i know it's been years since tumblr started pushing all the mobile-first stuff and javascript ban that resulted in the death of customisation, and i know it's only a part of the reason why theme making isn't as big as it once was, but it still makes me so sad to think about. i've been on tumblr since 2011 and i remember how active the theme/page coding community was for a whole decade or more, and how the majority of tumblr users truly enjoyed setting up their custom themes on desktop. even all these years later i still remember old theme makers i followed and i love going back to look at the themes that were so revolutionary 10 years ago, even though almost all of the people who made them left in 2020-2022. i'm still mad that tumblr chose the lazy route of (mostly) squashing such a creative ecosystem that was a major part of the platform's charm in favour of looking more like a typical social media feed. i miss seeing literal dozens of examples of experimental web design every day done by teenagers and college students as their hobby outside school!! i miss watching their skills evolve from simple two-column layouts to full-on interactive designs with fun scripts and pages to explore. i miss the personality you would see immediately upon visiting someone's blog - now like 80% of users i check out don't have a custom theme at all.
all that to say it gives me an even greater appreciation for the people who do still create themes despite less engagement than before, and especially despite tumblr always screwing over creators. when i made this blog in january of this year i immediately took on one of @phantomcodes's themes, and then recently changed it to their newest theme, and i always get giddy to see new things from them. same with @glenthemes - in fact i just recently made a playlist page using one of their codes that i had on a blog 10 YEARS AGO LOL. there are still several theme makers out there trying their best and i think all of you are the coolest. it almost feels like finding a relic, like, oh, this still exists! someone's still doing this and there are others who still enjoy it! and i'm so glad for that.
