How to manage images with RW?

How to manage images with RW… once and for all…

I plan the recovery of several websites and I would like to take advantage of them to optimize their resources “images”, and therefore, minimize the weight of these websites (and their speed of editing/publishing/posting). I am French. I found several posts, here in English (a little difficult for me to perfectly assimilate), on the same theme, and sometimes contradictory according to the version of RW! …

I did not find on the web of User Manual (only, a version 7 in .pdf! …) which could define once and for all the good practices as for the use of the resources with RW.

My image folders: all images/typos/videos are classified in a single folder, placed in the Finder at the same level as the .rw8 file where they are all classified in subfolders corresponding to each page of the site web in question. In the .rw8 file, I created exactly the same folder structure in the Resources Panel as the Finder, with the same folder names and contents.

Some questions…

How to integrate images with RapidWeaver 8.3 and Stacks 4.0.1, avoiding the duplication of these resources on the FTP server? …

The “Resources Panel”, what is it for? … Is it just a file viewer or can we (should we) use it by Drag and Drop for inserting in the Stacks pages? … I ask this question, because I noticed for a long time that the same image had been uploaded on the FTP in several identical copies in different places! …

Should we always perform a Drag and Drop from the Finder? …

Sorry if the answers to my questions have already been given, but I did not find anything after my research … and a little summary could help many of us … well, I think (and hopefully).

Thank you for your feedback …

Comment bien gérer les images avec RW… une bonne fois pour toutes…

Je planifie la reprise de plusieurs sites web et j’aimerai en profiter pour optimiser leurs ressources “images”, et donc, réduire au maximum le poids de ces sites web (et leur rapidité d’édition/de publication/d’affichage). Je suis français. J’ai trouvé plusieurs posts, ici en anglais (un peu difficile pour moi à parfaitement assimiler), sur le même thème, et parfois contradictoires suivant la version de RW !..

Je n’ai pas trouvé sur le web de Manuel Utilisateur (seule, une version 7 en .pdf !..) qui pourrait définir une bonne fois pour toutes les bonnes pratiques quant à l’utilisation des ressources avec RW.

Mes dossiers d’images : toutes les images/typos/vidéos sont classées dans un seul et unique dossier, placé dans le Finder au même niveau que le fichier .rw8 où elle sont toutes classées dans des sous-dossiers correspondants à chaque page du site web en question. Dans le fichier .rw8, j’ai créé exactement la même structure de dossiers dans le Panneau Ressources que celle du Finder, avec les mêmes noms de dossiers et les mêmes contenus.

Quelques questions…

Comment intégrer les images avec RapidWeaver 8.3 et Stacks 4.0.1, en évitant la duplication de ces ressources sur le serveur FTP ?..

Le “Panneau Ressources”, à quoi sert-il ?.. Est-ce juste un visualiseur de fichiers ou peut-on (doit-on) l’utiliser par Drag and Drop pour l’insertion dans les pages Stacks ?.. Je pose cette question, car j’ai remarqué depuis déjà longtemps qu’une même image avait été uploader sur le FTP en plusieurs exemplaires identiques à différents endroits !..

Doit-on toujours effectuer un Drag and Drop depuis le Finder ?..

Désolé si les réponses à mes questions ont déjà été données, mais je n’ai rien trouvé après mes recherches… et une petite synthèse pourrait aider beaucoup d’entre nous… enfin, je pense (et l’espère).

Merci pour vos retours…

Will Woodgate created a free ebook about warehousing resources. It’s a great place to start.

Thank you @NeilUK, I completely forgot about this precious document …
But, it is now 2016: is it still up to date with the latest versions of RapidWeaver (8.3) and Stacks (4.0.2)? …

Merci @NeilUK, j’avais complètement oublié ce précieux document…
Mais, il date maintenant de 2016 : est-il encore à jour avec les dernières versions de RapidWeaver (8.3) et Stacks (4.0.2) ?..

Yes, it’s still relevant. It doesn’t matter which version of RW you’re using if you use stacks that allow you to enter a URL to a resource/asset that is stored on your server.

I’ve never used RW to manage resources/assets. Warehousing is the only method I’ve ever used.

1 Like

Thank you @NeilUK
But this document does not quite answer my questions about the “basic” use of resources and its window! …

Merci @NeilUK
Mais ce document ne répond pas tout à fait à mes questions sur l’utilisation “basique” des ressources et sa fenêtre !..

Since you are using RapidWeaver 8 and stacks 4, one of the ”5 new features” of stacks 4 was the addition of site images.

The Site Image stack (the new default image stack if you’re using RW8 and stacks 4) uses the revamped RW8 resources. You can see more about this new feature with this video.

This new stack eliminates the “the same image had been uploaded“ multiple times to the web server. It will use the same single image file from resources everywhere on your site it’s used. This also gives the advantage of allowing the browsers to cache the images and only have to download them once and use the same file on every page. This can make subsequent pages render much faster.

As for performance I just recently posted some information on some testing I did on using the resources in RapidWeaver 8 with the new site image stack vs warehoused images.

1 Like

Thank you @teefers

I just did a quick test with two identical basic RW websites with one page Stacks and one picture.

With the first RW file, I placed the image directly from the Finder by drag and drop on a simple Stacks page.
With the second RW file, I put the same image in its Resource window and drag and drop that image into the Stacks page.

I then published the two sites locally: the number of files, the total weight and the structure of the site was absolutely identical between the two sites.

So both manipulations produce the same effect. Am I wrong or did I miss out on a subtlety?

Even if you drag and drop from finder the same image, stacks 4 should only copy the image once into the resources.

Take an empty project and drag an image onto a stacks 4 page. If you then open up resources you will see the image there. The image will be in a “site image” stack. You can then create a new stacks page and drag the same images from either finder or resources to the new page and the same single image would be used for both pages.

On the older RW7 and/or stacks 3, if you dragged an image from finder or resources it would make a copy of the image and place the copy in a separate internal stacks file. If you use the same image again on the site it makes a new copy of that image. So if you dragged an image into resources and then dragged it from resources to two pages, when you publish you going to upload 3 copies of the same image. One for each page and one for resources.

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.