The Writer

Classic typography

Palatino and Helvetica Neue, two highly readable, well tested font choices.

Carefully measured spacing

All element layout is structured according to master designer Tim Brown's modular scale to maximize fluidity and rhythm.

Responsive layout

Turn that Tumblr default mobile theme off - The Writer is optimized out of the box for smartphones, tablets and other smaller browsers.

HTML5 based

Developed with the HTML5 doctype and elements, using the HTML5 Boilerplate based bare tumblr as a starting point. Fully validated according to w3.org HTML5 specifications.

CSS3 enhancements

Subtle animations, gradients, transparent backgrounds and shadows for modern browsers. Graceful degradation for legacy users.

Fancybox support

The Writer isn't just for writing; photo posts look great out of the box with Fancybox, a popular, well supported lightbox plugin.

Browser friendly

Tested and compatible with IE7+, Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

Color Scheme Light/Color Scheme Dark

Check one of these options to revert The Writer theme to its default color light or dark color set. Uncheck both to allow for user color settings to appear. When one of these options are selected, the color choices made (e.g. link, background) are ignored.

Include Google Analytics

If you're a blog that uses Google Analytics, have this option checked. You'll have to edit the HTML and scroll to the near end of the code where 'UA-XXXXX-X' is listed. Change this to your site's Google analytics ID.

Include Chrome Frame

The Writer doesn't officially support IE6, but with this option checked, IE6 users will be prompted to install Google Frame, per the HTML5 Boilerplate core specifications.

Include FancyBox

If you include any photo posts, keeping this option checked will add both jQuery and the fancyBox login on page load. Clicks on the majority of any photo image will now auto popup a lightbox with the high resolution version of the photo in question. In addition, additional actions (clicking through the photo to an associated link, opening the high resolution shot solo) will appear on hover as buttons on the upper right of each photo.

Unchecking this option will revert photo functionality to Tumblr's default: a click on an image will jump to the associated link or open the high resolution version, depending on post settings. Note that browsers classified as 'mobile' will always have this behavior; the fancyBox plugin becomes largely ineffectual on such a small screen.