Alpine Phototile for Tumblr

Proposed Features

Below are a number of features that have been suggested and will be implemented as soon as I find the time to do so.

  • Add titles and captions
  • Thumbnail pagination

General

The Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress is capable of retrieving photos from a particular Tumblr user, custom Tumblr URL, or tag. The photos can be linked to the your Tumblr page, a specific URL, or to a Lightbox slideshow. Also, the Shortcode Generator makes it easy to insert the widget into posts without learning any of the code. This lightweight but powerful widget takes advantage of WordPress’s built in JQuery scripts to create a sleek presentation that I hope you will like.

Features

  • Display Tumblr images in a sidebar, post, or page
  • Multiple styles to allow for customization
  • Lighbox feature for interactive slideshow (Fancybox, prettyBox, or ColorBox)
  • Simple instructions
  • Widget & shortcode options
  • Feed caching/storage for improved page loading

Style and Demos

Below is an example of the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin in action using the Cascade style and the Fancybox option (click an image and the Fancybox slideshow will appear).

The Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin includes 8 display styles: Vertical, Windows, Wall, Cascade, and Gallery. (Click the links to preview the styles)

Quick Start Guide

  1. After installing the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin on your WordPress site, make sure it is activated by logging into your admin area and going to Plugins in the left menu.
  2. To add the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin to a sidebar, go to Appearance->Widgets in the left menu.
  3. Find the rectangle labeled Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress. Click and drag the rectangle to one of the sidebar containers on the right.
  4. Once you drop the rectangle in a sidebar area, it should open to reveal a menu of options. The only required information for the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin to work is a Tumblr ID. Enter this ID and click save in the right bottom corner of the menu.
  5. Open another page/window in your web browser and navigate to your WordPress site to see how the sidebar looks with the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress included.
  6. Play around with the various styles and options to find what works best for your site.

Additional Features

Caching

Since version 1.0.1, the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin has included a simple caching function that will store the results of a Tumblr feed for 3 hours. This function offers a significant performance boost as only one visitor will experience the short load delay caused by fetching and parsing a Tumblr feed.

The cache time can be edited by going to the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin’s settings page, located at Settings->AlpineTile: Tumblr->Plugin Settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

This message simply means that while no distinguishable errors occurred, the plugin found your feed to be empty.

This message can mean two things. First, it can indicate that the username or custom url were input incorrectly, causing the feed to fail. In this case, you should try to correct and re-save your IDs.

Second, this message can also mean that the server your WordPress site is being hosted on has prevented the feed from being retrieved. While it is rare, we have encountered web-hosts that disable the feed fetching functions used in the PhotoTile plugin. If this is the case, there is nothing we can do to override or work around the settings on your host server.

Yes, you can display photos in posts or pages using what is called a shortcode. Rather than explaining how to setup the shortcode, I have created a method of generating the shortcode. Check out the Shortcode Generator on the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin’s settings page (Settings->AlpineTile: Tumblr->Shortcode Generator).

Yes, using a shortcode and the WordPress function do_shortcode(), you can place the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin anywhere on your WordPress website. The code should look something like this:

 
If you want the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin to conform to a certain width or height, you can edit the style of the surrounding DIV tag:

The plugin caches or stores the Tumblr feed for three hours (see Caching above). If the new photos have still not appeared after this time, it is possible that Tumblr is responsible for the delay.

As of version 1.2.0, up to 100 photos can be retrieved and displayed.

The Apline PhotoTile plugin actually takes less than a second to load. The reason you may see the loading icon for several seconds is because the plugin is programmed to wait until all the images and the rest of the webpage are done loading before displaying anything. The intent is for the plugin to avoid slowing down your website by waiting patiently for everything else to finish loading. If you are still looking to speed up your website’s loading time, selecting smaller photo sizes should always help.

No, I have not yet found a good way to add captions to the images, but I am working on it.

A number of users have reported this problem and unfortunately I am not sure exactly what is going wrong. However, one simple fix has been to go to the Alpine Phototile for Tumblr wordpress plugin’s settings page  (Settings->AlpineTile: Tumblr->Plugin Settings) and put a check next to the option “Always Load Styles and Scripts in Header”.

GALLERY

[alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src=”user” uid=”kylinuntitled” imgl=”fancybox” dl=”1″ dltext=”KylinUntitled” style=”gallery” row=”4″ grwidth=”800″ grheight=”600″ size=”75″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ border=”0″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

CASCADE

[alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src=”user” uid=”kylinuntitled” imgl=”fancybox” dl=”1″ dltext=”KylinUntitled” style=”cascade” col=”3″ size=”75″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ border=”0″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

WALL

[alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src=”user” uid=”kylinuntitled” imgl=”fancybox” dl=”1″  style=”wall” row=”4″ size=”75″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ border=”0″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

WINDOWS

[alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src=”user” uid=”kylinuntitled” imgl=”fancybox” dl=”1″ style=”windows” shape=”rectangle” size=”75″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ border=”0″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

VERTICAL

[alpine-phototile-for-tumblr src=”user” uid=”kylinuntitled” imgl=”fancybox” dl=”1″ dltext=”KylinUntitled” style=”vertical” size=”75″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ border=”0″ highlight=”1″ curve=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

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