An Interview with "Sundog"

Larry "Sundog" Pollock was kind enough to entertain some questions for my latest interview. Sundog is well-known for his contributions to the RapidWeaver community, including outstanding support, the inside RapidWeaver website, a book and a new theme called Squeeze. Enjoy!

RapidWeaved: First off I'd like to ask a couple of questions concerning your involvement in the RapidWeaver community. When did you begin using RW and what was your previous experience with website design?

Sundog: I started to notice RW in the summer of 2005. I was using Dreamweaver but had become frustrated with the time it took to make changes to a site. But I had a hard time at first understanding how RW worked. Also, at that time the number of themes was very limited. When RW 3.2 was released in the fall I finally purchased a copy. But it still took me a month to really let go of the DW way. RW revitalized my desire to learn, build and expand my knowledge of all things "web". It made it fun again.

RapidWeaved: You are the lone "Prodigy" in the forums with an absurd amount of posts -- a majority of which are answering questions or providing some type of support to users. What drives you to be so involved and help so many people?

Sundog: LOL, I had no intent to get involved with the Forum at first. I tentatively posted a few times when I saw something I thought I understood. It was not until Tom Beardmore, the big Kahuna at that time, and a group of other folks announced they where going to take some time away to build a Learning Center on RW that I said I would step up to the plate as best I could and take on the support questions. At that time everyone thought that might be 30 to 60 days. I thought "I can do extra support for that time". As it turned out Tom had to take care of LIFE and has been unable to return.

I quickly found out that I really enjoy helping folks. But if everyone knew this one thing, they would all be trying to help: "The Teach Always Learns More Than The Students!". When folks ask a question I get the opportunity to say to myself "how would I do that?" Then I get try it out. Especially in the first 1.5 years. But the learning continues. Bottom line, I get back more than I give.

RapidWeaved: You created inside RapidWeaver as another resource for the community. How did you come up with the idea for the site and how did it evolve?

Sundog: I had shied away from doing anything that might require my support and add to my work load. I have a business that is in 5 countries already that is outside of the tech community. It was on a trip in July driving from Seattle to San Diego that I woke up and told my wife I was going it write books about RW and how to use it. I started writing ideas down as fast as I could write. It just sort of happened all at once, I had the desire and clarity and just "knew" I was ready to do this. I mentioned this to Nik (Sarge) and he offered the domain he had been sitting on and transferred it to me.

Since I had not built a theme from scratch and wanted a special look for Inside Rapidweaver I ended up having ADHD Graphics do some mock ups and the rest is "history".

RapidWeaved: RWcss, a book you wrote about modifying themes, took your support a step further. Can you describe the process of writing the book?

Sundog: That is interesting. I have written marketing pieces and ads for years. But, I had never written a book. Let alone a technical manual! I truly felt I have so much to learn my first pause was "who are you to write a how to book?!". Finally I thought "if not me, then who?!"

The way my mind works is to just sleep on it for a few days and then let an outline flow out on paper. I keep adding notes and thoughts about what RWcss should be like. Then I just simply start writing! I know it may sound strange, but I sort of let it flow out without edits at first. While doing this I start to get more ideas and see what may be missing.

RapidWeaved: What was the most difficult part of writing RWcss?

Sundog: The real hard part for me, and the part that takes the most time, is editing and perfecting. You have no idea how many times I looked it over, had it looked over by 3 other folks and then by me again several times. It is a process very much like reading code, word by word, line by line. I start with a larger scan of each page in hard copy making notes and then I go very slow over it again, and again... And much like software, it is never perfect but at some point you have to release it into the "wild" and then you will get the rest of the info you need to perfect it.

RapidWeaved: You recently took another step and entered into theme development. What has been your experience with that so far?

Sundog: First off I have to give huge Kudos to all the Developers who have been doing this for a while. It is a very different process from doing modifications of existing themes. I have modified lots of them. But starting with a blank theme SDK, CSSEdit, PlistEdit Pro and Textwrangler is a different animal for sure. I really found out my weak areas of understanding and had some frustration at times when I hit a wall and could not solve an issue. IE6 and 7 gave me some pause but I managed to get over it with some sage advice from Gary Byrd at RapidWeaverThemes and Chris over at Varsis Studios . I also received some nice advice from Giuseppe Caruso at Bonsai Studio and Henk Vrieselaar . OK, I drop their names and URLs as they deserve the acknowledgement!

