Rapid Weaver Plugin updates

This morning as I was reading my email I received one from Version Tracker, it seems RapidCart plugin has been updated to 2.1.1, and here is what RapidCart can do for you:

Product Description:
RapidCart is a RapidWeaver plugin that lets you create your own e-commerce website in minutes. Add one or more RapidCart pages to your site and enjoy the slick and fully customizable cross-page AJAX cart that the plugin will automatically generate for you. Payments:
• checkout thru multiple trusted payment systems
• 18 currencies support
• complete cart with taxes and shipping
• PayPal support
• Google Checkout support
• Direct Order support
• show disclaimer
• no monthly fee required
Prices:
• default tax rate percentage
• shows prices with or without taxes
• special prices for promotions
• taxes and shipping
• different prices for different options
Compatibility:
• works with Safari, Firefox and IE7+
Cart:
• AJAX cross-page cart
• saved in cookies
• customizable expiration
• customizable size, alignment and position
• customizable colors
• 1-4 column layout
• automatic positioning
• full summary including taxes and shipping
• powerful customizable layout
• styled header & footer
Effects:
• cool effects when adding items or emptying cart
• on-the-fly quantity increase/decrease with automatic update
Internationalization:
• customizable decimal separator and precision
• customizable labels
Products:
• products management
• automatic icon scaling
• name, SKU
• styled product description
• additional options with automatic dropdown or text field creation
• price, special price for promotions
• taxes and shipping
• "out of stock" option
Updates:
• automatic updates
• frequent updates for bugfixing and improvements
What's new in this version:
Bug fixes
• Quantity limit now working with visible quantity field.
• Columns layout doesn't work on IE 7.
• Problem with multilines product name and SKU.
• Broken resources links with absolute path. 
Enhancements
• Improved compatibility with 3rd party themes.
• Improved E-junkie support.
Operating System Requirements:
This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:
• Mac OS X 10.5 Intel
• Mac OS X 10.5 PPC
• Mac OS X 10.4 Intel
• Mac OS X 10.4 PPC

Also the RapidBlog Plugin has beed updated to 1.85 as well
Here is what is in this update:
Sept 3, 2009
• Fixes a file loading problem some people were having. If you still have problems loading RW Files contact support.

Accordion has a point up issue as well:
Accordion is a plugin for RapidWeaver. It builds a dynamic interactive menu-driven interface from your text and graphics. Items open with a smooth slide and close when you choose other content. The content can be just about anything you like: text, graphics, and HTML. Isaiah has updated the mootools elements in this upissue.

Rapid Cart by Omnidea

This morning as I was reading my email I received one from Version Tracker, it seems RapidCart plugin has been updated to 2.1.1, and here is what RapidCart can do for you:

Product Description:
RapidCart is a RapidWeaver plugin that lets you create your own e-commerce website in minutes. Add one or more RapidCart pages to your site and enjoy the slick and fully customizable cross-page AJAX cart that the plugin will automatically generate for you. Payments:

• checkout thru multiple trusted payment systems
• 18 currencies support
• complete cart with taxes and shipping
• PayPal support
• Google Checkout support
• Direct Order support
• show disclaimer
• no monthly fee required

Prices:

• default tax rate percentage
• shows prices with or without taxes
• special prices for promotions
• taxes and shipping
• different prices for different options

Compatibility:

• works with Safari, Firefox and IE7+

Cart:

• AJAX cross-page cart
• saved in cookies
• customizable expiration
• customizable size, alignment and position
• customizable colors
• 1-4 column layout
• automatic positioning
• full summary including taxes and shipping
• powerful customizable layout
• styled header & footer

Effects:

• cool effects when adding items or emptying cart
• on-the-fly quantity increase/decrease with automatic update

Internationalization:

• customizable decimal separator and precision
• customizable labels

Products:

• products management
• automatic icon scaling
• name, SKU
• styled product description
• additional options with automatic dropdown or text field creation
• price, special price for promotions
• taxes and shipping
• "out of stock" option

Updates:

• automatic updates
• frequent updates for bugfixing and improvements

What's new in this version:
Bug fixes

• Quantity limit now working with visible quantity field.
• Columns layout doesn't work on IE 7.
• Problem with multilines product name and SKU.
• Broken resources links with absolute path.
  Enhancements
• Improved compatibility with 3rd party themes.
• Improved E-junkie support.

Operating System Requirements:
This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:

• Mac OS X 10.5 Intel
• Mac OS X 10.5 PPC
• Mac OS X 10.4 Intel
• Mac OS X 10.4 PPC

Also the RapidBlog Plugin has beed updated to 1.85 as well
Here is what is in this update:
Sept 3, 2009

• Fixes a file loading problem some people were having. If you still have problems loading RW Files contact support.

