Yabdab Gives RapidWeaver the Boot

Mike Y.

Give RapidWeaver the Boot.



BootSnap is a killer combination of THEME AND 15 STACKS that add the power of BootStrap, from Twitter to your RapidWeaver site.

Today we've released BootSnap. BootSnap is a set of 15 stacks and a RapidWeaver theme that work together to build completely responsive RapidWeaver sites. BootSnap accomplishes this by building in the power of the excellent Bootstrap ( CSS/Javascript ) framework from Twitter. This means you can use Stacks 2 and BootSnap to build sites that look just as good on an iPhone as it does on a 27" iMac. They even look good in IE.

We'd like to explain in detail as BootSnap is really a new type of product. BootSnap Theme is a completely empty theme. It has no content at all ( unless you want to use its optional Navbar ) To design your responsive site, just add a Stacks 2 page to your project and then start adding in any of the BootSnap stacks. We'd like to point out that BootSnap stacks work exclusively with the BootSnap theme. These stacks won't work in any other themes. Likewise, the BootSnap theme is designed to work with BootSnap stacks - other stacks may not work properly in BootSnap and are not supported. BootSnap is a clean break from legacy code and css tricks to make content responsive.

Make sure to take a look at our BootSnap demo site. Also be sure to check it out on your iPhone or iPad as well. Notice we even added in built-in bootstrap theme support ( via Bootswatch.com ).

Today's BootSnap release includes some great content effects including Accordian and Tabs. We've also added in fully responsive Popup alerts, Modal windows and multi column stacks.

More Details and a MUST SEE DEMO:
http://www.yabdab.com/stacks/snaps/bootsnap/

Available Now:
BootSnap ( 1 Theme | 15 Stacks ) is available today for $29.95 USD at our web site.

System Requirements:
Mac OS X 10.6 +, RapidWeaver 5 + and Stacks 2

Andreas Moser

@Mike
you did a GREAT job - a step behind limitations.

Andreas

kpryce2

That's pretty expensive for what is basically FREE i.e Bootstrap. Themeflood is currently updating their themes for free to include Bootstrap + options within the themes for Responsive behavior.

soonwai

Hey Mike, great stuff. I'm sold.

Rusty Wood

@kpryce2 Have to agree with you this time Ken

Does FormSnap work with this? as I had to add a copious amount of code to get it to work within a responsive environment !!

Rusty

Ed Brenner

Congrats on the release Mike.

@kpryce2 @Rusty Wood
Pricing - I look at what I'm getting for my 'buck'. $29.95 for 15 stacks comes out to right around $1.99/stack. That's not bad, but I can't account for how that may translate with conversion rates either. So for me, the price is 'reasonable'.

I noticed on the - Demo Site - I don't see the use of any images. Would really like to see an image used like a 'user' would add on so that I can see how that's going to work.

Here's my biggest concern, my stack library has over 600 stacks in it. But according to the Product Page you say...

Please Note!
BootSnap Theme and Stacks are designed to work together exclusively. It is possible that other third-party stacks will work ( and appear ) as intened within the BootSnap Theme, but will not be supported by Yabdab if they do not. Please understand and be aware of this prior to purchasing BootSnap.

...can you say which stacks will work? Why they may not work?

I guess overall, I'm not willing to take the risk. $29.95 to potentially have a ton of stacks that don't work with BootSnap, isn't worth it.

Just my opinion.

Good luck with it Mike. But it's just not for me.

Rusty Wood

@Ed Brenner

Yep I sort of agree with you on the pricing then, if you look at it that way, then it's a bargain..!

But to implement BootStrap code into a theme such as theme flood is just so easy and free, so why would I want to pay that much for a feature less theme?

IMHonestO

Rusty

Ed Brenner

@Rusty Wood

No disagreement there. I own the Flood Theme and I'm in the process of building a site for a 'client' using it, and I have another that wants me to move their site to it as a 'major' update.

I like seeing the 'user base' getting the tools they desire to build awesome sites with RapidWeaver.
I also know that I have that 'cavalier' attitude about stacks when it comes to 'pricing'.

My biggest concern is 'how' does my previous investment in 3rd Party stacks play into me parting with $29.95 for something that doesn't include 'support' them.
I bought the Flood Theme and with that 'investment' I also get support if something isn't working.

Rusty Wood

@Ed Brenner

I cannot agree more with you .. I have never had better support than that from Theme Flood and I think more than ever that is what will ( no pun intended ) and should be a strong factor in the pricing structure.

Rusty

sa3305

In the uk this would be about £20, bargain for me, i cant do any of the stuff you guys can do, these projects the developers create allow me to do all sorts of creative stuff without having to learn, what at times just looks like something from the string Theory to me.
But then i cant fix my own car either lol

Rusty Wood

@sa3305

Fair comment .. sometimes I forget how much I have learnt from all the good peeps here and should remember what it was like to open RapidWeaver for the first time after moving over from iWeb

Great place to learn web design !!

