Added a preference to verify uploaded files (try this if you;re having publishing issues)
Other bug fixes
As this build is a beta (albeit a stable one), you are advised to back-up your projects before use and not to use this build against mission criticle work.
thanks. I don’t use RW resources now. When I used resources (over a year ago) my file was 600mb+ and now 120 ish. I warehouse, but through whatever stack I am using.
I highly recommend warehousing
If I use a remote image, along with the Macro I can easly update the image acorss the entire site by just changing one url
I could even update the image within a site by just updating the image on the server.
I’m not saying “remote resources” are the right way to do things, I was just showing of a feature we implimmented becuase a lot of users have been asking for it
I watched the video a couple of times and came away thinking why is this being made so complex and why are we still living in a non graphical world.
Here’s how I think RM should implement a degree of warehouse image support:
Add a new macro and call it %warehouse . Then when a user adds %warehouse(image1.jpg) to a stacks link URL, the URL referenced would be the URL in the RW Settings with /warehouse/image1.jpg added onto it. This would be http://www.mysite.com/warehouse.image1.jpg if http://www.mysite.com was used in the RW settings.
With your method of “just dropping in a URL” you’d have to update every single reference to that URL in a project if you moved servers, where’s if you used the macro feature you can just update it in one place.
Please remeber we added this feature becuase a lot of users requested it. We’ll never please everyone all of the time, we’re just doing the best we can.
There are some bigger changes planned for RapidWeaver 8 but I can’t talk about those yet
Slight anomaly I’ve noticed (bug?) - adding a Stack to the bottom of a page makes the page go back to the top of the page, you then have to scroll down to work with Stack, never noticed it before.
Something to note: you can specify a path for the remote resource, not just a complete URL. So if you enter /warehouse/myimage.jpg, that’ll reference the same location no matter which server you publish to.
Will remote resources show instantly in Edit and Preview assuming they exist in the specified server location? Or will a Publish be required to determine the %resource URL?
Whatever you enter in the URL field is what we’ll use in Edit and Preview. If that resolves to a valid resource: great! Remote resources have no concept of files or of being published (since, by their nature, they’ve already been published). They’re just an easy way to include links in your site.
It is still a very long way from making RapidWeaver “one of the easiest to use website builders on the Mac” and “the best web design software for Mac”.
This is the sort of media browser that RW needs to allow to easily navigate and select images whether they be local or warehoused:
I like this approach @dan. It makes sense for people who wish to use Remote Resources. Going to have a look at this over the next week or so as I’m working on other things.
@webdeer@dan
I strongly disagree with your view that Rapidweaver - Quote -"It is still a very long way from making RapidWeaver “one of the easiest to use website builders on the Mac” - unquote. I have been using RW since Version 3 and even then. it was better than the very limited Mac “Web Builder”.
I appreciate @webdeer (Gary) that you like to make and sell very complicated Templates, which. in my opinion are not suitable for beginners. BUT - using RW without any of the 800 plus stacks/themes/plugins it is extremely easy to create a very acceptable Web Site. Now, why would I say that? because I have used Hot Metal, Wordpress, Freeway etc etc etc etc - and other programs are not good for beginners - they all have a steep learning curve.
So once a new user has built a site without plugins - it does not take very long to progress to the use of Stacks for example, and other more complex tools. I for example have purchased a few of the Foundation templates (some from you) which got me up and running very quickly on some of the excellent BWD stacks.
I’m certainly very please that Realmac are constantly introducing new functionality to RW . As @dan has said implemented functionality may not be for everyone - for awhile
RW, to me, is a never ending and growing ‘ecosystem’ which ‘old-hands’ really appreciate.
@kpryce1
The lack of a visual media browser to see images and select them is an area where RW has fallen behind IMHO and when Dan asked for feedback on the latest beta I provided feedback as I have always been a bit of a warehouse evangelist. I think many users and particularly new RW users will struggle with the warehousing route in this latest release. As such RW is not as easy to use as it could be.
There is an opportunity here to really do something smart and create a genuine easy to use (for everyone) media browser than can mix server based images and local images and make the selection of images a completely visual drag and drop process. Dan hinted at something but not until RW8.
I’m not knocking RW, but just trying to kickstart some new much needed features. The clock is ticking and the competition is fierce and developing at a fast rate. E.g. Since RW7 was released both Blocs App and Bootstrap Studio have had numerous significant new features. I am struggling to think of what new features were added since RW7 was released which is a bit concerning.
