering similar products or services.

3. Increases Brand Awareness: An effective online brand identity strategy can significantly increase your reach and visibility in the digital world. With more people recognizing your branding elements such as logos or color schemes, you can expand your customer base and attract new leads.

How to Establish an Online Brand Identity?

1. Define Your Brand’s Core Values and Mission: The first step in establishing an online brand identity is defining what your brand stands for. What values do you want to be associated with? What is your mission or purpose? This will help guide all your branding decisions and ensure consistency across all platforms.

2. Know Your Target Audience: Understanding your target audience is crucial when it comes to creating a strong online brand identity. Conduct market research, gather data, and analyze customer behavior to determine who you are trying to reach and what messaging will resonate with them.

IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG ONLINE BRAND IDENTITY

In today’s digital age, having a strong online brand identity has become more important than ever before. With the increasing reliance on technology and the internet, consumers are constantly engaging with brands online. This makes it crucial for businesses to establish a powerful and distinct online brand identity that sets them apart from their competitors.

But what exactly is an online brand identity? Simply put, it is the image or personality of your brand as perceived by your target audience in the digital space. It encompasses everything from your website design and social media presence to your content and customer interactions.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

One of the key components of building a strong online brand identity is understanding your target audience. Without a clear understanding of who your target audience is, it can be difficult to create a brand that resonates with them and ultimately leads to success.

Identifying and understanding your target audience involves more than just knowing basic demographics such as age, gender, and income level. It requires delving deeper into their behaviors, interests, values, and pain points. This will help you create a brand that not only appeals to them but also solves their problems or meets their needs.

So how do you go about understanding your target audience? Here are some tips:

1. Conduct Market Research: The first step in understanding your target audience is conducting market research. This can include surveys, focus groups, or even analyzing data from social media platforms or website analytics. The goal of market research is to gather insights about your potential customers’ preferences, behaviors, and motivations.

2. Create Buyer Personas: After gathering data from market research, the next step is to create buyer personas – fictional representations of your ideal customers based on common characteristics found in your research. These personas should include details such as age, occupation, goals, challenges, interests, and preferred communication channels.

DEFINING YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY AND VALUES

Your brand’s personality and values are the backbone of your online identity. They are what sets you apart from your competitors and attracts potential customers to engage with your brand. In order to build a strong online brand identity, it is crucial to define and understand your brand’s personality and values.

Brand Personality

Just like individuals, brands also have unique personalities that reflect their characteristics, values, and tone of voice. Your brand personality should be consistent across all online channels – from social media posts to website content. This helps create a cohesive and memorable image for your audience.

To define your brand personality, start by identifying the key adjectives that best describe your brand. Is it playful or serious? Sophisticated or down-to-earth? These words will serve as the foundation of your brand’s character.

Next, think about how you want your target audience to perceive your brand. Do you want them to see it as innovative and modern or traditional and reliable? Your chosen perception should align with both your target market’s preferences and the products/services you offer.

It can also be helpful to identify a few well-known brands that have a similar personality to yours. This can give you inspiration on how they communicate their message through visuals, language, and overall branding.

Once you have defined your brand’s personality, it is important to stay consistent in its application across all aspects of branding – from color schemes to messaging.

Brand Values

Your brand values are the guiding principles that define what your brand stands for. They represent the beliefs and convictions that drive your brand’s decision-making process and actions.

To identify your brand values, think about what is important to you as a business owner and to your target audience. These values should align with your brand’s mission and vision. For example, if you are a sustainable fashion company, some of your values may include environmental responsibility, ethical sourcing, and transparency.

It can also be helpful to involve your team in identifying these values, as they are likely to have their own perspectives on what makes your brand unique.

Once you have determined your brand values, make sure to communicate them clearly and consistently through all of your online channels. This will help build trust with potential customers who share similar values.

Overall, defining your brand personality and values is an essential step in building a strong online identity. It not only helps differentiate your brand from competitors but also creates a connection with potential customers who align with your core beliefs and characteristics. By staying consistent in portraying these elements across all online channels, you can establish a memorable and authentic brand identity that resonates with your target audience.

DESIGNING A VISUAL IDENTITY (LOGO, COLOR SCHEME, FONTS)

When it comes to building a strong online brand identity, one of the most crucial elements is designing a visual identity that effectively represents your brand. This includes creating a logo, choosing a color scheme, and selecting appropriate fonts. In this section, we will discuss some important considerations for each of these components.

Logo Design: Your logo is often the first thing your audience sees and remembers about your brand. It should be unique, memorable, and representative of your brand’s values and personality. When designing a logo for your online brand identity, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Keep it simple: A cluttered or complex logo can be overwhelming and difficult to remember. Aim for simplicity in both design and concept. 2. Make it versatile: Your logo should look good on various platforms such as social media profiles, website header, business cards, etc. 3. Consider colors carefully: The colors you choose for your logo can convey different emotions and associations to your audience. For example, red is associated with energy and excitement while blue conveys trustworthiness and professionalism. 4. Be consistent with branding elements: Your logo should align with the overall aesthetic of your website and other branding elements such as fonts and color scheme.

Color Scheme: The colors you use throughout your website play a significant role in establishing your brand’s visual identity. Colors evoke emotions and create associations; therefore, it is essential to choose them carefully. Here are some tips for selecting a color scheme for your brand:

1. Start with brand values: Consider what emotions and values you want to convey through your brand. For example, if you want to communicate innovation and creativity, bright and bold colors may be appropriate. 2. Limit the number of colors: Too many colors can be overwhelming and distracting. Stick to a maximum of 3-4 complementary colors. 3. Consider color psychology: Different colors have different psychological effects on people. Do some research on color psychology and choose colors that align with your brand’s message. 4. Choose accessible colors: Make sure the color scheme you choose is accessible to all individuals, including those with color vision deficiencies.

Fonts: The fonts you use can greatly impact the overall aesthetic of your website and contribute to your brand’s visual identity. Here are some things to consider when choosing fonts for your online brand:

1. Be consistent: It’s important to use the same fonts throughout your website as this creates a cohesive look and strengthens your branding. 2. Consider readability: Fonts that are difficult to read can be frustrating for users and may lead them to leave your site. 3. Match font style with brand personality: Just like colors, fonts also have their own personalities.

CREATING CONSISTENT MESSAGING ACROSS PLATFORMS

A strong online brand identity is not just about having a visually appealing website or social media presence. It also involves creating consistent messaging across all platforms to effectively communicate your brand’s values, mission, and voice. In today’s digital world, where consumers have multiple touchpoints with a brand, it is crucial to maintain consistency in your messaging to build trust and loyalty among your audience.

Here are some essential tips for creating consistent messaging across platforms:

1. Define Your Brand Voice and Values The first step in developing a consistent message is to define your brand’s unique voice and core values. Your voice should reflect the personality of your brand and resonate with your target audience. Are you fun and playful or serious and professional? What are the key values that guide your business? Understanding these aspects will help you create a tone of voice that remains consistent across all platforms.

