rapidweaver posts

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Macintosh, Podcasting, Blogging, Shareware

RapidWeaver 3.6.2 released

by Nik Fletcher Aug 2nd 2007

Disclaimer: I am a part-time support ninja for the company behind the product I mention in this post.

Back in September last year, we covered RapidWeaver when back at version 3.5.0. Since then, version numbers have increased, and today sees the release of RapidWeaver 3.6.2. The release includes not only bugfixes, but a few new features too: Aperture support in the Media Browser; Dynamic PHP Sidebar to "significantly reduce upload times when posting entries, particularly on larger sites"; Customisable RSS URLs (for integration with services such as Feedburner) and more.

The upgrade is free to registered customers of RapidWeaver 3.6.x users, owners of versions of RapidWeaver 3.5.1 or earlier can upgrade for $25, and a new licence costs $49.

Tags: blogging, macosx, podcasting, rapidweaver, web publishing, WebPublishing

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Macintosh, Blogging

RapidWeaver 3.5.0: A WYSIWYG editor I'd actually consider using

by Amber Rhea Sep 7th 2006

Realmac Software has released version 3.5.0 of WYSIWYG editor RapidWeaver. The new version is Universal Binary, meaning it will run natively on Intel Macs. New features include CSS-based photo albums, SFTP support, improved blog functionality, and of course, more themes. As in previous versions, there is also easy integration with iLife and .Mac.

Given my general view of WYSIWYG editors (with which you became familiar on Tuesday, if you weren't aware of it already), I tried not to let RapidWeaver's self-congratulatory list of features sway me. I downloaded it with an open - but skeptical - mind.

Well, color me pleasantly surprised! Turns out RapidWeaver is more than just a WYSIWYG editor. You can use the WYSIWYG features if you want, but you can also code by hand. Also, the pre-set templates are much more robust and useful than I've seen in any other site creation tool. For example, the Contact Form template requires PHP - but those who are wary of server-side programming don't have to do the dirty work themselves.

But let's get to the code generated by the WYSIWYG interface, since that's always my bone of contention with "web site creation software." I can hardly believe it it myself, but... RapidWeaver doesn't use tables for layout. And it also doesn't make up for the lack of tables by resorting to divitis. It's not perfect, of course; but then neither is every piece of code I've ever written by hand. All in all? It's as if RapidWeaver is actually an editor of the 21st century.

Tags: css, html, RapidWeaver, RealMac, web sites, WebSites, WYSIWYG

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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