How To Dreamwidth: A Primer
the more friends ask me about dreamwidth, the more i realize i know a lot about this site that isnโt super obvious at first glance. so here is a primer for those of you thinking about making a dreamwidth account. this post ranges from your really basic starter tips to the completely esoteric things that come from using it for a decade.
2023 note: This post was written in 2018. While most of this post is still true, various features may have been changed or updated in the years since.
a what now? dreamwho?
Dreamwidth is a code fork of LiveJournal. A code fork means that they took LJโs code (which used to be open source) and went their own direction with it. They still use the basic ideas behind LJโs codebase, but have changed and improved upon it in various ways.
The core difference between DW and other websites is privacy isnโt an afterthought, but the central feature. You can lock posts, filter them to a select group, or make them visible to only you. I recommend reading through this section of DWโs FAQ for more on this.
When you make an account, you can subscribe (ie follow) and grant access to other users. Both of these are one-way โ if A subscribes to B, that doesnโt automatically grant B access to all of Aโs locked posts. Hereโs more on this.
DW in general can be kind of confusing for people who have only used tumblr, but their FAQs are pretty good on the whole, and theyโre searchable. If a website feature is confusing, start there.
okay, i have a journal. now what?
Customize it! DW doesnโt have all the latest and greatest features, but you can still make it your own. Here are some useful tips.
- You can change your layout from Organize > Select Style. Mobile support is hit or miss, unfortunately, but there are some nice default layouts that work with it. You can also use this style for Practicality which makes DW fully mobile-friendly. If youโd rather design it yourself, Tabula Rasa is completely stripped down.
- You can get premade DW layouts at the dreamwidthlayouts community. If you have trouble with your code, ask over at style_system.
- Edit your profile! This is where you put your usernames for other social media sites, tell people a bit about yourself, and mention your interests. Your interests will be part of the interest search; itโs one way to find people.
- Upload icons! Free accounts get 15 icons; paid accounts get 100 icons, premium accounts get 250 icons. You can use one icon in each entry and commment you make. Itโs good form to put the maker of the icon in the comment section if you didnโt make it. If you got it from someone on tumblr, you can even link their blog using the code <user name=username site=tumblr>. (This works all across DW!)
- While you canโt make pages, you can set a post to stick at the top of your journal, much like Twitterโs pinned tweets. Hereโs how to do it.
- You can also change how Dreamwidth itself looks, if you donโt like the red. Go to Account Settings > Display. Most other site display preferences are on that page.
- While youโre here, look through the Account Settings > Privacy page. By default, your public entries will be included in site searches. You can turn it off at the bottom of the page if you want. You can also set it so your entries are automatically access-locked or private as well.
This got very long so the rest is behind the cut. (Now you really know Iโm legit.)