2. Use Visual Elements Consistently In addition to verbal communication, visual elements such as logos, colors, fonts, and imagery play a significant role in reinforcing your brand identity. Make sure these elements are used consistently across all platforms to create a cohesive look and feel for your brand. This will help customers recognize your brand quickly and build trust over time.

3. Maintain Brand Guidelines Having clear guidelines for how your branding should be used ensures consistency across all channels – from social media posts to website design. This includes everything from logo placement, color palette, font usage, image style, tone of voice guidelines , and more. Share these guidelines with all team members responsible for creating content to ensure everyone is on the same page.

4. Tailor Your Message for Each Platform While maintaining consistency in your messaging is essential, it’s also crucial to adapt your message to each platform’s unique format and audience. For example, the tone and style of a post on Twitter may differ from that of a blog post or an email newsletter. However, the core message and values should remain consistent.

5. Be Authentic and Transparent Consistent messaging is not just about using the same words or visuals across platforms; it’s also about authenticity and transparency. Be genuine in your communication with your audience and avoid misleading or contradictory messages. This will help build trust and credibility with your customers.

6. Monitor Your Messaging Across Platforms Regularly monitor your messaging across all platforms to ensure consistency. This includes reviewing social media posts, website content, email newsletters, advertising campaigns, etc. If you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies, take corrective action immediately.

In conclusion, creating consistent messaging across platforms requires a clear understanding of your brand voice, values, and guidelines. By following these tips, you can effectively communicate your brand’s identity and establish a strong connection with your audience across all digital

UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAND IDENTITY

Social media has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes to connect with their target audience and establish a strong brand identity. With billions of active users, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer businesses the opportunity to reach a wide range of potential customers.

In this digital age, having a strong presence on social media is crucial for building your brand’s online identity. It not only helps you reach a larger audience but also allows you to engage with them in real-time, which can greatly impact your brand perception. Here are some key ways to utilize social media to strengthen your brand identity:

1. Define Your Brand Voice and Tone Before jumping into creating content for social media, it is important to define your brand voice and tone. Your brand voice should be consistent across all social media channels and align with your overall branding strategy. It should reflect the personality of your brand and resonate with your target audience.

For example, if you are a fun and playful fashion brand targeting young adults, then using casual language and incorporating humor into your posts would be appropriate. On the other hand, if you are a luxury skincare brand targeting affluent individuals, maintaining a sophisticated tone would be more suitable.

2. Consistency is Key Consistency is crucial when it comes to building a strong online brand identity through social media. This includes posting regularly, using similar visuals/colors/fonts across all platforms and maintaining the same messaging style throughout.

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BRAND IDENTITIES

In today’s digital age, having a strong online brand identity is crucial for businesses to stand out and succeed. A well-defined brand identity can help a company build credibility, establish a loyal customer base, and differentiate itself from competitors. To better understand the concept of online brand identity, let’s take a look at some successful examples.

1. Nike

Nike is one of the most recognizable and successful brands in the world, both offline and online. Their online brand identity is built on their slogan ‘Just Do It’ which encourages customers to push themselves to achieve their goals. This message is consistently reflected in all of their marketing campaigns, social media posts, website design, and even their packaging.

Additionally, Nike has successfully utilized influencer collaborations to further strengthen its online brand identity. By partnering with athletes and celebrities who embody the spirit of their brand, Nike reaches a wider audience while staying true to its core values.

2. Glossier

Glossier is another great example of a strong online brand identity. The beauty company focuses on natural beauty and self-acceptance rather than promoting an unrealistic standard of perfection. This message resonates with its target audience – young women – who are seeking authenticity in the products they use.

Glossier’s clean and minimalistic branding extends to their social media presence as well. They often feature user-generated content on Instagram that showcases real people using their products, creating a sense of community among followers.

– ANALYSIS AND EXPLANATION OF THEIR STRATEGIES

In the digital age, having a strong online brand identity is crucial for businesses to succeed. A well-crafted online brand can not only attract potential customers but also establish trust and credibility with existing ones. However, building an effective online brand identity requires more than just a catchy logo or a beautiful website. It involves carefully strategizing and implementing various methods to create a cohesive and impactful presence in the virtual world.

In this section, we will delve into the analysis and explanation of successful strategies that have been used by some of the top brands to build a strong online presence.

1. Consistency is Key: Consistency is one of the most important elements when it comes to building an effective online brand identity. This means maintaining consistency in all aspects of your brand – from visuals and messaging to tone and voice. Brands like Coca-Cola and Nike are prime examples of consistency in their branding efforts. They have maintained their iconic logos, slogans, and overall aesthetic throughout their marketing campaigns, creating a recognizable image for consumers.

2. Know Your Target Audience: To build a strong online brand identity, it’s crucial to understand who your target audience is and tailor your branding efforts accordingly. Conduct thorough market research to identify your ideal customer’s demographics, behaviors, interests, etc., and use this information to craft messaging that resonates with them. For instance, skincare brand Glossier has successfully built its online presence by targeting millennial women through its minimalist packaging, social media presence, and relatable messaging.

COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID IN BUILDING AN ONLINE BRAND IDENTITY

Building a strong online brand identity is crucial for any business or individual looking to establish a successful presence on the internet. However, it’s easy to make mistakes when it comes to creating an effective and impactful brand identity. In this section, we will discuss some common mistakes that individuals and businesses should avoid in order to build a strong online brand identity.

1. Neglecting Your Brand’s Story and Values

One of the biggest mistakes in building an online brand identity is not having a clear understanding of your brand’s story and values. Your brand’s story is what sets you apart from your competitors and helps consumers connect with your business on a deeper level. Without a compelling story or set of values, your brand can come across as generic and unappealing.

To avoid this mistake, take the time to define your brand’s story and values before establishing an online presence. This will ensure that all aspects of your branding – from website design to social media content – are aligned with your narrative and values.

2. Inconsistent Visuals

Another common mistake is using inconsistent visuals across different platforms or channels. Your visual branding elements such as logo, color scheme, typography, and imagery should be consistent throughout all online touchpoints. Inconsistency can confuse consumers and weaken their perception of your brand.

To maintain consistency in visual branding, create style guides or templates that outline how these elements should be used on different platforms. This will help ensure that all marketing materials have a cohesive look and feel.

CONCLUSION:

In today’s digital age, having a strong online brand identity is crucial for the success of any business. It not only helps you stand out from the competition but also builds trust and credibility with your target audience. In this blog post, we have discussed various tips and examples to help you build a strong online brand identity.

Firstly, it is important to define your brand’s values, mission, and vision. This will serve as the foundation for your online presence and help guide all your branding efforts. Make sure to clearly communicate these values in all aspects of your online presence, including your website, social media profiles, and content.

Secondly, consistency is key when it comes to building an online brand identity. Your visual elements such as logo, color scheme, font choices should be consistent across all platforms. This creates a cohesive look and makes it easier for customers to recognize and remember your brand.

