Elixir | Foundry 2 and 3

Hello,

It was shocking to find out that Adam/Elixir had shut down the business. I have lots of work down using Foundry 2 and Foundry 3. Since there is no communication with him. I appreciate expert advice on how to move forward with these websites I have built with Foundry.

Your input is highly appreciated!

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Hey Monica,

There’s still a lot of Foundry users around so if you have specific questions, just toss them to the crowd and I’m sure somebody will be able to help.

Thank you LaPan!

basically, websites created with Foundry 2 or 3 will continue to run for a long, long time without any problems.

New websites would then either have to be created with Elements or one of the other 2 remaining frameworks.

There are also two other communities where many Foundry users are happy to help with problems.

Thank you Pegasus! I feel at ease now :slight_smile:

Bonjour, je suis utilisateur de Foundry 3, mais je cherche dĂ©sespĂ©rĂ©ment Ă  acquĂ©rir “Foundry 2”, j’en ai besoin pour un thĂšme.
Comme il est impossible de l’obtenir, pouvez vous me vendre une copie ?
Bonne journée.
JM


Translation:

Hello, I am a user of Foundry 3, but I am desperately seeking to acquire “Foundry 2,” as I require it for a specific theme. Since it is impossible to obtain, could you kindly sell me a copy? Have a great day. JM

Bonjour @Jean-Marc,

Malheureusement, personne n’est en mesure de vous vendre une copie de Foundry 2. La seule personne qui pourrait le faire est le propriĂ©taire d’Elixir (qui a crĂ©Ă© Foundry 2).

Comme vous l’avez probablement compris Ă  partir des messages ci-dessus, Elixir n’est plus en activitĂ© depuis le mois dernier. Je suis donc triste de vous annoncer que vous ne pouvez plus acheter Foundry 2 (ou 3).

DĂ©solĂ© d’ĂȘtre le porteur de mauvaises nouvelles!

À bientît,
Erwin


Translation:

Unfortunately, no one is able to sell you a copy of Foundry 2. The only > individual who could do so is the owner of Elixir, the creator of Foundry 2.

As you may have gathered from the messages above, Elixir has ceased operations as of last month. I regret to inform you that you can no longer purchase Foundry 2 (or 3).

I apologize for being the bearer of such unfortunate news!

I wouldn’t exactly put all my faith in the other 2 frameworks. From what Adam said in his ‘shuttering’ message on his site, RW has not made the API available to 3rd party developers who helped RW become what it is today.
I’m actually saddened that Elixir is no more as Foundry was easy and powerful.

That is “Fake News” and simply not true :pensive:

The Element API has been available since the first developer beta, over a year ago, All developers (including Adam) had access to this. The API is documented here, and anyone with the Elements beta can start building Custom Components Today — In fact some developers have already started!

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Hey Dan,
Did I read this wrong from the Elixir ‘goodbye’ post on his website?

because they’re [RealMacSoftware] currently the only ones who have access to their new app’s API. Whether that is because the API is too rough and unfinished, or that they’re holding it close to the their chest so that they can in fact have this leg up on other developers, it is still the case that they’re the only ones able to develop native addons right now for their upcoming app.

You read it right, but it’s clearly not true
 just check the forum for yourself.

We have users (and developers) that are currently using the Elements API and have been since July here on the Forum in public! What more proof do you need?

The problem for Classic etc is Elements is a graphic front end for Tailwind CSS a vastly larger set of codes than Bootstrap 5. Tailwind also generates really fast and light output. Unless they are prepared to rewrite there code to tailwind we will be waiting for Stacks pro to be released. As noted Foundry and Foundation will continue to work as advised into the future until any future Rapidweaver updates breaks something.

I’m just going by what Adam put up.
Maybe I read it wrong.

Here’s the full text of what he put up.
https://elixirgraphics.com/
Click on ‘learn more’

No, you read it right: Adam did state this in his closing post on the now-closed forum (that post is now part of the placeholder site). But I agree with @dan that it’s not accurate.

