Loading…
Tumblr Hack Day, March 2023 Edition
engineering
Summary
Tumblr hosts internal Hack Day events several times each year, temporarily pausing regular product work to let engineers build experimental features. During the March 2023 session, one project integrated LibreTranslate to provide post text translation across the platform for global users. Another hack introduced an Android Feature Wishlist prototype, allowing users to view and upvote separate lists of staff and community feature proposals. Additional prototypes clarified reblog tag attribution by displaying the reblogger avatar next to added tags, and modernized 1:1 messaging using alternating chat bubbles with updated colors. These experimental projects demonstrate potential site updates that Tumblr may test and eventually launch into production.
Context
Tumblr hosts Hack Day events a few times per year, giving staff a day or a week away from regular work to build experimental projects that address user pain points and platform ideas.
Approach / What changed
Engineers built prototypes including LibreTranslate-powered post translation, an Android Feature Wishlist with upvoting, reblogger avatar indicators next to newly added reblog tags, and a redesigned 1:1 messaging interface.
Takeaways
- LibreTranslate was integrated to prototype post text translation to help international Tumblr users.
- An Android Feature Wishlist prototype separated community-driven and staff-driven feature ideas and supported upvoting.
- Displaying the reblogger's avatar next to tags added at the bottom of a reblog clarifies whether tags originated from the reblogger or the original post.
Related reading
engineering.tumblr.com ·
Tumblr Hack Week, September 2023 Edition
Tumblr hosted its September 2023 Hack Week, pausing standard workflows to let engineers explore custom features and personal platform improvements. Following the production release of a direct messaging redesign from the March Hack Day, this edition produced several prototype projects. The Tumblr Patio project created a multi-column dashboard view allowing users to organize feeds such as Following, Trending, Activity, searches, and Collections side-by-side. Another team developed Tumblr Booths, an integration leveraging sibling platform WooCommerce to enable blogs to sell physical and digital goods directly. Finally, the Avatar Frames and Hats project prototyped purchasable and giftable cosmetic items for user profiles across the network.
engineeringengineering.tumblr.com ·
Tumblr Hack Day, September 2024 Edition
Tumblr holds internal Hack Days several times per year, allowing engineers to pause regular duties and build experimental features or personal projects. The September 2024 edition featured prototypes aimed at improving feed interactivity, community monitoring, and search interfaces across the platform. Following the launch of advanced search operators, one hack explored potential user interface elements designed to make these search options more accessible. To address feed interaction visibility without requiring manual refreshes, another prototype automatically updates note counts, reactions, and reblogs as users scroll feeds or view them through Patio. Finally, an activity tracker sidebar widget was assembled to surface near-real-time actions, including comments, reactions, and new member arrivals, inside active beta Communities.