[codeonedigest]

AWS APP Runner Tutorial for Amazon Cloud Developers

Full Video Link - https://youtube.com/shorts/_OgnzyiP8TI Hi, a new #video #tutorial on #apprunner #aws #amazon #awsapprunner is published on #codeonedigest #youtube channel. @java @awscloud @AWSCloudIndia @YouTube #youtube @codeonedigest #code

AWS App Runner is a fully managed container application service that lets you build, deploy, and run containerized applications without prior infrastructure or container experience. AWS App Runner also load balances the traffic with encryption, scales to meet your traffic needs, and allows to communicate with other AWS applications in a private VPC. You can use App Runner to build and run API…

[exeggcute]

the great reddit API meltdown of '23, or: this was always bound to happen

there's a lot of press about what's going on with reddit right now (app shutdowns, subreddit blackouts, the CEO continually putting his foot in his mouth), but I haven't seen as much stuff talking about how reddit got into this situation to begin with. so as a certified non-expert and Context Enjoyer I thought it might be helpful to lay things out as I understand them—a high-level view, surveying the whole landscape—in the wonderful world of startups, IPOs, and extremely angry users.

disclaimer that I am not a founder or VC (lmao), have yet to work at a company with a successful IPO, and am not a reddit employee or third-party reddit developer or even a subreddit moderator. I do work at a startup, know my way around an API or two, and have spent twelve regrettable years on reddit itself. which is to say that I make no promises of infallibility, but I hope you'll at least find all this interesting.

profit now or profit later

before you can really get into reddit as reddit, it helps to know a bit about startups (of which reddit is one). and before I launch into that, let me share my Three Types Of Websites framework, which is basically just a mental model about financial incentives that's helped me contextualize some of this stuff.

(1) website/software that does not exist to make money: relatively rare, for a variety of reasons, among them that it costs money to build and maintain a website in the first place. wikipedia is the evergreen example, although even wikipedia's been subject to criticism for how the wikimedia foundation pays out its employees and all that fun nonprofit stuff. what's important here is that even when making money is not the goal, money itself is still a factor, whether it's solicited via donations or it's just one guy paying out of pocket to host a hobby site. but websites in this category do, generally, offer free, no-strings-attached experiences to their users.

(I do want push back against the retrospective nostalgia of "everything on the internet used to be this way" because I don't think that was ever really true—look at AOL, the dotcom boom, the rise of banner ads. I distinctly remember that neopets had multiple corporate sponsors, including a cookie crisp-themed flash game. yahoo bought geocities for $3.6 billion; money's always been trading hands, obvious or not. it's indisputable that the internet is simply different now than it was ten or twenty years ago, and that monetization models themselves have largely changed as well (I have thoughts about this as it relates to web 1.0 vs web 2.0 and their associated costs/scale/etc.), but I think the only time people weren't trying to squeeze the internet for all the dimes it can offer was when the internet was first conceived as a tool for national defense.)

(2) website/software that exists to make money now: the type that requires the least explanation. mostly non-startup apps and services, including any random ecommerce storefront, mobile apps that cost three bucks to download, an MMO with a recurring subscription, or even a news website that runs banner ads and/or offers paid subscriptions. in most (but not all) cases, the "make money now" part is obvious, so these things don't feel free to us as users, even to the extent that they might have watered-down free versions or limited access free trials. no one's shocked when WoW offers another paid expansion packs because WoW's been around for two decades and has explicitly been trying to make money that whole time.

(3) website/software that exists to make money later: this is the fun one, and more common than you'd think. "make money later" is more or less the entire startup business model—I'll get into that in the next section—and is deployed with the expectation that you will make money at some point, but not always by means as obvious as "selling WoW expansions for forty bucks a pop."

companies in this category tend to have two closely entwined characteristics: they prioritize growth above all else, regardless of whether this growth is profitable in any way (now, or sometimes, ever), and they do this by offering users really cool and awesome shit at little to no cost (or, if not for free, then at least at a significant loss to the company).

so from a user perspective, these things either seem free or far cheaper than their competitors. but of course websites and software and apps and [blank]-as-a-service tools cost money to build and maintain, and that money has to come from somewhere, and the people supplying that money, generally, expect to get it back...

just not immediately.

startups, VCs, IPOs, and you

here's the extremely condensed "did NOT go to harvard business school" version of how a startup works:

(1) you have a cool idea.

(2) you convince some venture capitalists (also known as VCs) that your idea is cool. if they see the potential in what you're pitching, they'll give you money in exchange for partial ownership of your company—which means that if/when the company starts trading its stock publicly, these investors will own X numbers of shares that they can sell at any time. in other words, you get free money now (and you'll likely seek multiple "rounds" of investors over the years to sustain your company), but with the explicit expectations that these investors will get their payoff later, assuming you don't crash and burn before that happens.

during this phase, you want to do anything in your power to make your company appealing to investors so you can attract more of them and raise funds as needed. because you are definitely not bringing in the necessary revenue to offset operating costs by yourself.

it's also worth nothing that this is less about projecting the long-term profitability of your company than it's about its perceived profitability—i.e., VCs want to put their money behind a company that other people will also have confidence in, because that's what makes stock valuable, and VCs are in it for stock prices.

(3) there are two non-exclusive win conditions for your startup: you can get acquired, and you can have an IPO (also referred to as "going public"). these are often called "exit scenarios" and they benefit VCs and founders, as well as some employees. it's also possible for a company to get acquired, possibly even more than once, and then later go public.

acquisition: sell the whole damn thing to someone else. there are a million ways this can happen, some better than others, but in many cases this means anyone with ownership of the company (which includes both investors and employees who hold stock options) get their stock bought out by the acquiring company and end up with cash in hand. in varying amounts, of course. sometimes the founders walk away, sometimes the employees get laid off, but not always.

IPO: short for "initial public offering," this is when the company starts trading its stocks publicly, which means anyone who wants to can start buying that company's stock, which really means that VCs (and employees with stock options) can turn that hypothetical money into real money by selling their company stock to interested buyers.

drawing from that, companies don't go for an IPO until they think their stock will actually be worth something (or else what's the point?)—specifically, worth more than the amount of money that investors poured into it. The Powers That Be will speculate about a company's IPO potential way ahead of time, which is where you'll hear stuff about companies who have an estimated IPO evaluation of (to pull a completely random example) $10B. actually I lied, that was not a random example, that was reddit's valuation back in 2021 lol. but a valuation is basically just "how much will people be interested in our stock?"

as such, in the time leading up to an IPO, it's really really important to do everything you can to make your company seem like a good investment (which is how you get stock prices up), usually by making the company's numbers look good. but! if you plan on cashing out, the long-term effects of your decisions aren't top of mind here. remember, the industry lingo is "exit scenario."

if all of this seems like a good short-term strategy for companies and their VCs, but an unsustainable model for anyone who's buying those stocks during the IPO, that's because it often is.

also worth noting that it's possible for a company to be technically unprofitable as a business (meaning their costs outstrip their revenue) and still trade enormously well on the stock market; uber is the perennial example of this. to the people who make money solely off of buying and selling stock, it literally does not matter that the actual rideshare model isn't netting any income—people think the stock is valuable, so it's valuable.

this is also why, for example, elon musk is richer than god: if he were only the CEO of tesla, the money he'd make from selling mediocre cars would be (comparatively, lol) minimal. but he's also one of tesla's angel investors, which means he holds a shitload of tesla stock, and tesla's stock has performed well since their IPO a decade ago (despite recent dips)—even if tesla itself has never been a huge moneymaker, public faith in the company's eventual success has kept them trading at high levels. granted, this also means most of musk's wealth is hypothetical and not liquid; if TSLA dropped to nothing, so would the value of all the stock he holds (and his net work with it).

what's an API, anyway?

to move in an entirely different direction: we can't get into reddit's API debacle without understanding what an API itself is.

an API (short for "application programming interface," not that it really matters) is a series of code instructions that independent developers can use to plug their shit into someone else's shit. like a series of tin cans on strings between two kids' treehouses, but for sending and receiving data.