Accordian has a point up issue as well:
Accordion is a plugin for RapidWeaver. It builds a dynamic interactive menu-driven interface from your text and graphics. Items open with a smooth slide and close when you choose other content. The content can be just about anything you like: text, graphics, and HTML. Isaiah has updated the mootools elements in this upissue.

raipidweved.com under new management

Let me introduce my self I have been chosen to take over the reins of this site by Adam Merrifield from SeyDoggy design. You may have seen me around on the RapidWeaver forums. My Name is Glenn Thomas, I hail from Kirkland Washington. I have been a RapidWeaver users since about release 2 and active on the forum since September 2005. I know I have large shoes to fill here.

I hope I can continue the wonderful work that those before me have started. Looking forward to seeing all of your great work.

Glenn Thomas

RapidWeaved interviews RapidWeaver Classroom

Just this past Friday I had the opportunity to talk to Ryan Smith of RapidWeaver Classroom, the original, longest running RapidWeaver tutorial/screencasting website. In light of the recent relaunch of RapidWeaver Classroom for it's 1st anniversary, I thought it would be nice to sit down with Ryan and talk about the last year and what the future has in store for the popular resource.

seyDoggy: When did you start RapidWeaver Classroom?

Ryan Smith: May 1, 2008. So it's just been a year

seyDoggy: What was your initial inspiration?

Ryan Smith: I had been doing one-on-one training and consulting with RapidWeaver users for about 6 months at the time. I thought there had to be a better way to teach users without having to do it individually and scheduling meeting times. I picked-up on the screencasting idea soon thereafter and it took-off from there!

seyDoggy: Tell me then what RapidWeaver Classroom has to offer RapidWeaver users?

Ryan Smith: RapidWeaver Classroom's video tutorial library is currently at around 130 screencasts totaling about 17 hours of instruction. I cover every feature of RapidWeaver (versions 3.6 and 4.0) in detail, and my approach is to assume that there is no familiarity with any of it. This is so a brand new RapidWeaver user, with no website design experience, can get very comfortable with the application, having each feature thoroughly explained. Beyond the program itself, I cover the 3rd-party plugins and even some 3rd-party themes. Most of the major plugins are already available, though I am posting weekly updates with new plugin screencasts.

Beyond the instruction available through the website, I want to provide a service that has great value, where with little expense, a person can learn how to create and maintain their own website, or even offer website design as a service. I want everyone who subscribes to become confident in their abilities to use RapidWeaver and design a website.

seyDoggy: Do you handle certain tutorial requests, and if so, what are some of the most frequently asked questions?

Ryan Smith: I do have subscribers request specific tutorials on occasion, and I keep a list of these for future consideration. I am most likely to fulfill requests on subjects that I receive more inquiries on. For example, a popular subject is SEO, and so I am planning an entire section on the subject. For those who have very specific project-specific needs, it doesn't make sense to publish a screencast on the topic, but I do still provide my consulting service, and I can even create personalized screencasts for those individuals.

seyDoggy: In the last year RapidWeaver has seen a lot of changes and the user base has grown significantly. How has this effected your overall approach?

Ryan Smith: I think it confirms the approach I take as I create my tutorials. Instead of just "showing" how to do something, my intention is to actually teach. So it's not about seeing how something works, but seeing and understanding why. With all of these new users adopting RapidWeaver as their development platform, it's important to me that they understand the value of the application, its strengths and capabilities. This is also why I continue to release tutorials on the 3rd-party plugins and themes, to help users understand how RapidWeaver can be enhanced to do even more for them.

seyDoggy: I have heard many users say you have a measured, patient approach and your technique makes no assumptions as to the users ability. What are the things you try to keep in mind about your students when preparing a new video?

Ryan Smith: That's great you've been told that, because that is absolutely my intention. I have an I.T. support background, and I.T. support people have a tendency to be too technical when speaking with the average user who is needing support. I think through that experience I developed my methods of explaining and teaching - to make no assumptions and to explain things accordingly, without antagonizing someone at the same time. So this is my approach as I create my tutorials. I might provide too much detail for some users, but I'd rather be accused of doing that then take the chance of skimming over crucial details.

seyDoggy: So you've recently relaunched your site and service in celebration of 1 year in service. What was the motivation for this?

