TUTORIALS FOR THEME MAKERS
HOW TO CHANGE TO STATIC PREVIEWS INSTEAD OF LIVE PREVIEWS
Since a few theme makers have been banned from Tumblr for having too many sideblogs (for their theme live previews) most of us have settled for static previews. For those who are still confused about the difference between live and static previews:
Live previews: An extra blog, made to hold only one theme
Static previews: A page on your blog that shows the theme
Not long ago I had far too many sideblogs for every single theme, it was complicated, annoying and confusing (especially if you have over 50 themes) and I was always confused how other theme makers could get their themes on pages. For everybody thinking the same I have decided to make this tutorial, save yourself the trouble guys :).
Using Static previews has a few pros:
Tumblr can´t delete your blog because of too many sideblogs
You can make it rather quickly and only have to put your posts on one blog, instead of several others.
Your theme is shown just as beautifully as in the live preview
It´s simple once you know how ;D
The only negative thing is that you can´t see the notes on the posts and you won´t be brought to a second page if you click on the pagination. But that´s acceptable isn´t it? :D
HOW TO GET A STATIC PREVIEW FOR YOUR THEME
Have a blog where you create your theme
If your theme is done, check if everything is really how you want it and if there are posts for every category (music player, photoset, quote etc.) and enough to see the pagination on your blog (have at least 10 posts or more for that).
When you are sure that your theme is perfect then go on the blog you want to use for all your static previews (it can even be your main blog, if you are ok with using many pages), I used a seperate blog to not delete a page accidently. It´s your choice though.
When you have your "preview blog" then go on the customizing page for it an create a new page (just scroll down and you will find the page sector).
Give your page a name (for example /theme1). Make sure you select CUSTOM LAYOUT for your page.
Now open a 2nd tab with the blog where you have your theme, the theme you want to have a preview for.
Now click with your right mouse button somewhere in the page (it doesn´t matter where).
A little tab with "view source" will appear, click on it. (For my german followers: for us it is "Element untersuchen")
This window will open:
Click on the first line you see there, the same line I marked for you. This will automatically mark ALL the HTML in the window. Now this will appear:
Click on COPY AS HTML.
10. Now go back to your tab with the page open. Paste in the code that you just copied. Click on PREVIEW and SAVE and you are done :)
If you make a link to your preview on your theme post then just use the URL of the blog where you want to have your previews (let´s say "mythemepreviews.tumblr.com") and just put /theme1 behind it and you have the direct link to you static preview.
I hope this was helpful, if not then you can always come ask me :)