APIs work by yoinking data directly from a company's servers instead of displaying anything visually to users. so I could use reddit's API to build my own app that takes the day's top r/AITA post and transcribes it into pig latin: my app is a bunch of lines of code, and some of those lines of code fetch data from reddit (and then transcribe that data into pig latin), and then my app displays the content to anyone who wants to see it, not reddit itself. as far as reddit is concerned, no additional human beings laid eyeballs on that r/AITA post, and reddit never had a chance to serve ads alongside the pig-latinized content in my app. (put a pin in this part—it'll be relevant later.)

but at its core, an API is really a type of protocol, which encompasses a broad category of formats and business models and so on. some APIs are completely free to use, like how anyone can build a discord bot (but you still have to host it yourself). some companies offer free APIs to third-party developers can build their own plugins, and then the company and the third-party dev split the profit on those plugins. some APIs have a free tier for hobbyists and a paid tier for big professional projects (like every weather API ever, lol). some APIs are strictly paid services because the API itself is the company's core offering.

reddit's financial foundations

okay thanks for sticking with me. I promise we're almost ready to be almost ready to talk about the current backlash.

reddit has always been a startup's startup from day one: its founders created the site after attending a startup incubator (which is basically a summer camp run by VCs) with the successful goal of creating a financially successful site. backed by that delicious y combinator money, reddit got acquired by conde nast only a year or two after its creation, which netted its founders a couple million each. this was back in like, 2006 by the way. in the time since that acquisition, reddit's gone through a bunch of additional funding rounds, including from big-name investors like a16z, peter thiel (yes, that guy), sam altman (yes, also that guy), sequoia, fidelity, and tencent. crunchbase says that they've raised a total of $1.3B in investor backing.

in all this time, reddit has never been a public company, or, strictly speaking, profitable.

APIs and third-party apps

reddit has offered free API access for basically as long as it's had a public API—remember, as a "make money later" company, their primary goal is growth, which means attracting as many users as possible to the platform. so letting anyone build an app or widget is (or really, was) in line with that goal.

as such, third-party reddit apps have been around forever. by third-party apps, I mean apps that use the reddit API to display actual reddit content in an unofficial wrapper. iirc reddit didn't even have an official mobile app until semi-recently, so many of these third-party mobile apps in particular just sprung up to meet an unmet need, and they've kept a small but dedicated userbase ever since. some people also prefer the user experience of the unofficial apps, especially since they offer extra settings to customize what you're seeing and few to no ads (and any ads these apps do display are to the benefit of the third-party developers, not reddit itself.)

(let me add this preemptively: one solution I've seen proposed to the paid API backlash is that reddit should have third-party developers display reddit's ads in those third-party apps, but this isn't really possible or advisable due to boring adtech reasons I won't inflict on you here. source: just trust me bro)

in addition to mobile apps, there are also third-party tools that don’t replace the Official Reddit Viewing Experience but do offer auxiliary features like being able to mass-delete your post history, tools that make the site more accessible to people who use screen readers, and tools that help moderators of subreddits moderate more easily. not to mention a small army of reddit bots like u/AutoWikibot or u/RemindMebot (and then the bots that tally the number of people who reply to bot comments with “good bot” or “bad bot).

the number of people who use third-party apps is relatively small, but they arguably comprise some of reddit’s most dedicated users, which means that third-party apps are important to the people who keep reddit running and the people who supply reddit with high-quality content.

unpaid moderators and user-generated content

so reddit is sort of two things: reddit is a platform, but it’s also a community.

the platform is all the unsexy (or, if you like python, sexy) stuff under the hood that actually makes the damn thing work. this is what the company spends money building and maintaining and "owns." the community is all the stuff that happens on the platform: posts, people, petty squabbles. so the platform is where the content lives, but ultimately the content is the reason people use reddit—no one’s like “yeah, I spend time on here because the backend framework really impressed me."

and all of this content is supplied by users, which is not unique among social media platforms, but the content is also managed by users, which is. paid employees do not govern subreddits; unpaid volunteers do. and moderation is the only thing that keeps reddit even remotely tolerable—without someone to remove spam, ban annoying users, and (god willing) enforce rules against abuse and hate speech, a subreddit loses its appeal and therefore its users. not dissimilar to the situation we’re seeing play out at twitter, except at twitter it was the loss of paid moderators;  reddit is arguably in a more precarious position because they could lose this unpaid labor at any moment, and as an already-unprofitable company they absolutely cannot afford to implement paid labor as a substitute.

oh yeah? spell "IPO" backwards

so here we are, June 2023, and reddit is licking its lips in anticipation of a long-fabled IPO. which means it’s time to start fluffing themselves up for investors by cutting costs (yay, layoffs!) and seeking new avenues of profit, however small.

this brings us to the current controversy: reddit announced a new API pricing plan that more or less prevents anyone from using it for free.

from reddit's perspective, the ostensible benefits of charging for API access are twofold: first, there's direct profit to be made off of the developers who (may or may not) pay several thousand dollars a month to use it, and second, cutting off unsanctioned third-party mobile apps (possibly) funnels those apps' users back into the official reddit mobile app. and since users on third-party apps reap the benefit of reddit's site architecture (and hosting, and development, and all the other expenses the site itself incurs) without “earning” money for reddit by generating ad impressions, there’s a financial incentive at work here: even if only a small percentage of people use third-party apps, getting them to use the official app instead translates to increased ad revenue, however marginal.

(also worth mentioning that chatGPT and other LLMs were trained via tools that used reddit's API to scrape post and content data, and now that openAI is reaping the profits of that training without giving reddit any kickbacks, reddit probably wants to prevent repeats of this from happening in the future. if you want to train the next LLM, it's gonna cost you.)

of course, these changes only benefit reddit if they actually increase the company’s revenue and perceived value/growth—which is hard to do when your users (who are also the people who supply the content for other users to engage with, who are also the people who moderate your communities and make them fun to participate in) get really fucking pissed and threaten to walk.

pricing shenanigans

under the new API pricing plan, third-party developers are suddenly facing steep costs to maintain the apps and tools they’ve built.

most paid APIs are priced by volume: basically, the more data you send and receive, the more money it costs. so if your third-party app has a lot of users, you’ll have to make more API requests to fetch content for those users, and your app becomes more expensive to maintain. (this isn’t an issue if the tool you’re building also turns a profit, but most third-party reddit apps make little, if any, money.)

