Create Awesome Tumblr Blog Designs With Ultimate Pro.

When it comes to deciding what your blog will look like, it’s good to have an idea in mind what it’s purpose will be.

Is it going to be mainly images, videos or something more traditional like text?

Depending on your intentions, getting the design of your blog wrong might make it harder to gain followers in the long run.

And unless you’re a web designer, you’re more than likely going to want to find yourself an appropriate theme.

Since the rebirth of my blog on Tumblr, I decided to go with the Ultimate Pro theme.

It’s a premium theme designed by Cub Themes and is acclaimed as the most powerful Tumblr theme in existence.

Ultimate Pro

The thing about Tumblr is that it’s not very customisable.

And that’s where themes come in handy. Not all themes are made equal though.

What Ultimate Pro aims to do is to give you that customisation without needing to mess around with coding.

Currently 240 theme options are available on the dashboard that make designing a site so much easier.

From my experience of Tumblr themes so far, that’s a supreme luxury!

How Does Ultimate Pro Work?

Shell

The theme fits together like a jigsaw.

It has various containers which make up the overall layout.

• Body
• Hero Header
• Header
• Main
• Footer
• Sidebar
• Content

These containers can be tailored to suit the imagination of any blogger.

Hooks And Positions

Within the containers there are theme hooks, which give you the flexibility to arrange the content of your site as you want to.

The hooks allow you to place modules in the following sections: 

• Header
• Content
• Sidebar
• Footer
• Navbar

Modules

Modules are what make up the content of your site and define the look and feel of it.

They include things like:

• Posts
• Navbar
• Title
• Avatar
• Logo

Because these modules are hookable, you can decide where you want them to appear on your blog.

Addons

Addons give you scope to add extra functionality to your blog.

Unlike modules they are not hookable and their position cannot be changed.

Amongst other things, they allow you to add the following to your blog:

• Disqus comments
• Ad units
• Google Analytics
• Custom Javascript
• Back to Top Button

Take a look at the Ultimate Pro documentation for everything that you can do with the theme.

Useful Features

Ultimate Pro has a lot of useful features compared to many Tumblr themes.

Admittedly this is only the second premium theme I’ve purchased for Tumblr.

Even still, I think it’s worth the price for the amount of flexibility it gives you.

Social Sharing Built In

On the front end, there’s a social sharing button which allows your visitors to share posts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or by email.

Custom Text

You can add anything you like to the Custom Text module. I chose to add the html code for an opt in form.

Eye Catcher

The Eye Catcher is a popup which you can set up to appear at the bottom left of the screen.

You can determine how far down the page a visitor needs to scroll before the popup will appear.

Jumbotron

If you want to draw people’s attention to something then the Jumbotron is the thing to use.

It’s a large “hero” box that your visitors won’t help but notice.

Sidebar

Sidebars are a staple part of many blogs. With Ultimate Pro you can choose to add one on the left or right hand side of your blog.

You can also choose whether it appears on your index page, your permalink page or both.

You can also define the width of your sidebar.

Ad Units

Adding banner ads to your site is easy with Ultimate Pro.

There are a number of options available from the dashboard which means you don’t have to edit the theme’s code at all.

Final Thoughts

Whether you want a traditional blog design or something more radical, Ultimate Pro gives you the flexibility to let your creativity run wild.

Having used WordPress previously I’d become used to adding plugins to improve functionality.

But Ultimate Pro covers many of the options that I want it to using Tumblr without the need for those bulky plugins.

The support from the developer has been great. Whenever I’ve contacted him with questions the response has been swift and helpful.

I also like the fact that he’s continuously improving and expanding the theme’s capabilities.

If you’re using Tumblr on your blog, check out Ultimate Pro and let me know what you think.