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newcomers2025-04-26 04:11 am
soc_puppet) wrote in newcomers2025-04-26 04:11 am
Cut Tag Basics
It's time to talk about Cut Tags, Dreamwidth's version of "Read More"s!
I'm going to start by demonstrating one, and I'm going to ask you not to click the actual "read more" text for now, so I can demonstrate one of the properties of cut tags. This should be the first post atnewcomers or the_great_tumblr_purge for April 26th, 2025, so if you've been linked to the post itself, please visit the archive for that date, instead!
I'm hoping you're reading this because you clicked on the right-pointing arrow there, or clicked the post link or a cut tag after reading the rest, because otherwise things are going to be slightly confusing!
That's a cut tag. One of the neat things is that you can put whatever text you want there, instead of just "Read More". The thing I want you to pay attention to, though, is that little arrow next to it:
You know how, on Tumblr, sometimes when you click a "Read More", the link will take you to directly to the page of the post, and sometimes it'll just unfold whatever is under the "Read More" so it shows up on your dash? I'm sure there's some logic to which one it is somewhere, but I have yet to really figure it out. (Not that I've been trying, mind.)
Dreamwidth has it codified so you know what's going to do what: The text itself will take you into the post, anchored to where the cut tag/Read More starts, while the arrow beside the cut tag will unfold the post for you. If you want to read the contents of a post, but don't feel like clicking away from your reading page to do so, click on that little arrow right there!
But wait, there's more! Somewhere on your page layout you might see a section that says, "Expand Cut Tags", with double right-pointing triangles and double down-pointing triangles. Click on the double-down triangles, and all cut tags on your reading page will be automatically opened for you! Pretty neat trick, right? That includes what's in the next bit...
This time, please click on that triangle there: Oh? What's this?
It's a nested cut tag! That's right, you can nest cut tags inside each other! This only works when readers have opened up the top-level cut tag, though; if they click through to the post proper, all of the cut tags will be open, including any nested tags. So if you're using nested tags to keep something secret, you might want to try a different approach. Like Details/Summary HTML tags, or making the font and background the same color.
And another one!From slapping this post on example_comm, just to make sure everything works, it's looking like custom text doesn't show up in nested cut tags, which is a pity. Okay, cancel that, I must have been doing something wrong last night? Honestly, this is something I'm pretty okay with being wrong about 😂
You might notice the left-pointing triangle at the end of both of those paragraphs now, as well as at the end of the next paragraph; if you click that, it will collapse the cut back down, hiding the text again. Closing arrows appear in the order that cuts appear, so clicking on the closing arrows above will close only those two cuts, while clicking on the closing arrow at the end of the next paragraph will close the top-level tag that both of the nested tags are under. So it closes the whole thing! You can also re-click the arrow next to the cut text to collapse the cut back down.
Another important thing to notice is that the custom text in the cut tag doesn't get copied into the post itself; if you include something you think is important in the cut text that adds to the rest of the post, you should probably include a copy of it directly after the cut text, as well. For example, when I post fics on here, I put the title of the fic in the cut text, and then repeat it after the cut text, so it's easier to find.
You may also have noticed at this point that cut tags on Dreamwidth can be closed. No more putting the entire remainder of a post under a Read More; you can put the long essay under there, and leave the TL;DR out at the end! This also means you can also include multiple cut tags in a single post, not just one. And not just the nested kind, either; just be careful when using nested cuts to make sure to close all of the ones you want closed, so any text you want on the outside doesn't get caught on the inside!
Etiquette-wise, Dreamwidth users (DWenizens?) tend to apply cut tags to posts that get a little longer, and to hide images that are more than, say, 800 pixels wide. The latter is a holdover from when bandwidth was a lot worse, though last I knew, some places were still running on dial-up, and it's polite to remember them, as well. And both are good for not turning your subscribers' reading page into Color of the Sky. If you've got a post that's more than a couple thousand words long or has a bunch of really big images, you might want to consider a cut tag. Writing that's more than a few hundred words or a dozen lines long (in terms of poetry) is a good choice to put under a cut tag, as are image posts that have multiple large images (unless you're using preview thumbnails).Honestly, this post is long enough that I want to put more of it under a cut tag, but it would mess up the demo...