which is why, even though third-party apps capture a relatively small portion of reddit’s users, the developer of a popular third-party app called apollo recently learned that it would cost them about $20 million a year to keep the app running. and apollo actually offers some paid features (for extra in-app features independent of what reddit offers), but nowhere near enough to break even on those API costs.

so apollo, any many apps like it, were suddenly unable to keep their doors open under the new API pricing model and announced that they'd be forced to shut down.

backlash, blackout

plenty has been said already about the current subreddit blackouts—in like, official news outlets and everything—so this might be the least interesting section of my whole post lol. the short version is that enough redditors got pissed enough that they collectively decided to take subreddits “offline” in protest, either by making them read-only or making them completely inaccessible. their goal was to send a message, and that message was "if you piss us off and we bail, here's what reddit's gonna be like: a ghost town."

but, you may ask, if third-party apps only captured a small number of users in the first place, how was the backlash strong enough to result in a near-sitewide blackout? well, two reasons:

first and foremost, since moderators in particular are fond of third-party tools, and since moderators wield outsized power (as both the people who keep your site more or less civil, and as the people who can take a subreddit offline if they feel like it), it’s in your best interests to keep them happy. especially since they don’t get paid to do this job in the first place, won’t keep doing it if it gets too hard, and essentially have nothing to lose by stepping down.

then, to a lesser extent, the non-moderator users on third-party apps tend to be Power Users who’ve been on reddit since its inception, and as such likely supply a disproportionate amount of the high-quality content for other users to see (and for ads to be served alongside). if you drive away those users, you’re effectively kneecapping your overall site traffic (which is bad for Growth) and reducing the number/value of any ad impressions you can serve (which is bad for revenue).

also a secret third reason, which is that even people who use the official apps have no stake in a potential IPO, can smell the general unfairness of this whole situation, and would enjoy the schadenfreude of investors getting fucked over. not to mention that reddit’s current CEO has made a complete ass of himself and now everyone hates him and wants to see him suffer personally.

(granted, it seems like reddit may acquiesce slightly and grant free API access to a select set of moderation/accessibility tools, but at this point it comes across as an empty gesture.)

"later" is now "now"

TL;DR: this whole thing is a combination of many factors, specifically reddit being intensely user-driven and self-governed, but also a high-traffic site that costs a lot of money to run (why they willingly decided to start hosting video a few years back is beyond me...), while also being angled as a public stock market offering in the very near future. to some extent I understand why reddit’s CEO doubled down on the changes—he wants to look strong for investors—but he’s also made a fool of himself and cast a shadow of uncertainty onto reddit’s future, not to mention the PR nightmare surrounding all of this. and since arguably the most important thing in an IPO is how much faith people have in your company, I honestly think reddit would’ve fared better if they hadn’t gone nuclear with the API changes in the first place.

that said, I also think it’s a mistake to assume that reddit care (or needs to care) about its users in any meaningful way, or at least not as more than means to an end. if reddit shuts down in three years, but all of the people sitting on stock options right now cashed out at $120/share and escaped unscathed... that’s a success story! you got your money! VCs want to recoup their investment—they don’t care about longevity (at least not after they’re gone), user experience, or even sustained profit. those were never the forces driving them, because these were never the ultimate metrics of their success.

and to be clear: this isn’t unique to reddit. this is how pretty much all startups operate.

I talked about the difference between “make money now” companies and “make money later” companies, and what we’re experiencing is the painful transition from “later” to “now.” as users, this change is almost invisible until it’s already happened—it’s like a rug we didn’t even know existed gets pulled out from under us.

the pre-IPO honeymoon phase is awesome as a user, because companies have no expectation of profit, only growth. if you can rely on VC money to stay afloat, your only concern is building a user base, not squeezing a profit out of them. and to do that, you offer cool shit at a loss: everything’s chocolate and flowers and quarterly reports about the number of signups you’re getting!

...until you reach a critical mass of users, VCs want to cash in, and to prepare for that IPO leadership starts thinking of ways to make the website (appear) profitable and implements a bunch of shit that makes users go “wait, what?”

I also touched on this earlier, but I want to reiterate a bit here: I think the myth of the benign non-monetized internet of yore is exactly that—a myth. what has changed are the specific market factors behind these websites, and their scale, and the means by which they attempt to monetize their services and/or make their services look attractive to investors, and so from a user perspective things feel worse because the specific ways we’re getting squeezed have evolved. maybe they are even worse, at least in the ways that matter. but I’m also increasingly less surprised when this occurs, because making money is and has always been the goal for all of these ventures, regardless of how they try to do so.

[photomatt]

Why “Go Nuts, Show Nuts” Doesn’t Work in 2022

For those who don’t know or remember, Tumblr used to have a policy around porn that was literally “Go nuts, show nuts. Whatever.” That was memorable and hilarious, and for many people, Tumblr both hosted and helped with the discovery of a unique type of adult content.

In 2018, when Tumblr was owned by Verizon, they swung in the other direction and instituted an adult content ban that took out not only porn but also a ton of art and artists – including a ban on what must have been fun for a lawyer to write, female presenting nipples. This policy is currently still in place, though the Tumblr and Automattic teams are working to make it more open and common-sense, and the community labels launch is a first step toward that.

That said, no modern internet service in 2022 can have the rules that Tumblr did in 2007. I am personally extremely libertarian in terms of what consenting adults should be able to share, and I agree with “go nuts, show nuts” in principle, but the casually porn-friendly era of the early internet is currently impossible. Here’s why:

Credit card companies are anti-porn. You’ve probably heard how Pornhub can’t accept credit cards anymore. Or seen the new rules from Mastercard. Whatever crypto-utopia might come in the coming decades, today if you are blocked from banks, credit card processing, and financial services, you’re blocked from the modern economy. The vast majority of Automattic’s revenue comes from people buying our services and auto-renewing on credit cards, including the ads-free browsing upgrade that Tumblr recently launched. If we lost the ability to process credit cards, it wouldn’t just threaten Tumblr, but also the 2,000+ people in 97 countries that work at Automattic across all our products.

App stores, particularly Apple’s, are anti-porn. Tumblr started in 2007, the same year the iPhone was released. Originally, the iPhone didn’t have an App Store, and the speed of connectivity and quality of the screen meant that people didn’t use their smartphone very much and mostly interacted with Tumblr on the web, using desktop and laptop computers (really). Today 40% of our signups and 85% of our page views come from people on mobile apps, not on the web. Apple has its own rules for what’s allowed in their App Store, and the interpretation of those rules can vary depending on who is reviewing your app on any given day. Previous decisions on what’s allowed can be reversed any time you submit an app update, which we do several times a month. If Apple permanently banned Tumblr from the App Store, we’d probably have to shut the service down. If you want apps to allow more adult content, please lobby Apple. No one in the App Store has any effective power, even multi-hundred-billion companies like Facebook/Meta can be devastated when Apple changes its policies. Aside: Why do Twitter and Reddit get away with tons of super hardcore content? Ask Apple, because I don’t know. My guess is that Twitter and Reddit are too big for Apple to block so they decided to make an example out of Tumblr, which has “only” 102 million monthly visitors. Maybe Twitter gets blocked by Apple sometimes too but can’t talk about it because they’re a public company and it would scare investors.