I'm ready now to do more. Squeeze is a foundation theme. Next I will start doing some with interesting images and graphics. Hope to find a niche and style of my own.

RapidWeaved: What, if any, reservations did you have as you considered developing your own themes?

Sundog: Support. Do I have the time to do the support needed? Also I had to ask the same question as I did with the book, "do I know enough to write good quality themes?" The answer is one I have known for years. "You will never know it all until you are involved". In other words, there never is a time before before diving in that you will have enough information to feel totally comfortable. It's the old "arm chair quarterback" thing. It is easy to give advice and criticize from the sidelines but you truly won't have the knowledge unless you're on the "field".

RapidWeaved: How has the response to Squeeze been so far?

Sundog: Just fine. I would say moderate sales right now. Hey, it's the Holidays, there are lots of themes on the market and Holiday Specials going on too. Folks prioritize their $. I think in the long run it will sell well.

RapidWeaved: Any further ambitions you're considering for 2008?

Sundog: Weelllll, YES! But if I told you, I would have to kill you! (lol, not really). I do have a project in the works that will be announced in the next month I believe. It is a joint venture with a well-known person in the community. It will be something that will evolve and expand a lot over 2008.

I will do more themes and get more books out too I hope.

And I hope to keep up on some of the support on the Forum too. The Forum has matured nicely and I find I am needed less and less as there are more and more folks who can answer the questions. This is good. As my post count shows, I was doing a lot almost everyday. Now I get to let the community take it on. I am sure others who have been doing support for the last few years along side me feel the same too. We can be more selective and jump in where needed. One more thought on this, as RW grows and matures further I think you will see folks like myself being more specialized. I love CSS but have a few other areas I would like to expand my knowledge on.

RapidWeaved: Last question. It's summer in Arizona and you have to choose one: your hat or your sunglasses?

Sundog: Sunglasses! Definitely. Keep me away from the sunglasses counter. Keep Maui Jims away! I am a sucker for nice looking SGs. Hey, the difference between you and me is, I make these look goooooood!

All the buzz

We are so proud to announce that we have made the front page of DesignSnack! We are tickled pink that this design and concept are being accepted like they are. So far we've graced the pages of CSSTux (friendly to the cause of course), The DailySlurp, MostInspired, and DesignSnack. We could also mention that we have been Stumbled Upon and blogged about countless times.

I hope all this buzz means we're doing our job because we sure love to do it!

We've been slurped!

I can hardly contain my excitement. Like any parent, the creator of a web site or design project is proud when he sees his creation succeed. That is exactly how I feel right now after realizing that not only did RapidWeaved.com get slurped on the DailySlurp for December 18, 2007 (a great honor in web circles), but one of the sites we featured on the front page did as well, which I am sure is no coincidence.

I want to congratulate the whole RapidWeaved.com team for making this project such a great success straight out of the gate. Thanks to Joe and Ryan for their excellent contributions. The showcase is the purpose of this site but their content is what gives this site it's depth, meaning and credibility. Without these guys this site would just be another old showcase site.

Working through VideoBox

Que the Mission Impossible music...

Dah dah dahn nah, dah dah dahn nah
Dah dah dahn nah, dah dah dahn nah, etc.

My mission this week, and I chose to accept it, was to work through and then review a user contributed tutorial from the forum. Judging by all the forum questions inquiring about Lightbox, LightWindow, Slimbox, graybox, thisbox and thatbox, I thought a tutorial involving one of them might be a good one to work through. On my sites I use either the built in Lighbox triggers of Loghound's excellent PlusKit or one of the templates included with Scott Mackie's wonderful RapidAlbum but there are many folks who don’t use those so I thought this would be a good area to work in. Plus, I’d previously not tried to integrate any kind of “box” effect with video.

The tutorial I worked through was done on VideoBox and posted by kbbrux. On the main tutorial page kbbrux posted a basic introduction including a link to where you can download the necessary VideoBox files as well as a bit javascript code that needs to be copied and pasted into your project. kbbrux’s post then links to the actual tutorial, a screen cast he has hosted on his own site.

