Hello RW Community- I’ve found RW frustrating when it comes to banners. It seems like very few, if any, themes allow you to put any informational overlays in the banners (example: some text and a button). Those that allow only seem to let you put a giant logo in the middle the slogan and text. This is prime marketing real estate and it seems like RW doesn’t really let users do anything with this space.
I’ve tried Joe Workman’s Target stack with mixed results. Its seems a bit unpredictable in various situations.
Am I missing something or is this generally the case?
All depends on the theme, many of them will have an ExtraContent area in banner areas. Another way is to use a blank theme (like Foundation, UI Kit, Bootsnap, Pure, FreeStacks and Foundry) offer ways to put content inside banners. Stacks like Impact and others can also help.
Hello Thanks for all the attention. I probably should have provided a bit more details. Sorry. Here goes:
I have tried many themes and they all have pros and cons (of course). I would use some of the stacks mentioned above (thanks @LSPhoto), but this assumes the theme lets me turn off the banner. It seems like a lot of the more modern themes aren’t letting the user turn off the banner image (sort of strange). Even if I do turn off the banner, in many cases, the banner is only as wide as the selected web page width. I know this is probably a theme parameter. I could use foundation and the likes, but that this point, it sort of defeats a bit of the point of using RW in the 1st place.
So I think its sorta back to living in the constraints of the themes I find and buy. Its too bad there isn’t a way to ‘try’ a theme before you buy and learn it doesn’t have the flexibility you’d hoped.
I use a lot of stacks to get what I want. They are built to work with RW and you can pretty much do anything you want: www.LisaSandlerPhotography.com/
If you’re complaining that RW can’t do what you want, you’re not quite understanding how it works and yes, you will need to buy some add-ons to do certain things… I don’t use Foundation and I have no problem doing what I need to.
Little confused by this? Why does it defeat the point of using RW??? Not like you are coding, and you can make the site look the way you want it to. If that is too much of an issue, there are many project theme files for Foundation, UI Kit and Foundry that you could use. Some are free others are not.
I suspect that @wphall means that with a conventional theme, many of the design decisions have been made for you. And if you’re not a designer, that’s one of the most attractive features of RW.
Foundation et al are great, but you have to do the design work. And although the project theme files are good too, that increases the price of admission.
I’ve tried Joe Workman’s Target stack with mixed results. Its seems a bit unpredictable in various situations.
That doesn’t sound quite right, the Target stack is brilliant at latching on to existing elements on the page, like banners, and injecting custom content areas. It takes a bit of practice and sometimes a bit of experimentation/DOM inspection… but I’ve never known it to not work as designed.
Does anyone remember the “Absolute” stack by seeInvisible? That stack was a bona-fide game changer back in the day because it laid the page wide open to content placement pretty much wherever you like. Target builds on that.
Wow… Thanks everyone for the help/attention. This is what makes RW so awesome.
I should add that I have a new infant and am amazingly sleep deprived. But here goes:
@robbeattie and @LSPhoto - Amazing timing, I just got through browsing Will’s themes and I think this might be the way to go. Not just because there’s a free trial, but because it looks like these have some of the most flexibility- just as you both described. Plus, Will’s themes are support are fantastic. If I combine this with @LSPhoto suggestion of Will’s stack, I think I can make something. Thanks for reminding me about the trial. I’d forgotten will does this.
As for the extra content filling the banner area… I must have run into a theme wall. I’d remembered that EC does this, but this particular theme isn’t behaving this way. I really don’t want to mention which one. Its an awesome theme by a great RW developer and I’ve reached out to them know it’s doing this. But yes, I would think this would be the way to go… if I could turn off the banner, but I can’t
The problem I’m having with the other themes is that they assume I want everything centered over the banner. They also seem to adjust the banner height depending on if I’ve added a logo, title, and slogan. This creates its own new set of challenges. But again: Different themes behave differently.
Now, as for Foundation and point of RW- This was probably a mis-speak. I see the point of RW as a way to quickly make beautiful web sites. BUT… RW is different things to different people. @zeebe is absolutely correct. There is, in general, very little or no coding. But, having the guidance of a basic design concept makes making a beautiful web site quickly awesome. Now, that being said, I’ve run into the problem with that… flexibility - HAHA… I just noticed some mentioned that. Sorry… baby brain.
Ok… Thank you everyone!!! RW is great due to the RW staff and it’s forum supporters. It’s just a fantastic community. I’ve been using this app since 2006 and I really need to get on and contribute back more. Thank you!!! I’m going to report back and share what worked and didn’t… just to make sure I don’t hit and run
- HAHA… I just noticed some mentioned that. Sorry… baby brain.