Ryan Smith: In all honesty, when I first launched RapidWeaver Classroom a year ago, I was more focused on the content (screencasts) and didn't put enough effort into the design of the website. I think the original design of the website was average, and since I am teaching people how to use RapidWeaver, I needed to do a better job of showing-off its capabilities. I spent a lot of time in choosing the design, the layout of my content and which plugins I should utilize to achieve what I wanted. I'm especially thankful to you for your help with the theme, and to Isaiah (YourHead) for the Stacks plugin - which I have used heavily in the new design.

seyDoggy: How has the decision to make some tutorials available on DVD been received and will you make the rest available at some point?

Ryan Smith: There have been some sales of the DVD, but it's not "flying off the shelves" by any means. The intended audience for the DVD is those who have bandwidth restrictions imposed by their ISP, those with poor or unreliable connections, or those who travel a lot and don't always have Internet access. I am always open to feedback from students and visitors, so I am kind of "playing it by ear" in regards to the DVD.

seyDoggy: What great things can we expect from RapidWeaver Classrooms in the next year?

Ryan Smith: Lots of things, and I hope they are considered great! There will continue to be the weekly updates of new screencasts, with the goal of exceeding 200 screencasts by the end of 2009. In addition, I am in the planning stages of something completely new, and I expect to have an announcement on this by the end of June.

seyDoggy: What are some of your favorite RapidWeaver innovations since you've started using RapidWeaver?

Ryan Smith: Well I absolutely loved the entire overhaul that was done to the interface with the 4.0 upgrade. Browsing themes became so difficult with the narrow theme drawer and the horizontal scrolling in 3.x, so the theme drawer in 4.0 was a very welcome improvement. I think that the overall usability really improved with 4.0, though the built-in pages haven't seen many major changes. The 3rd-party community has really taken the application to a whole new level since I started with RapidWeaver back in November of 2005. Blocks and now Stacks, PlusKit, Accordion, Carousel, Collage, e-commerce with PayLoom, GoogaLoom and the new RapidCart, and ExtraContent-enabled themes now take content layout to a whole new level. I don't know what RapidWeaver would be without the 3rd-party developers - I don't even want to imagine it!

seyDoggy: And one final question... you are stranded on a tropical island and have to choose between a hot model or a Macbook Pro (solar powered of course). Which one gets sent packing?

Ryan Smith: I suppose my wife is not with me so I'd have to take the MacBook Pro to communicate with her. There's also that email thing that could probably be beneficial in getting me off the island. Besides, how would I keep RapidWeaver Classroom updated without a computer?

Theme Review: Neutron by GWDI

Aside from the BlocksBox review a while back, I haven't been reviewing RapidWeaver themes, and I hope that's something that changes beginning with this new review of Neutron by GWDI. GWDI has built-up a nice portfolio or RapidWeaver themes, and by browsing the previews you will see that they are quality themes that should not disappoint. GWDI was kind enough to provide me with its newest theme, Neutron, for review here at RapidWeaved.

Theme Style and Options

Neutron is a clean, flexible theme that doesn't rely on heavy graphics to get the job done. You receive a good amount of theme variations, including: width of 600-1000px, logo placement, body text alignment, title alignment, fonts, font sizes, line height, sidebar placement, and color-picker support. I especially appreciate the range of width options, font sizes, line height and color-picker support. The font size options actually give you pixel measurements for the smaller sizes and EMs for the larger options -- so regardless of which "font-measurement camp" you are in, you should be satisfied. :) Color-picker support covers pretty much everything and there are 6 additional built-in styles to get you going.

Neutron has nice logo support through RapidWeaver's Site Setup panel. I added logos of several different sizes and shapes -- both square and rectangular, and they all appeared perfectly. The header itself is not one complete image, but a repeating horizontal image that boasts a nice vertical gradient, overlaying whatever header color you choose through the color-picker. This means you won't be adding full-size custom headers, but I bet you could pull something off using the RapidWeaver's logo feature.

There are 3 levels of navigation in Neutron. The primary navigation bar is located at the top of the layout just above the header, with the 2nd and 3rd nav levels appearing horizontally just below the header. As far as content is concerned, Neutron has styles for all 6 Headline tags and a nice script-like font styling for the blockquote. Of course you can do a lot of text customization using the available theme variations. The line-height option is a nice touch and I'd like to see that available in all themes.

Quirks
There's a small number of minor quirks I encountered while testing the theme. The theme's default styles gives you some text color issues, specifically in the nav bar where the inactive page link is a dark blue on black, and in the footer where the hyperlink color is white on white. Of course these can be quickly adjusted with the color-picker so it's very minor. Apart from that, you might see a few confusing results when using the color-picker. Adjusting the Title Text also adjusts the breadcrumb and footer hyperlinks with the same color, and Link affects the H1-H3 tags (not H4-H6) in addition to the links, even though I don't have the H-tags linked. You will also want to adjust the line-height variation for the blog page, otherwise the two lines of the blog title (title and date/category lines) run into each other -- more significantly in some browsers than in others. Speaking of browsers...