There are lots of new rules around verifying consent and age in adult content. The rise of smartphones also means that everyone has a camera that can capture pictures and video at any time. Non-consensual sharing has grown exponentially and has been a huge problem on dedicated porn sites like Pornhub – and governments have rightly been expanding laws and regulations to make sure everyone being shown in online adult content is of legal age and has consented to the material being shared. Tumblr has no way to go back and identify the featured persons or the legality of every piece of adult content that was shared on the platform and taken down in 2018, nor does it have the resources or expertise to do that for new uploads.

Porn requires different service providers up and down the stack. In addition to a company primarily serving adult content not having access to normal financial services and being blocked by app stores, they also need specialized service providers – for example, for their bandwidth and network connections. Most traditional investors won’t fund primarily adult businesses, and may not even be allowed to by their LP agreements. (When Starbucks started selling alcohol at select stores, some investors were forced to sell their stock.)

If you wanted to start an adult social network in 2022, you’d need to be web-only on iOS and side load on Android, take payment in crypto, have a way to convert crypto to fiat for business operations without being blocked, do a ton of work in age and identity verification and compliance so you don’t go to jail, protect all of that identity information so you don’t dox your users, and make a ton of money. I estimate you’d need at least $7 million a year for every 1 million daily active users to support server storage and bandwidth (the GIFs and videos shared on Tumblr use a ton of both) in addition to hosting, moderation, compliance, and developer costs. 

I do hope that a dedicated service or company is started that will replace what people used to get from porn on Tumblr. It may already exist and I don’t know about it. They’ll have an uphill battle under current regimes, and if you think that’s a bad thing please try to change the regimes. Don’t attack companies following legal and business realities as they exist.

[engineering]

Tumblr Hack Week, January 2024 Edition

Once again it was Hack Week (more than just a day!) at Tumblr! This is getting repetitive in the best way. A couple of times per year we slow down our normal work and spend a week working on scratching a personal itch or features we want as user and see how far we can get with our hacks. One thing from the last Hack Week in September made it all the way to a new experiment out to some testers: Tumblr Patio!

Here are some of the projects that got built for our most recent Hack Week in January. Some of these things you may also end up seeing on the site…

Spoiler text, spoiler blocks, and centered text!

This one is so obvious and amazing, it’s wild we don’t already have it. For Hack Week, Katie added the ability to select text in a paragraph to be hidden behind a wall of black that can be revealed with a tap. This can be super useful to hide spoilers. And even better: whole spoiler blocks. And while we’re here, the ability to center text!

A plethora of new default blog avatars

We haven’t updated our default avatars in several years. (Some of you may remember this one from 10+ years ago.) They’re feeling a bit stale to us, so why not update them? And while we’re at it… make a ton more variations! Paul from the Tumblr Design team came up with a suite of new default avatars, using our latest Tumblr color palette. Here’s a look at some of them, but there are actually many dozens more using different colors:

Notifications and emails about engagement on your posts

This one is for the folks on Tumblr who love numbers and their Activity page. Daniel, @jesseatblr​, and the Feeds & Machine Learning team worked on some new notifications and emails we could send out to people about how their posts have been doing lately on the platform, such as how many views they’ve gotten, and by how many people. We already have this available (and more) when you Blaze a post, but why not open it up to more people? It’s really useful to the folks who use Tumblr to help build an audience for their work!

A new way of navigating the web: the Command Palette

Some apps we use a lot have a “command palette” accessible via a keyboard shortcut for quick keyboard-driven access to different parts of the platform. For example, Slack and Discord have Command + K to access their quick switchers to hop around conversations. What if Tumblr had one? Kelly and Paul built one! Press Command/Control + K on Tumblr and you can use your keyboard to jump to your blog, Activity, your recent conversations, search, dozens of places!

As always, stay tuned to the @changes​ blog to see if any of these hacks make it on Tumblr for real!

[all-the-fish]

Oh, you know, just the usual internet browsing experience in the year of 2024

Some links and explanations since I figured it might be useful to some people, and writing down stuff is nice.

First of all, get Firefox. Yes, it has apps for Android/iOS too. It allows more extensions and customization (except the iOS version), it tracks less, the company has a less shitty attitude about things. Currently all the other alternatives are variations of Chromium, which means no matter how degoogled they supposedly are, Google has almost a monopoly on web browsing and that's not great. Basically they can introduce extremely user unfriendly updates and there's nothing forcing them to not do it, and nowhere for people to escape to. Current examples of their suggested updates are disabling/severly limiting adblocks in June 2024, and this great suggestion to force sites to verify "web environment integrity" ("oh you don't run a version of chromium we approve, such as the one that runs working adblocks? no web for you.").

uBlockOrigin - barely needs any explanation but yes, it works. You can whitelist whatever you want to support through displaying ads. You can also easily "adblock" site elements that annoy you. "Please log in" notice that won't go away? Important news tm sidebar that gives you sensory overload? Bye.

Dark Reader - a site you use has no dark mode? Now it has. Fairly customizable, also has some basic options for visually impaired people.

SponsorBlock for YouTube - highlights/skips (you choose) sponsored bits in the videos based on user submissions, and a few other things people often skip ("pls like and subscribe!"). A bit more controversial than normal adblock since the creators get some decent money from this, but also a lot of the big sponsors are kinda scummy and offer inferior product for superior price (or try to sell you a star jpg land ownership in Scotland to become a lord), so hearing an ad for that for the 20th time is kinda annoying. But also some creators make their sponsored segments hilarious.

Privacy Badger (and Ghostery I suppose) - I'm not actually sure how needed these are with uBlock and Firefox set to block any tracking it can, but that's basically what it does. Find someone more educated on this topic than me for more info.

Https Everywhere - I... can't actually find the extension anymore, also Firefox has this as an option in its settings now, so this is probably obsolete, whoops.

Facebook Container - also comes with Firefox by default I think. Keeps FB from snooping around outside of FB. It does that a lot, even if you don't have an account.

WebP / Avif image converter - have you ever saved an image and then discovered you can't view it, because it's WebP/Avif? You can now save it as a jpg.

YouTube Search Fixer - have you noticed that youtube search has been even worse than usual lately, with inserting all those unrelated videos into your search results? This fixes that. Also has an option to force shorts to play in the normal video window.

Consent-O-Matic - automatically rejects cookies/gdpr consent forms. While automated, you might still get a second or two of flashing popups being yeeted.

XKit Rewritten - current most up to date "variation "fork" of XKit I think? Has settings in extension settings instead of an extra tumblr button. As long as you get over the new dash layout current tumblr is kinda fine tbh, so this isn't as important as in the past, but still nice. I mostly use it to hide some visual bloat and mark posts on the dash I've already seen.

YouTube NonStop - do you want to punch youtube every time it pauses a video to check if you're still there? This saves your fists.

uBlacklist - blacklists sites from your search results. Obviously has a lot of different uses, but I use it to hide ai generated stuff from image search results. Here's a site list for that.