He starts out stating that he’s using RW’s Alpha theme and that he’s been able to get this to work with Silk as well. Well of course using a stock RW theme just isn't good enough for me. I have to muddy the water and use the theme I’m currently playing around with, Henk Vrieselaar’s gorgeous Vertical Image 1 theme. I generally have a test site already made up that I switch themes around on, install and play with new plug-ins, snippets, etc. It so happens that I’d just bought Vertical Image so that was the theme loaded on my test site.

I watched the screen cast all the way through once and then went back and started it over, following along on my own test site. To get VideoBox to work with RapidWeaver is very simple (or so it seemed). First, I download the VideoBox file kbbrux had linked to in tutorial post on the forum. The file came zipped and when decompressed contained a single video folder. This folder and all it’s contents needed to be placed into the themes Css folder so I right-clicked on the theme in the theme drawer, made a duplicate and then right-clicked on the duplicate theme to “Show Contents.” Once the folder contents window opened I dropped the video folder into the Css folder.

Out of curiosity I opened up Vertical Image's Css folder just to see what all was in there. In kbbrux’s video tutorial he was using Alpha and there where three other subfolders in the Css folder. Not so with Vertical Image which had no less than 24 folders. Hmmm..... What are the odds of this working without a hitch and not conflicting with any of those other files?

The next step was to copy the javascript code kbbrux had posted in the tutorial and then to paste that in the Custom Header box in the Page Inspector. Why it goes in there and not in the custom Javascript or CSS box I have no idea. Bear in mind I know little html and absolutely NO Css, Javascript or any other kind script for that matter. One of these days I WILL work all the way through Sundog's RWcss book... One of these days...

Next it was time to actually add the video file to my page. First, you have to add the video to the page as an asset, which I did. Once again, however, I veered off course from the tutorial and attached the video to text I had entered into a Text Block. kbbrux used a Styled Text page. In the Add Link dialog box, I named the link, pointed it at the video file asset and in the rel box typed in vidbox 640 480 as the tutorial instructed.

This is where things went bad. When I previewed the page VideoBox opened up but my video didn’t play. I published the site anyway hoping that might fix things but it didn’t. I figured for sure that my straying from the tutorial by using a different theme and a block page was the cause of my troubles so I started again from scratch using Alpha and a plain old styled text page. Same result! What the heck?

In the tutorial, kbbrux used a .mov file and the file I was trying to use was a .mp4 file. Could that be the problem? My dog knows more about JavaScript, Css and html than I do so I wasn’t about to open up the page in an editor to troubleshoot. Its all greek to me and I wouldn’t know what I was looking at anyway. Instead I recorded a new screen capture movie but made sure to save it as a .mov file. To keep things tidy, I placed the video in the same folder as the one I’d stored the original .mp4 file and proceeded to repeat the tutorial. Still no joy!

What had I done? I’d run (quickly) out of troubleshooting ideas. Out of sheer desperation and unwilling to admit defeat I dragged the video file to my desktop. I don’t know why I did that, I just did. I guess I figured it couldn’t make anything worse. I re-added the file via the Assets window and previewed one last time. It worked! I then tried it in Vertical Image and it worked there too although the VideoBox window opened up kind of behind the sidebar nav menu.

I have no idea why it worked but I will tell you the folder I kept the .mp4 in originally is four levels down in my Documents folder. My theme test file is in a different folder altogether so it’s not that the video file has to be in the same folder as the RW file. I still have no idea why this makes a difference but I’m happy I finally got it to work.

All in all it was a fun and quick tutorial to work through (at least it’d be quick for most people). The only thing I’d change is that when kbbrux is typing in the Add Link drop-down sheet, it’s very hard to see what he’s actually typing. The screen cast seemed to be sized approximately 640 X 350 which would be okay if the camera was zoomed in a little more on the action. As it is the whole RapidWeaver screen is shown. A slightly larger movie or more zooming would make this screen cast easier to watch.

Other than that, the tutorial is short, concise and easy to follow and it adds a really nice effect to videos you might post on your own site. After having failed in my first couple attempts, things went smoothly and as planned as soon as I moved my movie file to the desktop. Not sure why I had to do this and it certainly wasn’t kbbrux's fault.

