On a desktop computer, the Tumblr dashboard serves as a useful hub where you can do just about anything. Creating new posts, endlessly scrolling through your feed, or posting with other Tumblrs feels surprisingly good. But there is one feature that doesn't make much sense. Obviously, this is when all the blogs you try to access through your dashboard open inside the dashboard itself.
ContentsOpening blogs in separate tabsOpen in a new tabMouse and keyboard shortcutsUse Chrome extensionsBlogs that always open in the dashboardVoila!
While the ability to view blogs directly from your dashboard sounds like a pretty cool feature, it's actually pretty detrimental to a full Tumblr experience. But luckily, you can use a workaround to usually open them, and that's what you're about to find out. However, there are also cases where there is nothing you can do about it – let's see why this also happens.
When you click on a Tumblr username from your dashboard, whether it's an item in your feed, inbox, followed blog, search results, etc. ., the blog launches it instantly in a sidebar on the right of the screen rather than loading normally like any regular site.
This is useful when you need to quickly check a few posts on a blog. The tiny sidebar screen, combined with an unresponsive dashboard, can be quite irritating. Surely not a convenient way to spend quality time on your favorite blogs, is it?
Unfortunately, this is a design decision on Tumblr's side, and you don't have access to any "toggles" you can use to disable the feature. So how can you display blogs without being limited to a tiny part of the screen?
The workaround is to open Tumblr blogs in their respective tabs. And forget about manually inserting URLs into new tabs – there are easier ways to do it right from the dashboard.
The good old way (and you might already know this) to open a blog in a new tab is to right-click on the Tumblr username or avatar. In the context menu that appears, click Open link in new tab and you should be good to go.
However, keep in mind that the new tab opens in the background of the browser. You must therefore switch to the corresponding tab of your dashboard afterwards.
If you hate right-clicking to open links in new tabs, just click the middle mouse button on the scrollbar and the blog should automatically open in a new tab. Very fast and no menu management whatsoever.
Tip: On touchpads, the action that simulates a middle mouse click is usually a three-finger click or tap.
And for cases where the middle mouse click feels tight or uncomfortable, consider combining the left mouse key with the Ctrl key to achieve the same effect.
Do you use Chrome as your browser of choice? Then use extensions like Click to Tab and Long Press New Tab to easily open Tumblr blogs in new tabs without the need for additional mouse buttons or keyboard combinations.
Click to tab Long press New Tab
While these extensions forcibly open every link you come across in new tabs, you can easily enable them just for your Tumblr sessions. To enable or disable installed extensions, open the Chrome menu (click the three-dot menu), point to More Tools, then click Extensions.
Tip: The Long Press New Tab extension, in particular, reveals a host of features and even offers the option to create your custom mouse gestures. Why not make one just for Tumblr? Sometimes you may find that trying to open a specific Tumblr blog in a new tab doesn't work. But why? This happens when the blog is "hidden" everywhere except the Tumblr blogosphere. And that means it doesn't have a dedicated URL – other than its username tag – that a browser can use to open the blog in a separate tab.
However, it is quite rare for a blog to be hidden, so you should take care of it whenever you come across one. On the other hand, if you have a hidden blog with a large number of subscribers, consider providing a better experience for your visitors by removing the restriction by following the steps below.
Step 1: In the Tumblr dashboard, click the Account icon, then click Settings.
Step 2: Select the blog you want to view.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Visibility section, then turn off the toggle next to Hide "your blog name".
Once you've done that, the blog should open in a new tab for anyone who wants to. It should also load for any visitors who don't have a Tumblr account or aren't logged into one.
Hope you now know clearly why blogs are opening on the dashboard. Quite an unusual move for Tumblr to force such a feature on users, but at least you can view them normally if needed.
And for those that only open to the dashboard no matter what, there's not much you can do. Other than maybe pestering admins to expose their blogs – which may or may not work, but it's worth a try!