Redirect AMP to HTML - redirects links from their amp version to the normal version. Amp link is a version of a site made faster and more accessible for phones by Bing/Google. Good in theory, but lets search engines prefer some pages to others (that don't have an amp version), and afaik takes traffic from the original page too. Here's some more reading about why it's an issue, I don't think I can make a good tl;dr on this.

Also since I used this in the tags, here's some reading about enshittification and why the current mainstream internet/services kinda suck.

[changes]

Thursday, September 12th, 2024

🌟 New

When a community post gets 10 reactions (not counting reactions from the post author) the post author will now receive a notification about those reactions. We want to give some kind of notification when you’re getting reactions, but not for every single reaction (that could be a deluge of hundreds of notifications in our big communities). Let us know what you think!

Community admins and mods will now be asked for a reason when they moderate a comment.

Logged out users, likely new visitors to Tumblr itself, can now start requesting new communities to be put on the waitlist. They will be asked to log in or sign up before finishing.

To celebrate the new folks joining Tumblr from Brazil, we have launched a lot of communities features if you’re in that country, such asrecommended communities in the For You feed and related communities carousels when searching and viewing tag pages in the mobile apps.

🛠 Fixed

Dismissed “Check out these blogs” recommendations are now dismissed forever.

New custom domains were not receiving renewed SSL certificates, and thus not properly accessible. This has now been fixed, and new SSL certificates have been granted to the affected domains.

Archives and custom pages on blogs with custom domains were broken. This has now been fixed.

On web, some dialogs did not disable our keyboard shortcuts while they were open. For example, you could like a post with the ‘l’ key even though a dialog was open on top of the post! This is now fixed.

On web, we were displaying an option to block a community in Activity, which is not actually possible, and has now been removed. Instead of blocking a community, you can simply leave a community.

The community tags section has been updated to make it clearer that they will aid in discovery of your community.

We’ve made a few small design improvements throughout communities. Less wasted space FTW!

🚧 Ongoing

We’re aware that some ads may interrupt background audio on iOS and are working on a fix! We have also received reports of a weird “cricket-like” sound in the app, which we think is related.

🌱 Upcoming

No upcoming launches to announce today.

Experiencing an issue? Check for Known Issues and file a Support Request if you have something new. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with other users.

Wanna support Tumblr directly with some money? Check out Premium and the Supporter badge in TumblrMart!

[staff]

Twitter’s API changes

Hello, Tumblr. Twitter unexpectedly announced they will end free access to the Twitter API (Application Programming Interface) on February 9th. A recent update had extended that date to today, February 13th, 2023. 

What’s an API?

Put simply, APIs define how programming systems interact with one another. For example, an API allows third parties (say, a social media platform) to interact with another website programmatically (to publish posts, etc.)

How does this affect Tumblr?

We are removing the feature that links a Twitter account to your Tumblr. This will end the ability to automatically share your new posts directly from Tumblr to Twitter when they are published. This will also remove the ability to automatically display recent tweets in your blog’s theme. This change will immediately affect web, Android, and iOS.

We appreciate this will be frustrating for many users, but all is not lost—you will still be able to share any Tumblr post to Twitter manually using the normal share option on web. For Android and iOS, you will need to have the Twitter app installed to manually share Tumblr posts on Twitter. This functionality is expected for both platforms in upcoming app versions.

[0sbrain]

here's a list of mozilla add-ons for all of you tumblrinas out there to have a better internet experience

also, if you like my post, please reblog it. Tumblr hates links but i had to put them so you adhd bitches actually download them <3 i know because i am also adhd bitches

BASIC STUFF:

AdGuard AdBlocker / uBlock Origin : adguard is a basic adblock and with origin you can also block any other element you want. for example i got rid of the shop menu on tumblr

Privacy Badger : this add on will block trackers. if an element contains a tracker it will give you the option to use it or not

Shinigami Eyes: this will highlight transphobic and trans friendly users and sites using different colors by using a moderated database. perfect to avoid terfs on any social media. i will explain how to use this and other add-ons on android as well under the read more cut

THINGS YOU TUMBLINAS WANT:

Xkit: the best tumblr related add on. with many customizable options, xkit not only enhances your experience from a visual standpoint, but provides some much needed accessibility tools

bonus: if you are into tf2 and wanna be a cool cat, you can also get the old version to add cool reblog icons

AO3 enhancer: some basic enhancements including reading time and the ability to block authors and tags

YOUTUBE

Return of the YouTube Dislike : pretty self explanatory

Youtube non-stop: gets rid of the annoying "Video paused. Continue watching?" popup when you have a video in the background

SponsorBlock: gives you options to skip either automatically or manually sponsors, videoclip non music sectors and discloses other type of sponsorships/paid partnerships

Enhancer for YouTube: adds some useful options such as custom play speed, let's you play videos in a window and most important of all, it allows you to make the youtube interface as ugly as your heart desires. I can't show a full image of what it looks like because i've been told its eye strainy and i want this post to be accessible but look at this <3

PocketTube: allows you to organize your subscriptions into groups

YouTube Comment Search: what it says

FINDING STUFF

WayBack Machine: you probably know about this site and definitely should get the add on. this allows you to save pages and access older versions with the click of a button. while you can search wayback using web archives, please get this one as well as it allows you to easily save pages and contribute to the archive.

Web Archives: it allows you to search through multiple archives and search engines including WayBack Machine, Google, Yandex and more.

Search by Image: allows you to reverse image search using multiple search engines (in my experience yandex tends to yield the best results)

Image Search Options: similar to the last one

this next section is pretty niche but... STEAM AND STEAM TRADING

SteamDB: adds some interesting and useful statistics

Augmented Steam: useful info specially for browsing and buying games

TF2 Trade Helper: an absolute godsend, lets you add items in bundles, keeps track of your keys and metal and your recent trades, displays links to the backpack tf page next to users profiles and more. look it tells me how much moneys i have and adds metal to trades without clicking one by one oh may god

IN CONCLUSION: oooooh you want to change to firefox so badly, you want to delete chrome and all the chrome clones that are actually just spyware and use firefox

HOW TO USE MOZILLA ADD-ONS ON YOUR PHONE

if you already use firefox on android, you'll know there are certain add-ons compatible with the app, some of them even being made just for the mobile version such as Video Background Play FIx. while most of them are pretty useful, some more specific ones aren't available on this version of the browser, but there's a way of getting some of them to work

you need to download the firefox nightly app, which is basically the same as the regular firefox browser but with the ability of activating developer mode. you can find how to do that here. once you've enabled it, you need to create a collection with all the add ons you want. i wouldn't recommend adding extensions if the creators haven't talked about phone compatibility, but XKit and Shinigami Eyes should work

also, don't tell the government this secret skater move, but you can try using both the regular firefox browser and nightly so you can have youtube videos in a floating box while you browse social media.

see? i can block this terf while Rick Rolling the people following this tutorial. isn't that tubular?

[labs]

Introducing Collections

Hello again, Tumblr. Labs division here!

A while back, we announced our comeback as a new team that would imagine big ideas for Tumblr—and would build them in public (aka with you). We recently announced our first failure, and today we're very excited to announce our first possible success!

A bit of context

As we've said before, an essential part of how we're working in Labs is speaking to people who use Tumblr pretty much on a daily basis and those who don’t use it at all.