Browser Compatibility
I exported a sample Neutron site and viewed it in Safari 3, Firefox (Mac & PC) and IE6 & 7. Aside from a minor issue in IE6 everything looked great in all browsers. As I mentioned above you'll probably want to increase the line-height for the blog page, though. The IE6 issue is that the container extends out to the right an additional 5px or so, creating a thin, vertical line to the right of the header and all the way down the page. It blends with the content and footer areas since it is the same color, but it sticks-out on account of the header being different. There is a separate stylesheet for IE6, so it's likely a quick fix to eliminate this issue.

Conclusion
Neutron is a great, clean theme with a lot of flexibility and very little to be concerned about when it comes to bugs. I took a quick peek at the main styles.css document and it's very cleanly coded and CSSEdit-friendly for all you theme modification freaks... *points at self.* Thanks again to GWDI for the opportunity to review Neutron, and I definitely look forward to its future offerings.

10 Questions: Chris of Varsis Studio

Chris of Varsis Studio has been busy developing the highly anticipated CoverFlow plugin for RapidWeaver. Well-known for their 3rd-party theme offerings, Varsis Studio has their first plugin in the late stages of beta testing. Chris was kind enough to field some questions for this RapidWeaved interview. Enjoy!

RapidWeaved: To my knowledge you are the first developer of both themes and plugins for RapidWeaver. What do you enjoy about developing for RW?

Chris: I am not the only, but only one to make a somewhat sophisticated plugin. Josh Lockhart made a Yahoo search plugin [RapidSearch].

I enjoy everything about developing for Rapidweaver. I don't have to handle much on the back end but it has been a large learning experience, from beginning to start. I started doing themes a long time ago, and enjoyed that. I like mostly the large community and helpful people, I know how much help it is for people to get one-on-one experience and I like to do the same for customers and for my themes. Also, I enjoy others doing the same respect for me. I love doing this, and being a part time job has paid off a fair bit for me, as I don't have too many large, long breaks it helps to be doing this.

RapidWeaved: What was your motivation to branch into plugin development?

Chris: I wanted to learn something new, and I did and I still am learning. I have learned a lot on the way.

RapidWeaved: Before you started the CoverFlow project you asked the community what plugin they'd like to see. What was it about CoverFlow that made you decide to take it on?

Chris: CoverFlow seemed to be something new and innovative. It also was the most popular request I noticed, and I happened to find a lot of helpful stuff in creating the plugin; also got an experience in Flash which I did learn awhile back but never used it. It [Flash] has evolved a lot in the last few years.

RapidWeaved: Not only did you involve the RW community in deciding your first plugin, you've made everyone a part of the entire development process. You've made the betas public from very early on and have possibly the longest thread on the support forum! How has the experience been with making this process so public?

Chris: I have enjoyed it. I wish I could do themes like that, unfortunately there is no way to secure development on a theme, unlike a plugin. I like to implement what the community wants, not what I want, and it does seem to be very helpful to work, and also giving people the public beta gives them a chance to tell me what they would like or need.

RapidWeaved: Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the feedback and requests?

Chris: Sometimes, yes. It has been overwhelming in-between school and this. But I try to get back on everything, and fulfill as many requests as I can though some are hard to do, or are almost impossible to do within coverFlow.

RapidWeaved: What makes you consider and address one feature request over another?

Chris: I try to weed out the impossible ones over the possible ones. It is hard because most of them are possible, but I try to get the most needed ones, or most requested.

RapidWeaved: What are some of the challenges you've faced during development?

Chris: I have had to learn how to replicate the users experience, but I have had to learn how to fix the problems. This is technically my first project, and learning the RapidWeaver API is like learning a new language. I've had to learn how to do everything just about from top to bottom.

RapidWeaved: Any projections on when CoverFlow could go final?

Chris: I hope to be getting close to the final here. With Flickr going to be supported in the next version, I hope the requests will finally slow down.

RapidWeaved: Have you started to consider what your next plugin might be?

Chris: I have considered it, but I haven't found any ideas which I will enjoy as much as this one yet.

RapidWeaved: Final question: Ben vs. Dan in a sock wrestling match. Who do you put your money on?

Chris: Who's the bigger guy? LOL I have never met them in real life so I don't know, but just for the sake of it, I would say Dan!