That's all I can think of about cut tags at the moment; if there's something I missed or something you have questions about, feel free to bring it up in the comments!
Edit:ysabetwordsmith has some concrete advice about when and where to use cut tags!
I'm going to start by demonstrating one, and I'm going to ask you not to click the actual "read more" text for now, so I can demonstrate one of the properties of cut tags. This should be the first post at
newcomers or the_great_tumblr_purge for April 26th, 2025, so if you've been linked to the post itself, please visit the archive for that date, instead!I'm hoping you're reading this because you clicked on the right-pointing arrow there, or clicked the post link or a cut tag after reading the rest, because otherwise things are going to be slightly confusing!
That's a cut tag. One of the neat things is that you can put whatever text you want there, instead of just "Read More". The thing I want you to pay attention to, though, is that little arrow next to it:
You know how, on Tumblr, sometimes when you click a "Read More", the link will take you to directly to the page of the post, and sometimes it'll just unfold whatever is under the "Read More" so it shows up on your dash? I'm sure there's some logic to which one it is somewhere, but I have yet to really figure it out. (Not that I've been trying, mind.)
Dreamwidth has it codified so you know what's going to do what: The text itself will take you into the post, anchored to where the cut tag/Read More starts, while the arrow beside the cut tag will unfold the post for you. If you want to read the contents of a post, but don't feel like clicking away from your reading page to do so, click on that little arrow right there!
But wait, there's more! Somewhere on your page layout you might see a section that says, "Expand Cut Tags", with double right-pointing triangles and double down-pointing triangles. Click on the double-down triangles, and all cut tags on your reading page will be automatically opened for you! Pretty neat trick, right? That includes what's in the next bit...
This time, please click on that triangle there: Oh? What's this?
It's a nested cut tag! That's right, you can nest cut tags inside each other! This only works when readers have opened up the top-level cut tag, though; if they click through to the post proper, all of the cut tags will be open, including any nested tags. So if you're using nested tags to keep something secret, you might want to try a different approach. Like Details/Summary HTML tags, or making the font and background the same color.
And another one!
example_comm, just to make sure everything works, it's looking like custom text doesn't show up in nested cut tags, which is a pity.You might notice the left-pointing triangle at the end of both of those paragraphs now, as well as at the end of the next paragraph; if you click that, it will collapse the cut back down, hiding the text again. Closing arrows appear in the order that cuts appear, so clicking on the closing arrows above will close only those two cuts, while clicking on the closing arrow at the end of the next paragraph will close the top-level tag that both of the nested tags are under. So it closes the whole thing! You can also re-click the arrow next to the cut text to collapse the cut back down.
Another important thing to notice is that the custom text in the cut tag doesn't get copied into the post itself; if you include something you think is important in the cut text that adds to the rest of the post, you should probably include a copy of it directly after the cut text, as well. For example, when I post fics on here, I put the title of the fic in the cut text, and then repeat it after the cut text, so it's easier to find.
You may also have noticed at this point that cut tags on Dreamwidth can be closed. No more putting the entire remainder of a post under a Read More; you can put the long essay under there, and leave the TL;DR out at the end! This also means you can also include multiple cut tags in a single post, not just one. And not just the nested kind, either; just be careful when using nested cuts to make sure to close all of the ones you want closed, so any text you want on the outside doesn't get caught on the inside!
Etiquette-wise, Dreamwidth users (DWenizens?) tend to apply cut tags to posts that get a little longer, and to hide images that are more than, say, 800 pixels wide. The latter is a holdover from when bandwidth was a lot worse, though last I knew, some places were still running on dial-up, and it's polite to remember them, as well. And both are good for not turning your subscribers' reading page into Color of the Sky. If you've got a post that's more than a couple thousand words long or has a bunch of really big images, you might want to consider a cut tag. Writing that's more than a few hundred words or a dozen lines long (in terms of poetry) is a good choice to put under a cut tag, as are image posts that have multiple large images (unless you're using preview thumbnails).