Speaking of kbbrux, he’s posted eight other screencast tutorials on his site. They’re all equally informative and well done. You can check them out on his RapidWeaver screen-casts page. Thanks kbbrux!

Week in Review: December 10th-16th

In cased you missed it...

Plugin Announcements
RapidGuestbook 1.1 update
v1.1 of RapidGuestbook has been released. Updates include more security, anti-spam, labels for each field and some general fixes.

Kwix Public Beta
YourHead's Kwix plugin is still in Public Beta and Isaiah has provided good information on the plugin in this thread.

Blocks Beta 3
Isaiah has been busy releasing beta versions of Blocks. These updates mainly address issues related to Page Blocks.

Theme Announcements
Bionicle
Will Woodgate and idotter.ch have released a new theme called Bionicle. The theme offers many variations and is available with a $2.00 discount until the end of the year with coupon code BIONICLERELEASE.

Squeeze
One of our favorite RW community members, Sundog, has released his first theme. Squeeze is a minimalistic theme with many options, including a Splash page. Thanks to Larry's amazing speed in all things, the theme is already available as a Version 2 release.

Bloop! update
seyDesign has updated its Bloop! theme. This patch fixes a javascript issue in the HTML template that would not allow external URLs to open in a new window.

Diamond update
Rapid Ideas has released and upated to its Diamond theme. This update adds a number of features, including: custom colors for the navbar in the sidebar, styling of the blog cloud tags, implementation of the pngfix javascript file for IE6/Win and other IE improvements.

Jumsoft Themes
Jumsoft has continued to update its themes that were first introduced in the previous Week in Review. The update includes Movie Album support, support for float image left or right, colorpicker support and the ability to choose font family and size. Initial response from owners of the themes is positive, but there still appears to be a bit of work left to do before these themes are completely ready. We will keep potential buyers up-to-date with the progress.

A moment with Dominique and RapidTable

Despite the Atlantic ocean and 7 hours separating us, I had the pleasure of talking to Dominique of MEGE-SERVICES about his new RapidTable plug-in. Dominique lives in France so the interview was conducted via instant message and despite a bump in the road or two (both of us typing at the same time) it was a fun and enlightening experience.

I started the interview out by asking what the reason was behind developing RapidTable. Dominique explained that he wanted a way to list all of the wines he has in his personal collection on a website. He already had a MySQL table of his collection on his Mac and just needed a way to list them on a webpage. He also wanted to develop for fun. Being a wine lover myself, I expressed my envy of all the wines listed on the RapidTable demo pages. Dominique confided that he doesn’t actually own all those wines listed. It’s just part of the demo.

Back on topic, I then asked him who he thought the target audience for a plug-in like RapidTable would be. He thought that in addition to using it for displaying things like the contents of a wine cellar, anyone needing to display a list of things like events, addresses, and links, would find RapidTable useful.

“RapidTable is a simple thing. It’s not very powerful but it’s doing the job.” says Dominique.

He then went on to say that he developed the plug-in for himself but thought that others might be able to use it.

I asked Dominique how long, from inception to official release, did it take to develop RapidTable. He wasn’t able to give me an exact answer since the process consisted of many stages and was a culmination of many other technologies, all of which Dominique had to learn in the process. He started out wanting to learn MySQL and SQL, then learned to develop in PHP using the CakePHP framework, PHPMyEdit and PHPBuilder. Finally, he turned to the RapidWeaver SDK (Software Development Kit).

“I’m still learning and it’s hard for me because I don’t like Cocoa ;-).”

Ultimately, Dominique estimated that it took him about a month to create the actual plugin.

With all of his recent plug-in releases, RapidTable, RapidGuestbook, RapidMap, I was surprised to find out that Dominique doesn’t develop software for a living. When I asked him what kind of response RapidTable was receiving, Dominique stated that this was the first time he’d developed software for sale but is happy so far.

Finally, I asked him if there was anything else he was working on that he’d be able to give us a hint about. He stated that he's working on something that would integrate existing internet software like forums into a RapidWeaver site. He’s also exploring CMS (Content Management System) as well as RapidWeaver themes.RapidTable is available from MEGE-SERVICES for €11.