As well as releasing regular RapidWeaver 7 updates. We’ve also been hard at work on RapidWeaver 8 for some time now— we think this next release will please a lot of people. We’re not worried about the competition, might be why we’ve been around for more over 10 years
I’ve included the RapidWeaver 7 release notes below to jog your memory.
Projects saved in 7.1 are NOT backwards compatible with 7.0.4 or earlier versions of RapidWeaver.
Please back-up your projects before Installing this update.
Fully compatible with macOS Sierra
Opening large projects is now much quicker (after initial migration)
All exports are now faster due to concurrency
Exporting projects with plugins that generate multiples pages is now much faster
Added a sheet to show what RapidWeaver is doing during export
Added back in support for re-publishing all files for a single page
SiteLok plugin no longers breaks Preview mode
Colour arithmetic in themes now works again
Fixed an issue where the Filename extension was ignored when exporting (again)
Fixed an issue where an updated resource would not get re-published
Resizing Gifs now works (animation is not supported in resized gifs, yet)
Cleaned up plugin loading code, it’s good to be clean!
Fixed an issue under Sierra when using the Web Inspector
Updated Voyager theme (Thanks Adam!)
FTP setting name changed from “Fast as Hell” to “Fast as Lightning”
We’ve fixed up a bunch of issues and crashers with export introduced in the previous beta (sorry!)
Fixed an issue where Photo Album pages would not be generated correctly
Migration to global data storage now only happens once per page
Media queries that span multiple lines will now be minified correctly
Fixed an issue where RapidWeaver would crash when you removed a global meta tags
Cache busting links option is now saved between launches
Fixed an issue where plugins would sometimes fail to load
Export should no longer sometimes hang (Refactored manifest generation to prevent conflicts)
Minify can now handle non-ascii characters correctly
Thai characters no longer crash RapidWeaver’s code view
Added a “cancel” button on “change Theme and Apply?” dialog
Fixed an issue where Site Notes would sometimes not save
Tooltips in page list now look much nice
Project window now shows when RapidWeaver is unregistered
Preview now works with the Sitemap plugin
Fixed an issue with the contact form not saving correctly
You can now change the page extension for the home page
Many other minor fixes, and under the hood enhancements
Added an option to the Preferences to switch off local PHP rendering
Running on 10.12 no longer requests the Osaka font to be installed
Fixed an issue on 10.12 where the welcome text would be hidden
Fixed an issue with CSS consolidation where it would sometimes put the link at the the of the HTML
Update Lander Theme to 1.0.2
Sidebar code tab is now called “head” not “header”
Deleting all resources no longer crashes RapidWeaver, yay!
New Theme API: RGBA support for theme colours is now supported by using this new key “RWSupportsAlphaInColours” within the “RWThemeCapabilities” dictionary.
Fixed an issue that sometimes corrupted plugins when moving the add-ons folder.
Fixed some publishing issues (Thanks Gilberto and Co).
Fixed exception on export issue (this was caused by users not entering a header name!)
Deleting themes from the Theme Browser now works
Site and Page meta tag output is no longer duplicated
Duplicating page no longer gives issues on Preview
Directory listing now works when browsing via SFTP
Server Path is now cleared when changing publishing type to local folder
Duplicating themes now duplicates theme styles also!
Fixed a whole bunch of issues with FTPS
Fixed a publishing issue relating to bookmarks
Blog plugin now generates correctly URL’s for podcasts (sorry this took so long to ship).
Cache busting no longer breaks when using protocol-less URLs
Fixed an issue with lists in the style text plugin.
After more than a year in development we’re thrilled to be able to finally say that, RapidWeaver 7.0 is here. Thanks to everyone for their support during the beta program and all our loyal RapidWeaver users around the world.
We couldn’t have done this with out you. Happy Weaving!
Features
Overhauled FTP Engine: Super fast, super reliable FTP Engine (No, really it is this time!)
FTP Path Browser: You can now visually browse your FTP server to pick a location to publish too!
Built-in Web Server: Allows you to preview your entire site locally in a browser without having to export it
SEO Health Check: RapidWeaver will analyse your site and will highlight steps you can take to improve SEO.
Banner Images: In themes that support this new feature, you can now add a custom banner image to your site, and customise it on each page. Themes that support this feature also include optimal image dimensions to help you size images.
4 Responsive New Themes: Designed by Realmac, Elixir Graphics, MultiThemes, and Yuzool!
New, modern OS X sidebar: with translucency, that shows all your pages, resources and settings in one location.
Portable Documents: You can now choose to store resources inside your RapidWeaver document, enabling you to take the project between multiple Macs.
