# Dev Dairy Ep21 - RapidWeaver is 20 Years Old Today 🎉
**URL:** https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402
**Category:** Elements
**Tags:** devdiary
**Created:** [June 4, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402 "2024-06-04T18:00:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/1 "2024-06-04T18:00:02Z")
Hello Weavers,
Today marks the **20 year anniversary** since the first public beta of RapidWeaver launched way back in 2004 — Can you believe it?
We were planning on releasing the first public beta of RapidWeaver Elements to celebrate this date, but shipping software on time is notoriously difficult (even after having 20 years of practice). However…
In today’s video we celebrate this huge milestone by publishing the very first webpage from RapidWeaver Elements to the internet. [You can view the page here](https://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/elements/).
Watch the video below to see some relics from the past along with the moment I publish the Elements webpage.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYzYfgG-caY)
Thanks so much for the past twenty years of support, we really couldn’t have done this without you 🙏
Cheers,
Dan & Team Realmac
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### Author:  [@anon68150607](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/anon68150607)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/2 "2024-06-04T18:09:15Z")
Congratulations on 20 years — here’s to 20 more! 🎉
Can’t wait to get started with Elements?
You mentioned charging for the alpha. Would that simply be purchasing a full license for Elements prior to the final release (I like the idea for testing, developing elements/components, and to support your work), or would it also be necessary to also purchase **another license** once the final version of Elements is released?
I noticed on the [Elements page](https://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/elements/) that you’re using **elements** , **custom elements** , and **global components** in the marketing copy. 👍 Is this the evolution of the naming discussion/poll from recent weeks? FWIW I like it.
Also nice to know that Elements is using [Alpine.js](https://alpinejs.dev) behind the scenes.
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### Author:  [@upssjw](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/upssjw)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/3 "2024-06-04T18:21:30Z")
Congrats on 20 year, provided a lot people with easy access to publishing their websites. Excellent time to release the next generation - Elements.
Really good to see a webpage published, like the stars and floating register amongst them.
Looked at the code, glad I have been learning tailwind, I understand a bit. Roll on being able try out.
Again congrats on 20 years and close to releasing the alpha/beta.
Even the first published page shows a small subset of what Elements will be capable of. Like the whole page good choice of colours etc.
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### Author:  [@Flash](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Flash)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/4 "2024-06-04T18:42:01Z")
20 YEARS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Been using it for 19 years! I am also hoping for another 20+ years!
Alpha in June? Name the price. I’m in! I’ve mentioned I have a new website rolling out. Would love to wait and build the site with Elements! Would happily provide feedback as this is a personal project that I have time to play with. Perfect for Alpha and Beta testing.
Total domination!
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### Author:  [@gfcreative](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/gfcreative)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/5 "2024-06-04T19:05:48Z")
Happy 20 years. Looking forward to messing around with Elements. If you can divulge a few sources for tackling some of the things not included with Elements…like strong form builders that don’t cost so much to use. Also looking forward to seeing how Elements handles CMS. If you could also do a video focusing on animations like those on the new Elements page.
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### Author:  [@upssjw](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/upssjw)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/6 "2024-06-04T19:23:52Z")
No issues with paying for the alpha, good to go now
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### Author:  [@Flash](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Flash)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/7 "2024-06-04T19:37:20Z")
Just took a look at the underlying code.
MUCH BETTER! Far less nested divs and noise.
I looked at the element structure, really pretty doggone clean. This is obviously a sales page and not something that would be used for search engine submission. I don’t know enough about `data`: and `data-state:` So I have to simply say, Congratulations on the first page published!
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### Author:  [@ben](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/ben)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/8 "2024-06-04T20:32:18Z")
> [@Flash](#):
>
> I don’t know enough about `data`: and `data-state:`
This is a native Tailwind feature that allows you to style elements based on HTML data- attribute values. Handy for when you want to control the styling based on some form of state or local data attribute.
More info on the tailwind docs: [Hover, focus, and other states - Core concepts - Tailwind CSS](https://tailwindcss.com/docs/hover-focus-and-other-states#data-attributes)
It uses [standard HTML data attribute](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Howto/Use_data_attributes), so there’s nothing fancy or non-standard being used here 🙂
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### Author:  [@ben](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/ben)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/9 "2024-06-04T20:35:47Z")
> [@anon68150607](#):
>
> Also nice to know that Elements is using [Alpine.js](https://alpinejs.dev) behind the scenes.