Rusty

Colorwave

I like images. Twitter, not so much. It's a big swimming pool, though, and room for everybody. What it does, it seems to do well, but it appears to be built for a very specific niche.

WebKarnage

This does look very interesting, and given the number of people who do seem to want a 'blank slate' approach, I think this will do well.

@Ed,

If you have 600 add ons, are you going to go through them all and work out which ones will behave responsively and won't clash with the other BootSnap Stacks add ons? I wouldn't even have them all to test anyway, and there are many Stacks add ons that don't work with other ones already. Given that, you could view Mike's comments as simply being upfront and realistic, even if they aren't what we'd all want to hear.

As for comments on Bootstrap being free, well a huge number of RapidWeaver add ons are based on scripts or frameworks that are free. The point is to reduce a RapidWeaver user's work.

Flood isn't a free theme last time I looked either….. although I really do rate Will's work.

Kind regards,

Karn.

Rusty Wood

@WebKarnage

Yep I agree but .. £20 for an awesome theme with many variations that also integrates Bootstrap easily with snippets or a theme for £20 that is Bootstrap ?

Rusty

Jeff Abraham

I look at ANY new RapidWeaver theme, Stack, plug-in, etc. as another tool in our developer arsenal. I'm betting a lot of great sites will come from Mike's new theme & Stacks! I say congrats on your new product & wish you continued success

Ed Brenner

@WebKarnage

I was just stating what is the 'turn off' for me. I don't think is matters if the 'library' is 10, 50, 100 etc.
If it works for others, great. It just doesn't 'work' for me.

yuZool

@WebKarnage - bang on the money there: "The point is to reduce a RapidWeaver user's work."

I love everyone in this community so please excuse me for my brutal honesty at times.

Mike - amazing job. I love Bootstrap and you've integrated it beautifully into RW.

So has Will but for those that don't have themeflood (although a great theme and you should consider adding it to your Arsenal) and want to integrate quickly this is awesome. Great work.

Just to plant a seed generally, this isn't aimed at anyone...

I value my time and $30 it's just a no brainer. I never look at price and always buy based on value and time saved to me. There's only limited time in the day and life is short etc. That's also the thought process that goes into my designing of themes. How can I make it easier and quicker for the user to deploy this? How can they save their time whether it's their own site or make more money deploying quicker for clients, with a high quality at all times?

It would take at least an hour to download and read through the bootstrap wiki and work out how to implement into a theme and most people will be messing with integrating it into their theme for 5 or more hours at least, followed by testing, if things don't work out. Anyone would potentially struggle as it will be a new framework to them. Just ask Mike how long it took him to create this. That's a day of unbillable time down the drain. This you can buy once and use many times over in future projects and you know it works.

Even people who use RW for their hobby sites (so it's their free time when they should be playing with their kids or relaxing), will value their time at more than $20-$30 an hour so it just makes sense to buy this if you want to use Bootstrap in a project.

Thanks Mike for taking the boundaries of RW further yet again.

kpryce2

I suppose it was inevitable that Bootstrap would find its way into Rapidweaver, and in retrospect 2 designers have approached it in a different way. I was already a fan of Flood before Bootstrap and RAFT, so the free UPGRADE (the theme, of course is not free) with Bootstrap & Responsive support built in (RAFT), was a mega-bonus to me. Will Woodgate has approached this issue with Snippets which can be amended accordingly and I found this way easy enough. But I can understand others preferring to use Stacks, as there is a bit of code knowledge required Will's way. So I guess both are good value if they achieve all of the benefits of Bootstrap.
Ken

Rusty Wood

@yuZool

We all know the main amount of code is free or borrowed for stacks .. it just makes life easier

But also there should be "great support" which is worth a million times more than the price of a theme!!

Rusty

sharte

I am only mildly aware of Bootstrap and understand it is a simple, responsive framework for building sites very quickly.

However, I am chiming in with some, how can the Yabdab version be customized? I don't see any samples of header images and other important site elements. $30 seems relatively inexpensive but if I couldn't customize the "blank canvas" easily, I probably would use other RW responsive themes before this.

Also, the disclaimer that Yabdab can't insure any other 3rd party will work with it makes me a bit uneasy. What, indeed, can I use? Would be nice to know the recent responsive Stacks are workable (e.g. Nick Cates SuperFlex, Elixir's Brick, Joe Workman's Responsive Stacks).

Just would like to know more what I can do with it. In my freelance experience, clients have little tolerance for features they demand and the framework doesn't support them. Would BootStack just be a nifty theme possibility that lays dormant in my freelance repertoire?

yuZool

Great review @kpryce2 - I approach adding more functionality in themes with snippets too. They may need some more coding skills than Stacks but essentially just drag & drop.

Snippets are also great because they can be used on any page-type in RW.

yuZool

@Rusty Wood - great point. I think you're right there and that is probably what makes people like Mike, Will, Nick, Joe Workman awesome - their quality support.

kpryce2

Firstly, I like to state that I was a little hasty in suggesting YabDab's new theme was a bit expensive - its not.