I want to express my thanks to Dominique for taking time to talk to me about RapidTable. This was the first time I’d ever done an interview via instant message and it was an interesting experience. I learned a lot about his great new RapidWeaver plug-in, RapidTable. I also learned that even a short interview takes a long time when you’re instant messaging.

Inside YourHead

I had the pleasure of contacting Isaiah of YourHead with some questions about RapidWeaver plugin development. YourHead has been a staple in the RapidWeaver development community over the past 2 years, and has just released a Public Beta of its newest plugin, Kwix, which is sure to be another great success in the tradition of YourHead offerings. Enjoy!

RapidWeaved: Last month you celebrated 2 years of developing for RapidWeaver. What's been the best part for you?

YourHead: I think my favorite thing is when I bump into a random web page generated with one of my plugins while browsing. I really enjoy seeing what people build with my tools.

RapidWeaved: If you had to choose, which YourHead plugin would be your favorite?

YourHead: Oh, that's easy, Collage. It was my first plugin, and the plugin that I needed myself. Plus I like its simplicity.

RapidWeaved: Which plugin has been the most difficult to develop?

YourHead: Blocks is by far the largest, most complex, and most time consuming. I've spent more time on single pieces of the Blocks interface code than on whole other plugins.

RapidWeaved: What factors come into play as you consider a new plugin idea?

YourHead: I like things that will have a wide appeal to a variety of websites. I really like that the base plugins that come with RapidWeaver aren't targeted at one specific type of web page and I like to make things that further that tradition.

RapidWeaved: Blocks is, in my opinion, the most indispensable of all 3rd-party RapidWeaver plugins. Has there ever been a conversation about including it in the RW package?

YourHead: I think for one single day you could buy a RapidWeaver and Blocks package deal. It didn't last very long, mostly just for logistical reasons. I think things will remain that way for a while yet. But I work very closely with the RealMacSoftware guys, now. More closely all the time.

RapidWeaved: You partnered with yabdab to create PayLoom, perhaps the most widely-requested plugin. How did that partnership come about?

YourHead: I met Mike at a MacWorld right after releasing Collage. He had been asking some questions about plugin development while working on PayLoom. At some point, I'm not sure I remember how, we decided it would be fun to team up. I think Mike figured it would get to market a bit faster with me on board and I figured that the first e-commerce plugin was pretty important and I wanted to be a part of it. It was fun and our skill sets complimented each other. It definitely sped things along.

RapidWeaved: Your newest plugin, Kwix, is now in Public Beta. How has the response been so far compared to previous releases?

YourHead: Very positive. Lots of downloads so far. I'm already surprised at the wild things people have done with it.

RapidWeaved: Kwix won't replace a theme's menu "out-of-the-box," but do you foresee that as a possibility in the future?

YourHead: Plugins really only change the "content" area -- so it's not possible for a traditional plugin. But Javascript makes nearly anything possible -- so you never know.

RapidWeaved: Any comments on what might be in-store for YourHead in 2008?

YourHead: I think RapidWeaver 4.0 will bring big changes to everyone. I don't really have any inside info, but I think that will be the biggest news of 2008.

RapidWeaved: Last question. Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris?

YourHead: Another easy question. Answer: Bruce Lee, of course.

Design Snack Listing

I have submitted RapidWeaved.com to Design Snack, a user-controlled web design showcase, and with your votes we should be able to make it to the approved section on the site. So if you like RapidWeaved.com and think it's cool and sexy, give us your vote HERE.

Another Introduction

Hey intrepid RapidWeaved.com readers! My name is Joe, also known as JailerJoe on the RapidWeaver forum, and I'm honored that Adam has asked me to contribute to RapidWeaved. I can’t even begin to tell you how much knowledge I’ve gained from hanging around the RapidWeaver forum. The folks there are so friendly and eager to help it’s amazing. My hope is that I’ll able to give something back to the wonderful RapidWeaver community via this blog and website.

I’ve been an Apple geek since buying my first Mac way back in 1992 (an LC II running at a blazing 16Mhz) but I’m a relative newcomer to RapidWeaver. I snagged a copy during the first MacHeist, which if memory serves was going on just about this time last year. Prior to discovering RapidWeaver I used .Mac’s Homepage and then later iWeb for creating web pages. Nothing fancy, mostly just family photo galleries.