Yes, but note that Alpine is not “baked-in” to RapidWeaver.
Each developer can choose to use Alpine.js or something completely different should they wish. There are tools in the Elements language that will allow each developer to include javascript specifically for each/all of their element(s).
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### Author:  [@MultiThemes](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/MultiThemes)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/10 "2024-06-04T21:27:26Z")
I was there! and in those boxes there are some of my free themes. Nice memories!
I love the old RMS retail boxes
I’ve also made some demos in the past
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### Author:  [@KipV](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/KipV)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/11 "2024-06-04T23:49:52Z")
I would be fine paying for Elements Alpha if it came with updates to Rapidweaver Classic. Its important that both programs can run MacOS 15.
That is exciting that a limited release of the program can come out now!
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### Author:  [@heretix](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/heretix)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 5:24am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/12 "2024-06-05T05:24:26Z")
Happy birthday Rapidweaver, if I remember i had never in my life done anything with website, i downloaded the free version to try, you could do 3 pages I think) having never donre a website before, I did manage my 3 pages and bought the full version, now i am waiting for Elements beta, alpha full as soon as you put it on line
Congratulation again
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### Author:  [@scottsteven](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/scottsteven)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 8:28am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/13 "2024-06-05T08:28:26Z")
How time moves on, I cant believe how long I have been using rapidweaver since I stopped using Navbar Builder and Button builder with Adobe Golive
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### Author:  [@weaver](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/weaver)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/14 "2024-06-05T08:44:54Z")
Yes, I remember it all too well, nostalgia hitting hard 🥹
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### Author:  [@Lion](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Lion)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 10:28am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/15 "2024-06-05T10:28:45Z")
Congratulations on 20 years of great software. looking forward for the next 20!!
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### Author:  [@Lucas](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/Lucas)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/16 "2024-06-05T11:59:52Z")
Congratulations brothers! What an amazing journey!
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### Author:  [@anon68150607](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/anon68150607)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/17 "2024-06-05T12:14:39Z")
Hmm, so _hypothetically_ if I used one element from one developer who used alpine.js, and another element from another developer that used react.js, and a third element from yet another developer that used jQuery.js all on one page I would end up with a project that included (and loaded) alpine.js, react.js and jQuery.js?
While I love the ability to use whatever libs I want, it does make me wonder if it would be beneficial to have one DOM manipulation/component library that you can always depend on being there, rather than have developers always using whatever libs they want and _potentially_ bloating out the build size. While JavaScript performance is much improved today, shipping _more_ JavaScript still tends to negatively impact performance (especially on mobile devices).
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### Author:  [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/18 "2024-06-05T12:19:04Z")
> [@scottsteven](#):
>
> I cant believe how long I have been using rapidweaver since I stopped using Navbar Builder and Button builder with Adobe Golive
I set up an old iMac a few years ago, just so I could run some of the old software I built 🥰
Aquamatic was the original name for ButtonBuilder, but then we got a cease and desist letter from Apple and had to change it 🤣
ButtonBuilder 2 was from 2001 🤯
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### Author:  [@tpbradley](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/tpbradley)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 12:49pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/19 "2024-06-05T12:49:43Z")
> [@anon68150607](#):
>
> While I love the ability to use whatever libs I want, it does make me wonder if it would be beneficial to have one DOM manipulation/component library that you can always depend on being there, rather than have developers always using whatever libs they want and _potentially_ bloating out the build size.
Your assumptions are correct here, you could potentially have a page with multiple JS libraries (alpine, jQuery etc) if you use elements that require them.
We’d rather not limit the JS libraries a developer can use as it allows for far greater flexibility. For example, another library might be a better choice for building a dashboard with pretty charts etc.
However, we can maintain a list of recommend libraries developers use to keep this to a minimum. We could also build this into the search on the addon store and within the app, so you can find elements using a certain library.
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### Author:  [@guywoodland](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/guywoodland)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/dev-dairy-ep21-rapidweaver-is-20-years-old-today/43402/20 "2024-06-05T13:23:30Z")
Afternoon
A quick Lighthouse test see below, across the board 100%. You might want to share with the community?
Cant wait to haver a play with elements.
regards
Guy
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