Foundry or Foundation? Can't Find Side by Side

Hi! I’m a swim coach, furloughed like most, working on transitioning into an online presence. It’s been years since I built any web sites but I love the progress in tools! I like the concept of Foundry & Foundation but while I can find a list of Foundry’s details, I don’t have time to go through all the Foundation videos. Can anyone point me to a side by side comparison or a review with pros and cons? It seems both would do me good, but which might be a bit easier for someone who has not done this in a long while?

Thank you, from a re-newed newbie!

Read more: Foundation 6 or Foundry 2?

yes, the latest versions

Actually, I meant that the same question was dealt with there.

oh I see! Yes I read that thread but it doesn’t tell me much other than some people like one and started with the first version or people like Source…thanx though!

@coachpeter I don’t think you are going to get much more info out of folks. This is a bit like asking: "Republicans or Democrats? Which is better? " People will try to be honest but in the end they will be smitten with the choices they made.

Why don’t you view some of the videos developed by the creators of each? That should give you a feel about whether the product is good for you or not. There is no side-by-side and I’m pretty sure none of us has the time either to create a perfectly unbiased list for you.

This 11 minute video created by the developer of RapidWeaver (Dan) might let you see if Foundry is a good fit for you:

It was only released yesterday.

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Hi @coachpeter,

Maybe another question would be what do you need your site to do?

Foundation and Foundry offer a lot of features. Do you know which extra features will be must haves (i.e. font control, specialised contact forms etc.). That way folk who have either might be able to tell you which would suit best.

@coachpeter I want to emphasize an earlier point. Both products are excellent. And there are some other frameworks out there that also seem interesting: the low cost Source, UIKit, and others.

I think the key major change to Rapidweaver over the past 3 to 5 years has been the move away from themes and towards frameworks. Granted a lot of folks still use themes, and they serve an admiral role. But frameworks allow users a lot more control over the design and look of a website. Really the same general development has been happening in the WordPress world. It used to be that you needed a theme so WordPress could work. (And this is still sorta true.) But frameworks (or what they call page builders or theme builders) have now entered the fray. A product like Elementor Pro on WordPress is now similar to Foundry and Foundation. (I prefer using Rapidweaver and frameworks but the evolution in WordPress is quite startling.)

This is a decision where shortcuts (e.g. a side by side chart) should not be taken. If you have the money purchase both frameworks! Or some of the others. But assuming that’s not the route you want to take then dive into their written and video support. I believe Joe is still working on developing some videos for the new Foundation 6 (I may be wrong, I know he was working on some new videos when it was initially released). It really is worth you taking 6 to 8 hours to explore both, and perhaps others. See what seems to be the best fit for you.

The good news is if you make a mistake it’s one of the framework not being the optimal fit for you: but it will still work fine. Both frameworks are powerful and extremely flexible.

So I’ve discovered yes! Don’t want to get into politics here!

Yes, I watched that video and liked what I saw…they did one with Foundation a year ago.

I think you are right, guess I just need to watch more videos before deciding…can’t afford both right now. My biggest goal is to get a site up to pair with a YouTube channel so a blog with videos is going to be a part of it. Guess I could use a basic WordPress one but remembered having fun with RW a decade ago!

Thank you for the time!

I think both have more than enough of everything! From comments, it seems Foundry may be a bit easier to take on at first? Since I’m just getting back to it, I want to stay as basic as possible so looking for something quick and straightforward. Looks like I can put video on most pages now, so creating a flexible page to post video links to YouTube with previews and some text, for now, with room to grow would be a start…trying to do too many things at once since my income was recently cut off and who knows when normalcy will return! Thank you!!

Well we can always help you spend more money! :slight_smile:

Both frameworks will give you more than enough firepower for what you want right now. If $$$$ is a major concern then I’ll make your life a little more confusing: check out Source from @habitualshaker. There is a free version, but you really want the full thing ($25). The downside is that it may not be as straightforward for someone like you (and many others). It’s a great framework but there’s an adjustment to be made.

Here’s the link:

Source is not as feature complete as Foundry and Foundation. They both come with a lot more stacks. Source is intended to be a micro-framework with only a few stacks where you can also take advantage of regular stacks you already have. My guess is Foundry or Foundation are still better fits for you, but worth a look just in case. (I know money is tight, but in a situation like yours I don’t advise making the decision based on money alone.)

More things for consideration today…

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Two cents from another coach (track and field). I have been using RW since late version 6 and now up to version 8. I bought themes, some good some not so good. I also have Stacks 4 now. If you find a nice Theme and there are some good ones not that expensive, you can do a lot. I run two sites for high school teams and one for a college conference. They get the job done and I only had to learn RW, which took about 3 months of a lot of time. I tried to keep things simple, getting into this because most kids use phones, yet their parents used laptops, so I needed the ability to post to both without doing things twice.

This is one of my sites, usually quite active as I also post workouts, but with schools closed, not much to report. https://www.milfordtrack.org/

It does seem your framework includes more…trying to figure it out from your videos vs. Foundry’s list.

The swatches thing is different. An added step but more powerful than simple styles pane, but it looks like you have that too?

It looks like Foundry has Masks included but I see you have a special on a separate Masks stack? It would be so much easier if this framework was just part of RapidWeaver…

Tnx!

Hey Pete, thanx for the reply!
I used to dabble with RW and the rest about 10 years ago before I got very busy with coaching! It seems some of the plug-in/theme makers are now gone but a lot are still around! It looks like I will have time to work on this as our long course season may not happen this spring/summer!

I got Stacks, but it seems a lot of the other stuff I used to use is part of Foundation or Foundry…still wrapping my head around it all…want to be as flexible and professional as possible but at this point is is overwhelming and confusing. Need to figure out what I need vs. what looks cool but I’ll probably never use!

Thank you!

Hi Peter,
I have both. I use Foundry more than Foundation, just because it’s more catchy. More intuitive.
But this is my personal view. Most, third party Stacks are working with Foundation and Foundry.
To my opinion the tutorial videos are more understandable. You get a quick result when you start a new page…

Thomas

Ah…I was just about to get Foundation as it seems to come with a few more bells & whistles. Joe does seem like the mad genius, constantly tinkering and coming up with new things on the fly! Foundry does seem more sedate, though maybe that is a good thing eh?

Thank you!

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that’s it. It just works and you don’t have to learn new things. With Joe it’s more like in ancient times, when Microsoft is doing developement by client :crazy_face:

So Swatches don’t do anything for you? They seem an interesting concept that is quite powerful…

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If by this you mean that I listen to feedback from my customers and implement features that they want/require to make amazing websites? Then thank you! :slight_smile:

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