In those interviews and focus groups, we learned that curating the Tumblr experience around different interests and fandoms is a big part of making Tumblr feel like your own space — and one of the main ways you do that is through blogs and tags (be it following or creating them).

So here at Labs we're working on ideas to help you curate the content you care about, and to help share what makes your experience fun with other people, even if they are not on Tumblr already.

Ok, but what's the idea?

Have you ever put together a song playlist to listen to when you're in a certain mood, or share with a specific friend? Or sent them books you know they'll love? Now imagine if you could do that with blogs and tags on Tumblr…

Maybe you're a veteran in a fandom and have the best recommendations of who to follow for your followers. Or your best friend won't join Tumblr because they don't know that their favorite TV show is actually really popular here. Or maybe you want to curate and browse content from a specific fandom, or a group of your mutuals, your own way.

That's the idea behind Collections!

You can check out that example collection on the web here!

We want your help

The first way we're testing Collections is by inviting some of you to create your own and share with followers and friends—they'll be able to follow all the blogs and tags in your collections. So we're looking for volunteers!

You want to help? Great! Here's what you need to do:

Come up with your own Collections of blogs and tags, write it down somewhere. Focus on introducing people to Tumblr or recommending stuff to your followers. What would you want them to first see on your version of Tumblr?

Come up with a name, cover image, and description for it. Also try to think of who you would send your collection to, and where you might post about it.

Write out that idea as a reply or reblog on this post!

We’ll give it a few days, and pick a handful of people to play with Collections. We'll let you know. Then we’re off to the races!

If you decide to participate (and get selected), please note that this early release won’t work on the apps yet, only in your web browser. 

What happens next?

Our goal is to keep working on improving and adding Collection functionalities while you test what we've built (and share your feedback with us).

Next we’re exploring making a collection something you can follow on Tumblr, as a way to curate Tumblr around your many interests and moods, and to give you more freedom to curate content on your dashboard.

And if this idea is not for you, remember we have many more experiments in progress, so stay tuned!

With love,

Labs division

[codeonedigest]

AWS Service Mesh for Cloud API Developer | AWS APP Mesh Explained with Examples  

Full Video Link https://youtube.com/shorts/KDXrF2Km_R8 Hi, a new #video on #aws #servicemesh #appmesh #aws #ecs #cloud is published on #codeonedigest #youtube channel. @java #java #awscloud @awscloud #aws @AWSCloudIndia #Cloud #CloudCom

Service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure layer built into an application that controls service-to-service communication in a microservices architecture. It controls the delivery of service requests to other services, performs load balancing, encrypts data, and discovers other services. Service mesh enables greater scalability in service-to-service communication. AWS App Mesh provides…

[ayeforscotland]

What is Dataflow? Part 3: Doing the Practical

Apologies for the delay in getting this next section up - past few weeks have been super busy and then, hilariously, I was ill last week.

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

In Part 2 I wrote about how important diagrams have been throughout history. Understanding the 'big picture' has been important for every triumph of engineering. From bridges to skyscrapers to oil rigs and wind turbines, all of these have had diagrams backed by international standards which enabled them to be built.

The digital world hasn't quite managed that yet. In the other posts I've tried to drill home the point that modern digital businesses are often extremely siloed, communication and documentation isn't there and there is a lack of a common language between 'Business' and 'IT'.

This lack of understanding means organisations do not understand how data flows through their business and their supply chain.

It's the understanding of dataflow that's important here because it enables organisations to focus on optimising, securing and maintaining flows across an organisation rather than siloed teams patching things up where they can and not understand the upstream and downstream impact on the business.

Method and Layers

Going to preface this by saying that this may come across as complete common sense, and to some extent you'll be completely correct!

This is an example of how to create a very basic dataflow. But I will first start with understanding all of the People, Processes and Technology that I use to post on Tumblr.

So I start with six layers:

Ownership

Business Process

Application

System

Hardware

Infrastructure

What is important to remember here is that you do not have to be a specialist in every single layer.

A Business Analyst will feel much more at home in the Business Process Layer, while an Infrastructure Manager will be much more knowledgeable about the Infrastructure layer.

The important thing is that this Business & IT Diagram allows them to communicate more efficiently.

Let's Build a Dataflow!

In this example - There's an 'AyeforScotland' Element (the rectangle!) at the top. I'm the owner of everything below that element. The black lines are 'connections' representing the connectivity between the different elements.

Following the example, I'm responsible for' managing my blog 'Blog Management' which breaks down into smaller processes: Draft posts, schedule posts, answer anon abuse, and reblog shitposts.

Coming down to the Application Layer (red) - You can see that I draft and schedule posts using Tumblr Desktop and I'm using Firefox Web Browser for that.

But for answering anon abuse and reblogging shitposts, I'm using the Tumblr App.

In the Systems layer you can see I'm using Windows 11 on my PC (Hardware) and I'm using iOS on my iPhone.

Both my PC and iPhone connect to my BT Router.

And that's it for this Business & IT Diagram. I've shown clearly how I'm responsible for the processes and how I use the technology to perform those processes. I don't necessarily need to show everything on a single diagram because it would lose clarity.

This next Business & IT Diagram is much smaller, and establishes the relationships and dependencies on Tumblr to provide the service. And that's because we're complying with the laws and rules of a methodology.

In this diagram (probably need to zoom in to see it) I'm at the top left as 'AyeforScotland' and my 'BT Router' is spatially below me. Following the rules and laws of the method, that maintains the relationship that I have with the BT Router, I own it.

But I don't own the small 'Internet' that's next to it horizontally. I've simplified the concept of the internet for this example.

There's also two owners - 'Automattic' which owns and operates 'Tumblr' below it, with Tumblr being responsible for the 'Provision of Tumblr Services'.

Now naturally 'provision of Tumblr services' will break out into loads of sub-processes. Tumblr could map out their entire organisation (and if they need a hand, they can DM me!) But for this dataflow it's not really required.

Now both diagrams above are not dataflows. But close your eyes for a second and you can visualise what they are.

But because we've created our two diagrams, we understand the connectivity and using the software we can create the dataflow.

Now again, this is very basic. But when you put things into a dataflow context, you can put this down in front of a wide range of people from different business disciplines and they can start to optimise how the business works.

Here's a much larger Dataflow example, that you won't be able to read because it exceeds A0 printing size, but it should convey the scale.

If any of the connections or elements fail along this dataflow - The dataflow stops.

This costs organisations time and/or money.

So understanding dataflows allows IT people to articulate to business people "Hi boss, if this server goes down it will bring down this dataflow and cost the business $10,000 an hour" - Suddenly it's in a language they understand.

It helps with strategic decision-making, it helps with communication, it helps document how things *actually* work as opposed to how people think they work, and once you switch to thinking in terms of 'dataflow' it's hard to stop.

Conclusion

I can't wait to answer all the questions on the back of this.

Also one area I didn't go into is that each of the elements (rectangles) can also hold data (Financial data, Technical Specs, Risk & Cybersecurity metrics, Governance documentation etc).

It's also really easy to get started with it. You can start in any of the layers based on your area of work.