Secondly, I would add that users must want a site that is Responsive on multiple sceen types to benefit from both this theme and Flood i.e. Responsive on iPads, Kindles, iPhones etc. Otherwise its all a bit pointless.

Thirdly - whilst Bootstrap itself is free it does take some effort to embed it into a RW Theme. The Bootstrap Elements must be supported by Javascript & CSS scripts. Will has built these elements into his theme and to benefit one must use the Bootstrap Snippets. YabDab must also have built in the same elements in their theme, but they have adopted to use a Stack for each Bootstrap element rather than a snippet. There are Pros & Cons for each approach - but neither the snippets not the stacks can be used in other themes without the supporting Bootstrap Javascript & CSS.

So - both approaches shields the "non-coder" from the need to get down in the weeds.

As ever - there are also other things to consider when adopting a Responsive approach in RW. For example, most stacks themselves WILL NOT behave responsively, when used in a Responsive theme - I use some of Joe Workman's special Responsive Stacks to fill this gap.

I personally, don't want a set of Stacks mixed in with my other stacks that only work in the YabDab theme - but the same could be said for snippets - but then I already have stacks unsuitable for Responsive Themes and Stacks not needed in NON Responsive themes.

Moving into a Responsive RW environment does take some additional investment, for the right set of tools and a lot of experimentation (which is why some Themes include simulators). The most tricky thing is to get to grips with what WILL and WILL NOT work to get the desired result. A general rule is that MOST stacks are not Responsive, but they are not necessarily unusable in a Responsive environment. Another good rule is that if you are designing for a iPhone, for example, its sensible to keep the design simple and not overloaded with effects.

Finally - I prefer Will Woodgate's (Themeflood) approach, because a user gets a functionally rich theme that is designed, initially, for normal users, but contains switches to make it behave Responsively and a whole bunch of Bootstrap Snippets to use additional Responsive Elements to substitute for a Stack. YabDab's approach is, therefore, just as effective, I would suggest but a different means to the end.

Ken

PS - I note that Adam Shriver has just released Bamboo - a new RESPONSIVE BASED theme - but he also recommends getting the (reasonably priced) Joe Workman Responsive Stacks to benefit. In this approach, Bootstrap is irrelevant BUT I suggest that you still need other Responsive Stacks to get the desired result and JoeWorkman's are not the only ones out there.

I've just been looking at Bamboo site Videos - Adam Shriver (of Elixir) has some brilliant videos on this page that deals very well with Responsiveness.

yuZool

Thanks @kpryce2 - that was a great read and I agree that having a responsive theme is only half the battle - the content has to then be thought out for that approach too. Well summarised.

dhidding

Very good summation kpryce2. I would add just one caveat - be sure to have a handle on what technology your visitors are using...and whether or not the responsive theme can serve them. Many of the newer themes do NOT support IE7 OR IE8. That's fine if your audience isn't using one of those browsers. But, if 25% of your visitors are using one or the other...does it make sense to serve up a site that offends them in order to look cool? Especially if only 5% of your visitors are using a mobile device?

Google Analytics, which is totally free, makes it very simple to determine not only where your visitors are coming from (geographically), but also what technology they're using. Incorporate it into your sites - you might be surprised at the results. In my case, usage of IE7/8 goes from a low of 8% of TOTAL visitors (the client caters to a very hip crowd) to a high of 43% of TOTAL visitors.

The first client also has a HUGE number of people using mobile devices, while the latter one has relatively few doing so. While I might be persuaded to forgo the IE7/8 users for the first client, I haven't because they (7/8 users) still number in the thousands per month. As for the second? No way.

Just my 2¢

Cheers,

Dave

PS - I'm really hopeful that our talented responsive theme developers will figure out a way to support IE8. It's dying - but it's going to be a slow death since so many businesses only migrated to it from IE6 within the past 18 months.

Colorwave

Well said, Dave. Knowledge of your demographics is critical.

Mike Y.

Thanks guys. My main goal was to bring the ease and power of BS to RW, without knowing any code (most RW users). I really like Bootstrap and use it on most of my new projects.

I am planning to do a redesign of the entire yabdab.com web site using the BootSnap theme. Having it right there in RW is going to make it so much easier to accomplish and keep updated.

I plan on including Font Awesome ( http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome/ ) support real soon, so keep an eye out for that next week.

Andreas Moser

@Mike
i cannot buy BootSnap - checkout is (for me) not working.
I've tried it with different browser, stop my firewall etc.
What to do?

Andreas

Mike Y.

@Andreas please send us a support ticket with a detailed description of what is happening.

Thanks.

Andreas Moser

@Mike
i've tried again (the 4th time) to make screenshots for you - and now it works.
Fine - but i don't understand why.

Andreas

Gille

Great stuff. Just played with it. Works like a charm. Must have!