I don’t know why Adam wrote that, but he (and others) do have access to the API.

I do get Adam’s standpoint on the viability of a product like Foundry under Elements though. A lot of what Foundry does, is add functionality to the base set of stacks that come with Stacks, as well as very advanced levels of central control of colours, margins, typeface etc. Elements comes with that level of control as standard, and has a lot of what Foundry brought to the table built in as well. So the added value of Foundry would not have been as big as it was under RapidWeaver+Stacks.

I also get how the uncertainty that the current state of affairs brings, was harmful to his business. If you’d be stepping into the ecosystem at the moment, would you invest hundreds of dollars into a framework and additional stacks while a new (and incompatible) version of the base software is in the works? On the other side of the fence, StacksPro is something close to vaporware (for everyone not in the insider beta program, as it’s not shown publicly).

Having said that, I will really miss Elixir. Not just Foundry, but all of Adam’s products were very nice to work with, and produced some really good results with little effort.

Cheers,
Erwin

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I had initially posted and then deleted my article on another topic. This time I will leave it. As a preamble I want to say that I am not writing this from the point of view of a “toxic” person. I know that this is how some will interpret it (it is always easier when it is the other’s fault) but that is not why I am doing it. I am posting this article because I believe that it is always important to say what is, not what we would like it to be, this to protect those who will come after us. All that said, I begin.
The developers of add-ons for RW/Stacks have only noted the continuous decrease (to the point of disappearance for some) of sales of both Stacks and/or Themes. This is a reality and it seems to have started before the Yourhead-Realmac separation. I agree with Erwin, Adam’s decision follows the observation that there is no more room in this framework. By wanting everything for free, we destroy what exists professionally, it is not new and it is not about to stop.
Now comes AI. I know that it is a bit of a cliché at the moment to explain everything and anything. However, here are some easily verifiable facts:

  • questions and requests for help on our forums are reduced to the point of disappearing (it seems quite common now to ask your AI assistant the question)
  • AIs produce add-ons easily, I’m not talking about general Gpts but about Stacksblitz, Hivemind (thanks to Scott for introducing me to it) and Claude (a must with Docker), to name a few
  • AIs surf the web for us, I haven’t visited a website for over three weeks, I question my AI assistants and I choose from what is offered to me (by the way, what young person under 20 still goes on websites?)
  • I dictate to Stacksblitz my requests for a site, a blog, an FAQ (hehehe) and it puts the result online to test and then it deploys it if I want it on my site, no more need for site creation software
 which I can also ask Claude to design (I’m not sure I should do heheheh here
).
    I have been deeply surprised for some time by the fact that Dan insists so much on the playful use of AI to create components because in the long term it is sawing off the branch we are on. Let me explain further: who in the near future (in fact already present for those who wish to use them) will continue to visit the websites we know, who will continue to make them as we do apart from enthusiasts? The whole question will be whether the number will be enough to guarantee the survival of companies.
    I wrote all this with AI, I am making the effort to copy and paste it as long as Apple has not yet provided me with an AI that will pilot my apps for me. This is our world, not seeing it and especially not talking about it is clearly not doing a service to the young generation and to the unprecedented competition in which it is already engaged without wanting to and without knowing it.
    To conclude, as some know I am not a dev but a psychologist (retiring at the end of next week). I note in my profession the encouragement of the use of psychotherapeutic chatbot, as I wrote recently it is 20€/month with a video control at 50€ monthly, where traditionally a psychologist is 250€
 the calculation is quickly done. Training on the ethical use of AI (as in its time on GMOs and cloning, the Crsp-R method for vaccines
) and hop no more feeling of guilt. The reality is simple: profound change. All the half-measures that we will take to maintain what is in the web sector are only a waste of time compared to what must really be done to exist there. This now necessarily involves data analysis for direct exploitation. To put it differently, what Erwin said: who will spend anything on a product that no longer meets the needs and lifestyles?
    Today, without natively integrated AI, a question arises: what is the short-term future for anything? I think that it is in these terms that many people have thought about and made their choice to leave the system.
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