Hi, I’m an ex-user of Rapidweaver that last used it maybe 10+ years ago. I don’t do much web work, but in the meantime I’ve been using Adobe Muse. As Muse has been discontinued I’m demoing RW to see if it will work for simple websites.
So far, I’m sorry to say it’s not even fit for purpose. Switching Themes results in a lot of bad formatting. The built-in device preview shows layouts that are unusable. I thought that this was maybe just a limitation of the preview, but when I test using real devices (iPhone SE and iPad Mini) I see that all the formatting is also out.
Is Rapidweaver really that bad now? I seem to be the only person here expressing this opinion so maybe I’m doing something wrong. I’m using the RW8 themes and have also tested the RW7 themes.
Is it no possible to switch themes when you have created a project? Thanks.
RW can make great websites. I suggest also you get Stacks. RW without Stacks is like Pancakes without syrup and coffee and butter and powered sugar and…
I suggest you watch some tutorials Stacks examples to see what RW can do.
It’s absolutely possible to switch themes when you’ve created a project but there are obviously limitations. If your first theme has a widescreen banner and the second theme you switch to does not, then your chosen image may be cropped in a way you don’t like. Similarly, menu items that display fine in one theme may not work as well in another - it just depends how the developer has decided to arrange the theme.
If you’re serious about getting back into RW, you won’t be disappointed. It’s an excellent tool for building modern websites and offers a tremendous amount of flexibility - especially if you use a ‘framework’ like Foundation, Foundry or Source (and others are available).
And I’d second the recommendation to buy the Stacks plugin. That changes everything.
Stacks is indeed fantastic and I remember it from last time when I was using Rapidweaver. However RW should also be able to do more basic things on its own, without a third-party plugin.
Try this:
Create a new document using the Future theme.
Click on the eye icon to go into Preview mode.
Click on the Simulate button and set to iPad (or iPhone even)
Scroll through the page until you see that there is a transparent section which allow elements that are meant to be hidden to be seen.
That’s a very basic use of RW, and it should work perfectly. I found other similar problems in other themes. Thinking it could be a problem with the device simulation I tried exporting and uploading to the web to test with a real iPad and iPhone but there were still problems.
I did some testing and the Artful theme appears to work perfectly, whereas none of the others did. None. This means it is actually almost entirely unusable. RW is meant to be a solution to easily publish websites without the user having to fiddle around with design elements or fix any problems.
Based on this, I’ve had to discount it as an option for the project I have in mind. I’m posting here because this needs to be fixed, for the benefit of RW, not for me. I’m a person who likes Rapidweaver based on my history with it, so I’d give it more time than most and come here to share my experience. Anyone else who demos this in its current state is just going to drag it to the trash and never return.
I don’t understand either. What kind of page are you starting with, a Styled Text Page? And are you putting anything on it? As robbeattie says… screenshot please.
Hi Rob. I’m not planning on digging further into this, as I need to find a solution that works. I’m only here to give some feedback which will hopefully help improve RW. As a ‘new’ user I can’t consider this any further than I already have, and I’m not up for doing troubleshooting / testing. This is just a heads up for the RW team that there will be other people having the same experience as me, and disregrading RW as an option without providing any feedback.
I understand that you’ve gotten to the point where you don’t want to pursue this any further. That said, I just took a few minutes and recreated your example, and I’m not seeing any display issues either.
That’s three users now who have tried to recreate your issue and have not be able to. We’re not doubting you’re having an issue, but it’s not an issue we’ve seen before. That’s why we’ve taken the time to check things out.
