I’ve been using RapidWeaver 8 for the past few months, and have an up and running website using one theme and nothing additional. But I’d like to add some splash pages and have a bit more flexibility in how I present content. AND… the whole Stacks thing is a bit confusing to me.
I think I understand that I have to buy stacks in order to use any addons (like a splash page app). Is there more than one stacks to choose from and buy? How do I know which to choose (I’m looking for maximum value, since this will be a pretty basic website without many bells or whistles, ever)?
Would love some advice/direction based on your experience. This community has been so helpful.
RW without “Stacks” is like trying to make a home-made pizza when all you have is flour. Stacks gives soooooo much more flexibility.
“Stacks” is the main plugin. You then locate and install individual “stacks” that run under “Stacks.” A stack can do anything from the simplest of thing to the most amazing thing. The are made by 3rd party developers and there are tons of them. You start by adding a “stacks” style page to which you add any number of stacks. Main “Stacks” comes with common stacks, like those needed to add text, images, html code, markdown, etc.
With stacks you can define one as a “partial” and use it through your site. Change it in one place and it changes everywhere.
It is pretty common for people to post a question asking “What stack can do this?” with a link to a sample website posted.
Some stacks are free, some ask for a donation, some are a few dollars, and some can cost quite a bit.
I try to stay with developers who offer free trials, so you can see exactly how they work, but that a personal thing.
The developer is awesome! He listens, he cares, he envisions, he develops.
Edited: The search for individual stacks can be a bit daunting, not to find one to do what you want, bu too find them all so you can compare. There are lot’s of stacks!
By the way… I love Stacks so much I converted a 1500 plus page website from other types (plugins) and every one of them to Stacks. I started out with a blank Theme and then found appropriate stacks. Not a small task, but highly worth it.
Stacks is awesome, and I often wonder why they simply are not sold as one package to save everyone the hassle. Surely, the devs could work out a mutually beneficial agreement?
Stacks will give you a lot more scope for add-on, special facilities, but you can make relatively complex websites, maybe using some free extras (eg Google Calendar), and scripting you can copy from the 'Net. Stacks is not cheap, nor are the ‘stacks’ so if you don’t need any of the latter, wait and get Stacks when you do, for a shopping trolley for example. Sites such as MacUpdate often have special deals.
Yes – if there were no Stacks plugin, there’d be no Rapidweaver. And if there were no stacks, there’d be no frameworks. Think of Rapidweaver as the outermost shell of several embedded layers of abstraction, or a Matryoshka doll or something. Does that help?
Here is an interesting thread where an experienced RW user set out to demonstrate how a well presented site could be rattled together very quickly. It was in response to my contention that the core RW product, and the absence of innovation therein, is rapidly approaching junk status when considered as a stand-alone product (without its constellation of plugins).
Not sure if the 35 minutes in the oven demo site is still live or not - but it certainly gained some compliments - so perhaps some users don’t actually need Stacks.
thank you - this is interesting to say the least. I think I will probably get the stacks - only because I got RW8 for free with some promotion my husband had, and I’d rather do something easier than find some workarounds. But I like knowing what is possible!