Multiple Publishing Locations: If you need to publish projects to multiple locations, you can set these up in your project, and choose the server when publishing. RapidWeaver’s smart publishing will also keep track of changes across multiple publishing locations.
Local Publishing: The “Export” feature is something we’ve always felt should be considered a way of publishing your site, and now it is!
Project Backup: RapidWeaver can optionally create a ZIP file of your project, and upload it to your server when publishing. The file is added to a “secret” location on your server, meaning that while it is downloadable by anyone who knows the cryptic web address, it’s tricky to guess that web address.
User-selectable Add-ons Folder: need to save your add-ons in a custom location? RapidWeaver 7 allows you to do this, and will move your add-ons for you! Great if you’re working between machines.
Minified Javascript and CSS: RapidWeaver can now optimise your CSS and Javascript by minifying it. Previously, RapidWeaver would remove some whitespace, but this time we’re actually optimising it to be as quick to download and apply to your pages as possible.
Enhancements
Reorder-able Sidebar: you can now re-arrange the Pages, Resources, and Settings groups in the sidebar, and collapse the ones you don’t need.
RapidWeaver’s media browser now supports other, non-Apple, apps including Lightroom, and custom folders from the Finder.
Refined Design: We’ve reduced the amount of UI “chrome” that RapidWeaver adds, allowing more space for your website content.
Page Inspector: You can now choose to pop the Inspector out into its own resizable window
Assets area now support Folder Drag and drop from the finder
RapidWeaver now uses the latest Safari engine for lightning-fast Page rendering!
Multiple Selection in the Page List: Use Cmd + A to select all of the sidebar group you’re currently viewing. Cmd + Shift + A to select the entire sidebar. You can Duplicate, re-order, and Delete multiple items.
New “Hide Classic Themes” preference: This new option allows you to hide the older, built-in themes. If you open a project that uses one of these themes, it will be shown in the Theme Browser while the project is open.
Photo Album: now adds an image caption as the “Alt” tag in individual photo pages.
New SEO Tab in Page Inspector: Meta tags are now shown in their own tab in the Page Inspector.
Support for Customisable Meta tags
Easy to use Robot Meta tags, you no longer need to remember the syntax!
Added an option to update custom theme styles with the current settings.
Greatly improved third party plugin installation, for example, RapidWeaver no longer moves plugins, it copies them over.
Option to Opt-In to Beta Updates: If you’re feeling adventurous, and want to see new RapidWeaver features before anyone else, you can opt-in to receive beta updates to RapidWeaver.
Site-wide Code: To allow you to better-edit large amounts of site-wide code, RapidWeaver now displays it in tabs, instead of consecutive text fields.
New Body Site-wide Code: The “GoSquared” and “Google Analytics” fields have been merged into sitewide code. “Google Analytics” content is now placed in the Head tab, with a new “Body” tab now available for use. RapidWeaver 7 will migrate your existing code from RapidWeaver 6 into this field when generating a RapidWeaver 7 project file.
Master Styles / Theme Inspector: You can now collapse / hide the contents of theme variation groups.
Lots of UI refinements: we’ve made a huge number of changes in just about every aspect of RapidWeaver
Lightning Fast Image Processing: RapidWeaver’s image processing has seen major changes, to both use the latest OS X technologies, and to ensure that ICC Colour Profiles are respected.
Turbocharged export: We’ve substantially reworked the way RapidWeaver exports sites, to make it lightning quick.
Smaller App Size: We’ve put the app on a diet, optimised images, and made the app quicker to download.
Added a new “Copy Macro” button to the resources view (also right-click menu).
If a plugin cannot be found RapidWeaver will now offer to search the community site for it
Fixes & Changes
Quick Look has always been problematic, so we’ve decided to remove it in RW7. You’ll see substantial improvements in file-size as a result (for no portable documents)
When dragging an image without a creation date into a RapidWeaver project, a creation date will be added to the image.
Theme Browser: Numerous improvements to how RapidWeaver duplicates themes, and handles the duplicates in the Theme Browser.
If a Website Address has not been set for your project, RapidWeaver will now prompt you to enter one when right-clicking a page and choosing “Publish Page”.
RapidWeaver now has a “Web server logs” window to make it easier to diagnose page errors
By default new projects will be created as Portable Documents
The default theme for new projects has changed to “Offroad”
There’s Literally hundreds of other behind-the-scenes changes and fixes to make RapidWeaver faster and even more reliable than ever!
7.4 has no problem…