BlocksBox & JonasThemes

I've recently had the pleasure of working with the BlocksBox theme and talking with its developer, Jonas of JonasThemes. BlocksBox is probably the most unique of all the available RapidWeaver themes in that it is a blank slate -- no menu, no content containers -- and pretty much relies fully on the Blocks plugin from YourHead. The power of Blocks, combined with BlockBox and its variations, allows the RapidWeaver user to essentially develop their own theme and website with little limitation beyond their own imagination.

BlocksBox is literally a blank page when you first bring it up in RW's Preview mode, but there are categories of variations that allow you to quickly style the layout for your website. The variations in the Theme Inspector include: background color using the color picker, a custom background image, background image position, background image repeat (horizontally, vertically, or both), top spacing, header logo, font, font size, text color and styling using the color picker, photo album styling, blog styling, file sharing styling and contact form styling. These variations let you define some constants throughout your website, but everything else can be as dynamic as you wish since it is all added through Blocks.

RapidWeaver users are so accustomed to the navigation menu being one of the defining features of a theme that it can be a bit awkward to envision a theme without a navigation menu. The Blocks plugin provides the flexibility to create your menu with BlocksBox -- using plain text, image text or images you've collected or created yourself. Blocks' mouseover feature for images presents some particularly exciting options for your navigation menu where you can create some really cool hover effects for the menu options.

For my testing I created a splash page for a website using BlocksBox. I used a repeating image horizontally and vertically for the background of the site and placed the logo in the top left-corner of my Blocks page. I then added some text in a text block and added some text images I created in Photoshop for the menu options. Using the mouseover feature I animated the menu links by having them change colors on hover. In about 20 minutes I had a nice-looking splash page that doesn't look like something normally created in RapidWeaver. The BlocksBox-included variations made it especially easy to accomplish an attractive background without knowledge of CSS.

As it exists in its current version, BlocksBox is quite a powerful tool for creating a completely original website. The limitations I noticed were on account of what is expected to exist in a "normal" RapidWeaver theme. Typically a Blocks page will be the content area of your website that fits into a structured content container, but in the case of BlocksBox the Blocks page is the website, so that means that you will need to create the containers and divisions of your site's layout using lines and/or graphics if that's what you want. Graphic designers or people with some graphic skill will benefit when using BlocksBox -- not to say that BlocksBox users need to have graphic design skills to create something impressive. By the way, there is a nice showcase at the JonasThemes website that will give you some examples of the power behind BlocksBox.

Jonas has given me a beta version of his next update to BlocksBox, and at first glance it appears the new features will address some of the perceived limitations. At the least the update presents options that will make the design process even easier, so I look forward to the public release of this update in the future. And speaking of Jonas, I asked him to answer a few questions for me and so I will close-out this article with some insight from the BlocksBox Man himself!

RapidWeaved: How did your idea for BlocksBox come about?

Jonas: At first I build websites using the standard RapidWeaver themes. But after making about three websites I wanted to be able to have more influence on the layout. Because of the predefined layout in RapidWeaver I was forced using iWeb instead. But then I missed all the great page-styles and plug-ins, so I switched back and found the solution in using really minimal themes in combination with Blocks. I still wondered why there was no theme made specially for Blocks. I contacted Isaiah from Yourhead and he was shocked as well that no theme-developer created it yet. At that moment I never wrote a single line of code but three weeks later the first (not so stable version) of BlocksBox was launched to my own surprise.

RapidWeaved: What were some of the challenges you faced while developing the theme?

Jonas: The biggest challenge was to learn all the necessary code (.plist xhtml and css) and at the same time writing the BlocksBox-theme. I learned a lot during the development. And actually I still do not like writing codes but that's why I wrote BlocksBox.

RapidWeaved: How dependent is BlocksBox on the Blocks plugin? Can the theme be used without Blocks?

Jonas: BlocksBox has been written with Blocks in mind. BlocksBox can't function normal without it. Due to page-blocks most other page types can be imported into the Blocks pagestyle. BlocksBox makes Blocks a lay-out editor instead of just a content editing plug-in.

RapidWeaved: Since you started with a virtually limitless theme, do you see yourself creating more themes in the future?

Jonas: I am having some more theme ideas but at the moment I want BlocksBox to be better and more customizable first.

RapidWeaved: What are your plans concerning updates/upgrades for BlocksBox?

Jonas: I am currently working on a major BlocksBox upgrade. In the new version people do not need to enter the theme if they want custom background and it will also be possible to use the standard RW menu-system. Due to my study it may take some more time then originally planned but it will be sweet. Besides the theme the website will be updated as well with a lot more information.