While it wasn’t agreed with Nick, we’re happy to offer support for Aspen 
More details in the FAQ here: Aspen FAQ | RapidWeaver knowledge base
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I can sympathise with all comments in this discussion. Perhaps a distinction should be made, between those RW users who have a web design business and those who use it for activities which do not have a revenue stream. It does not mean that either is more important but the “horses for courses” element is valid.
I am not a pro user and I am pretty clueless when it comes to coding or, indeed, feeling comfortable with the full potential of RW. I use RW for creating and running web sites for a couple of charities. In so doing, I get to experiment and develop but, as I am doing this work for nothing, I have to keep an eye on costs and the idea of spending £30 on a theme gives pause for thought, let alone one which cost double that and more.
The thing I like most about RW is its autonomy and its versatility. There is scope to learn and grow one’s skills and the forum is a fantastic safety net. I sometimes worry that I might be seen as penny-pinching and undermining businesses which need the work but, while everyone is so cash-poor, we must do what we can with what we have.
I look forward to seeing what RW9 brings and I hope I can afford it when it comes but it is a comfort that I can keep plodding away with RW8 until I can. A far bigger worry for me is what is happening to CAD software and the affect it is having on architecture but that is another story…
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I’d be interested to know if this theme has been updated and patched since the final version released by Nick Cates? It’s a great theme but has problems.
Having purchased Aspen from Nick and him then withdrawing from Rapidweaver development left a very nasty taste as the theme (even after updates) had several issues that I was never able to get resolved and he just stopped responding. Both Mike at Yabdab and Will Woodgate examined the site I’d created for my local village hall (bavh.co.uk) and identified problems in the way the Aspen code had been written. Will even advised that the way Nick had written elements of the theme went against standard practice and the HTML specifications which is why I had problems using various 3rd party stacks including his so some aspects of the site are not as nice as I’d liked. Since last year the site has started showing transparency problems with Chrome based browsers and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I’m no coder just a hobbyist, so have no idea where to start but am currently having to re-write the entire site in another product (I’ve chosen Source as Stuart’s support is fab) in order to be able to use the stacks I want to use and get a site that fully works! I love the Aspen look and feel so am replicating it as closely as possible.
If there’s been no code change since it was Nick’s product then I suspect others will discover problems going forwards.
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Very happy with the new Aspen theme. Creating a website for my sailmaker.
Only thing I can not get working is the vertically social icons in the sidebar.
If you’re having any issues with the theme(s) please drop support@realmacsoftware.com an email we’ll do our best to help you out
Thanks
Dan