That's all I can think of about cut tags at the moment; if there's something I missed or something you have questions about, feel free to bring it up in the comments!
Edit:
ysabetwordsmith has some concrete advice about when and where to use cut tags!
Thoughts
* The most common place to cut a long post is after the first paragraph. But look for a logical place. If your introduction is 3 paragraphs long, it may make more sense to cut after the third.
* If you like to post fiction, you can look at community posting templates to create one you like. These typically tell title, author, canon, characters, pairings, content notes, etc. A cut usually goes after a header template.
* When posting a string of images, some people like to cut after the first one, so you get a sample. Also note that you can adjust the size that the picture appears, if you don't want it to look too huge. For most pictures, somewhere between 300-600 pixels wide will work well.
* Some communities, particularly the ones that provide a posting template, have a specific place to put the cut. Read carefully because this is one of the occasions where someone may throw a tantrum if you get it wrong.
Re: Thoughts
Re: Thoughts
Re: Thoughts
no subject
I just wanted to stop by and say how cool your tutorials are. I remember how I felt a little lost right after landing on DW a couple of years ago and how much of this stuff I had to learn myself with trial-and-error experience. 😂
Anyway, I always read your posts because they're so well written and who knows if there are some new little tricks that I don't know of yet?
Great job, thank you!
(I also love your Fancy Rats mood theme!)
no subject
I try to include everything I know and can think of, but even then, it's not unusual for me to learn something new, as well. It's the number one reason I titled this post "Cut Tag Basics", instead of "Everything you need to know about cut tags" 😂
(Eeee, thank you~! I'm still ultra jazzed that it's an actual site-supported mood theme 😍 I get a little zing every time I think about it for more than a couple of minutes, lol!)
Yes ...
Re: Yes ...
I'm also pretty sure that some users are picking out the jellyfish moods because they're the best/only option for a specific color, and they like to color-theme their journal. I was originally just going for something bright and colorful, and then leaning into the rainbow, but I'm pretty pleased I ended up filling a gap in color-related customization, as well!
Re: Yes ...
I've been seeing it on posts by new users introducing themselves in Latest Things. I think some of them come over to
>>I'm also pretty sure that some users are picking out the jellyfish moods because they're the best/only option for a specific color, and they like to color-theme their journal. I was originally just going for something bright and colorful, and then leaning into the rainbow, but I'm pretty pleased I ended up filling a gap in color-related customization, as well!<<
Sounds plausible, though I haven't seen them in the wild yet. I thought you were trying to make sure there was a set that would go with the various color-themes.
no subject
That was a very nice tutorial, and the interactivity is lovely!
For the technical part: nested cuts do support custom text, and they're also easy to make with the RTE!
no subject
🤬 Well, gosh darnit! I tried posting this over at
Edit: How the hell did it work this time and not last night?! Ah, well, it's not the worst thing to be wrong about and have to update. Time to tweak some text!
no subject
Well, you're welcome (I guess)! I'd literally never used nested cut tags, so I'm glad I bothered to actually look into it. (And seeing that the RTE can actually handle this is a rather pleasant surprise!)
no subject
That is a pleasant surprise about RTE! Thank you for checking that out, I'll probably tweak this post to add the information after I have lunch.
no subject
That's good to hear, then! (And yes, I quite agree, though I don't think I'm as embarrassed at being wrong? I think that meant I didn't quite come across like I meant to just now.)
Well, take your time; the information's already available, after all!
(And, quite unrelatedly, have some apprecation for your Homestuck icons!)
no subject
Very true, that 😜
(Thanks! I've got sheep for all twelve aspects available for everyone over here, if you'd like ✌)
Thoughts
Re: Thoughts
I've got more sheep at the community, if you want to check them out; the most recent ones I made are a bunch of Pride Dreamsheep.
Re: Thoughts
That's about how I'd describe it, too (though I think the heyday was a little bit earlier, around 2012-2013?).
Oh, I hadn't thought you'd done so many sheep! That's certainly something to keep in mind, if only to link to others.
Well ...
Re: Well ...