What Is Archive on Tumblr?

Every blog hosted on Tumblr has an archive of previous posts located at <Tumblr Web address>/archive. Previous posts are sorted in chronological order and can be searched through or browsed by month. A link to the archive may be posted on the front page of the Tumblr blog depending on the theme used and the customization of the layout. More information is available in the Tumblr Help Center.

The Tumblr Platform

Tumblr is a lightweight blogging platform specializing in short-form blog posts. Seven categories of post are available -- Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio and Video. More advanced features supported by Tumblr include the ability to queue and schedule posts, post tagging and Twitter integration. Built-in community features enable Tumblr users to follow other blogs in which they are interested and receive updates via a central Dashboard. The blog following mechanism works in a similar way to Twitter, with the option to reblog interesting content.

The Archive Screen

Every Tumblr blog has an associated archive. The most recent posts can be displayed by clicking on the blog title on the Dashboard screen. Older posts are shown on the archive page at <Tumblr Web address>/archive. Posts are organized by month and are styled to represent the seven different post types -- a video post for example has a play button laid over the top of it. The archive uses a thumbnail grid layout and you can view the date of the post by hovering your mouse cursor over it.

Viewing and Editing Posts

Use the search and "Jump to month" options in the top, right-hand corner of the archive page to navigate through posts. Clicking on any post in the archive links to the individual post page on the Tumblr blog in question. When viewing a post on your own Tumblr, Edit and Delete options appear in the top, right-hand corner, assuming you are currently logged in to your Tumblr account. When viewing posts on other Tumblr blogs, options to 'love' or reblog the post appear in the top, right-hand corner instead. Edited posts remain in the archive on the date when they were originally created.

Theme and Page Design

Any Tumblr blog can be themed using a layout from the Theme Garden at tumblr.com/themes. Whether or not a link to the archive appears on the front page of a Tumblr blog depends on whether it is supported by the theme you've chosen. If an archive link is not automatically supported, you can create it manually by building a link that points towards the \archive area of the Tumblr blog. If the theme supports pages, you can create a page pointing toward the archive as well. To edit a Tumblr theme, select the blog name from the top of the Dashboard and click the "Customize appearance" link on the right.

Resources

• Tumblr: Help Center