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In building a Tumblr theme I've got an external .css on my server which is very convenient because I can work directly in my editor, save to my server and refresh to see my results.

However, if I need to make changes to the HTML of my theme I've been making the changes in my editor, copying everything over to the "Customize Theme" option in Tumblr, then having to save there. This is really tedious and cumbersome because of the way their editor is laid out (the html covers the entirety of the the preview).

Does anyone have a smoother workflow? Even if it involves just viewing my .html directly from my server when tweaking, then pasting it in when done. Like some way to inject test content so it's not just the html template tags?

sbuck
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3 Answers3

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While Tiny Giant Studios is right as far as the Theme Garden is concerned, there's nothing stopping you from externally hosting 'til your heart's content while you're actively developing.

To that end, you might try Tumblr Themr. I haven't actually tried it yet, but it sounds promising enough.

EDIT: Seeing as the original link is not resolving, you may also try their github page

Coburn
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Andrew
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    I used Themr while I was developing the basic HTML to allow for quick previewing, but once I needed some more advanced properties not supported by Themr, I had to use Tumblr's interface at least for the template. CSS, images and JS files were still linked to my computer (or to my server when I had to let my client see the work) – fregante Apr 20 '14 at 13:15
  • Tumblr Themr link broken – Gady Mar 31 '15 at 22:59
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The short answer is an unfortunate no.

The Tumblr system requires that all assets (from CSS files to images) be kept on the tumblr server. Seeing as theme developers (at the moment in any case) do not have direct ftp access to a theme's directory (if that even exists), one cannot work from an editor (e.g. notepadd++) alone...

I'm not sure if they're looking into changing this, but for the time being we're stuck with being copy/paste solutions.

One thing you could, however try is copying over all the HTML markup and then using browser plugins - like stylebot or developer tools for chrome - to write the CSS and once you're done, copying over all the CSS in the head section of your theme.

Tiny Giant Studios
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  • Actually, Tumblr does allow external assets. I'm currently using an external style sheet as well as some images hosted on my server. – sbuck Mar 22 '11 at 20:01
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    Yep, it does allow it as long as the theme you're developing is not aimed at the public directory of available themes (meaning it's just a theme for you, by you)... For the rest of the requirements, go to http://www.tumblr.com/themes/new – Tiny Giant Studios Mar 22 '11 at 22:53
  • I guess giving the right answer is worth much if one doesn't like the answer. – Tiny Giant Studios Mar 29 '11 at 15:21
  • I don't think the answer is a definite no. I'm still convinced there's a way to at least simplify this process. Like a way to mimic our own Theme Previewer instead of using theirs. What's nice about theres is it injects sample content into the template. Say we had an include that would inject some bogus content we could develop on our own HTML files and *then* copy and paste over when everything is tweaked. Just one possible solution. Sure there's other creative ones out there to be had. – sbuck Mar 29 '11 at 20:30
  • This method still uses the Tumblr interface - but creating as many test blogs as you need allows the preview of other themes, your tweaks etc. – Zo219 Jun 01 '14 at 22:24
  • Many free and premium themes use common libraries and assets that are hosted on external servers (cdn, dropbox etc). So it most definitely is possible. – lharby Apr 19 '16 at 08:09
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I have recently found that Tumblr features GitHub integration where you can just push to a repository and it updates the theme on your blog. I have not tried it myself but I probably will here in the next few hours.

Check it out!

EDIT: My mistake this is only for theme creators who plan on submitting their themes to the list of Tumblr themes that can be chosen by users. Someone may still find this useful so I will leave this answer.

Coburn
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