As much as I think I’d like it, I don’t make my living designing websites with RapidWeaver, although I’ve recently landed a couple paying gigs which is really cool. To pay the bills and keep my kids fed, I’m a corrections officer in a county jail, so you can pretty much expect that my contributions will be coming from the perspective of a newbie. You can also imagine that Lockdown and Lockdown have two entirely different meanings to me.

Enough about me! Thanks Adam for allowing me to be part of this. I’m happy to be here and excited about the future of both RapidWeaver and RapidWeaved!

Week in review: December 3rd-9th

This is the start of a weekly installment covering the announcements and popular subjects in the RapidWeaver community for the previous week. Commentary on each subject will be brief, with in-depth reviews of new releases posted separately in the near future. So, in case you missed it...

Plugin Announcements

RapidTable
A new plugin from Dominique of MEGE-SERVICES, RapidTable displays a MySQL table on your website. Look for more information on this great plugin in the near future here at RapidWeaved!

RapidGuestBook
Another new plugin from Dominique of MEGE-SERVICES, RapidGuestBook adds a simple guestbook to your website. The plugin uses PHP and MySQL.

RapidAlbum 1.0.2 update
Scott has updated his popular RapidAlbum plugin to version 1.0.2, fixing a problem importing Caption metadata and adding support for a new metadata token.

Kwix Public Beta

Isaiah at YourHead has been busy once again with a new plugin that is sure to be an instant success! This one is called Kwix and utilizes the MooTools JavaScript framework to create ultra-cool animated menus. It is now available as a Public Beta. Look for more information on this plugin in the near future here at RapidWeaved!

Theme Announcements

EZ 4 and EZ 5 from RapidWeaverThemes
Gary at RapidWeaverThemes has been busy lately with a number of new themes. EZ 4 and EZ 5 are minimalist themes with tons of variations to help you make your website unique.

Flashy from RapidWeaverThemes
In addition to EZ 4 and EZ 5, Gary has announced something completely new in Flashy. This theme will allow you to easily add a custom Flash banner to your website. The theme hasn't been released just yet, but we'll let you know when it's available for purchase!

Jumsoft Themes
Jumsoft has joined the RapidWeaver developer community with its release of 3 RapidWeaver themes: Mental Image, Patronage and Rainbow. The previews are very promising, but be warned that these aren't quite up to RapidWeaver 3.6 standards, yet. Jumsoft has been progressing with theme updates and we hope to see great things from them soon!

Miscellaneous

Graphics Chat
In other news, the RealMac Forum has added a new forum section called Graphics Chat. This should prove to be a valuable addition as RapidWeaver users share their knowledge of graphics and links to online resources.

That does it for the first installment of the weekly digest. More to come next week!

An Introduction

Howdy to the outstanding RapidWeaver community! My name is Ryan, better known as "ryanbsmith" on the RealMac Forum, and it's a pleasure to be contributing to the newly launched RapidWeaved. I began using RapidWeaver 2 years ago and have been developing websites with the software ever since. It's no secret that the community provides amazing support, and I'm excited to be giving back in a sense with contributions to RapidWeaved.

A few random tidbits about myself: I currently run my own business designing websites, doing I.T. consulting and offering various digital media services. I live in Texas so I figured I'd satisfy the cliché with a "howdy" to start things off. Just to clarify, though, I hate country music and have never owned a cowboy hat. In addition to website design and other geekery, I love playing the guitar and percussion, watching football and basketball (go Cowboys and Mavs!) and would probably be considered a movie snob, though I don't expect everyone to like the same movies I do.

A big "thanks" to Adam for launching this site and I hope my contribution does its part to make RapidWeaved a great resource for the entire community.

My first and possibly last post

So here is the deal. I want RapidWeaved.com to be an impartial place to come and see what RapidWeaver users are building, who's themes they are using, what's new on the forums, etc... As the owner of seyDesign.com, I can't very well pose as impartial can I?

So it is my hope to get a handful of bloggers to take the helm and steer this ship to calm, serene waters. If you think you're the one, read this post here and let me know.