Can anybody explain to me the relationship between FOUNDATION and FOUNDRY?
I watched a video by Joe Workman that seemed to suggest Foundation was a theme that could be modified with Foundry stacks.
(About 26 minutes into this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NHY6TuQKyo&t=155s )
What I am looking for is a blank page theme that I can drag and drop structure onto so I can embellish as needed.
How should I go about doing this?
Hi there @cabinetmaker! Hope youâre having a nice weekend so far.
Around the 26 minute mark @joeworkman was not saying that Foundry and Foundation work together, as they do not. Foundry and Foundation are the same sort of product. They are both frameworks that have their own blank theme as well as a wide variety of their own modular stacks for building your site from the ground up. Joe is the developer behind Foundation and I am the developer behind Foundry.
Both Foundry and Foundation can provide this for you. Youâd want to choose one or the other, whichever fits your workflow and style.
Your postâs title mentions Using Database with Foundry. Foundry does not use a database in any way, and while I canât speak for Foundation I donât believe Joe uses a database for anything in Foundation either.
Well that explains a lot! Thank you Adam.
Sorry about the title mixup. Was part of a different thing that confused me previously.
As a newbie to RapidWeaver I would have to say that trying to get trained is really complicated. There seems to be a plethora of RW videos on youtube but most seem to be about previous versions of the software.
Can you point me to a source for Foundry training videos? I am happy to pay for training. I am hungry for information.
The Foundry website has a ton of free videos that you can dive into:
https://foundry.elixirgraphics.com/tutorials/
In addition each of the addon packs for Foundry have their own tutorial videos as well a ailbe from their respective sites or pages:
Alloy: https://alloy.elixirgraphics.com/
Thunder Pack: https://foundry.elixirgraphics.com/addons/thunder-pack/
Potion Pack: https://foundry.elixirgraphics.com/addons/potion-pack/
And finally, Realmac Software has made a series of videos of their own regarding Foundry (note their series is a paid series): https://rapidweavercommunity.com/tutorials/responsive-sites-with-foundry
For a newbie, Platform is the latest new kid on the Rapidweaver block: https://rapidweavercommunity.com/addons/stacks/platform
As a user of Both Foundry and Foundation, Iâd say itâs better than both (purely personal opinion) and somewhat cheaper with the latest deal, $37.50 all in; no need to buy additional stacks bundles.
Details on the latest update here: Platform: release 1.1.3 has been published today đ
The dev, @jay is on this forum.
If you fancy a challenge, there is also UIkit by @Lucas: https://rapidweavercommunity.com/addons/stacks/uikit itâs next level stuff, taking what frameworks like Foundry, Foundation and Platform does and going way way further. But, to get the most out of it you will have a learning curve and need a fair understanding of using css classes, so not perhaps best suited to a total newbie, but still worth considering. If you are serious about website production using Rapidweaver, UIkit is the one to go for. if you want something super easy to use but still plenty powerful, then Platform is the boy, in my opinion.
The Foundation forms support I setting data into a database. There isnât any reason that this feature would not work in Foundry. Some of the fancier form elements like sliders would not work in Foundry though.
hi @jamesbond,
thanks - in which sense would you say Platform is better? I have purchased both Foundation and Foundry in the past and havenât been able yet to deal with Foundry. So in that sense purchasing another framework toolkit isnât âcheaperâ - it actually costs additional money. I would spend it though, if there were substantial advantages of Platform over Foundation. Can you name some?
Thatâs a strange way to consider the price of something! But regardless, why do I prefer Platform? I just do. As I said itâs purely a personal thing. I would say if you have Foundation and Foundry already, there is little need/point in buying another unless you are looking for a specific featureset that Platform offers.
NEITHER IS BETTER.
Theyâre different. If youâre looking for something specific, list THAT here and maybe (but I doubt it) one of them will do THAT ONE THING better.
As anyone can tell who reads my posts, I am a complete novice at RapidWeaver. For this particular reason my input to this question may be useful.
I now own Foundry, Foundation and Platform. I really couldnât care less what the price is for any of these solutions because the real cost is my investment of time and energy to integrate this into my business ecosystem.
As near as I can tell, all three of these frameworks are feature rich. What I look for is how economic the training is. I want a training system that does not ping me around like a pinball machine. I want chapter based information with clear (and retrievable) syllabus.
What drew me to RapidWeaver in the first place is that the add-ons were relatively expensive. This means that the developer is making money and is going to have an incentive to keep the application relevant & viable over time. I have already been jettisoned by Apple iWeb and Adobe Muse because they could not make a business case for continuing with the software.
Getting a newbie like me to embrace your product is kind of like getting me to pick a Canon camera over a Nikon. I flipped a coin and went for Canon so now own a half dozen Canon lenses. It is not likely my next camera will be anything but a Canon.
The subscription based website platforms offer simplicity for an end user like myself and make a good case for hosting my website but I havenât found any yet that donât also want to own the intellectual property and copyright to anything I might post onto that site. In the small print user agreement they even go so far as to say they can sell that property to anybody they want.
In exchange for that right they offer me the ability to infect anybody who might come to my website with a cookie so I can learn every possible thing about their search behavior. This seems predatory to me and makes me think these companies really would sell my intellectual property if they could.
RapidWeaver is GDPR compliant. I like that.
To the developers I would say: Make your training really easy. Take the time to hunt down all your old obsolete training videos on YouTube and delete them. Donât turn training into an easter egg hunt.
Canon man⊠oh yeah! 
The harsh facts are you are going to have to dedicate a lot of time to first learning, RW, then the frameworks, then the stacks, then if you donât already know it how to âdesignâ a website. This is going to take significant amounts of time. If you canât commit this time, pay someone else to do it.
No framework in the RW world has amazing easy to follow step by step instructions, various reasons why. Pick one, jump in, use the forums to ask for help.
I guess I have to disagree. I know both myself and @joeworkman provide a lot of training videos for free. Take Foundry for instance â thereâs a large number of videos on everything from installing Foundry and getting started to building a nice one-page site, as well videos on using individual stacks within Foundry.
Most stacks though are pretty easy to figure out by just dragging-and-dropping them onto a page a going from there. No time sink needed.
But if you run into a snag both frameworks have detailed documentation and lots of tutorial videos.
I am biased for sure, I know, but I think Foundry is one of the quickest ways to dive in and build your site from a blank canvas in RapidWeaver and get something that is responsive and looks great in no time.
Yep!
ha ha - Iâm looking at my L series lenses investment, small as it is, and - no chance of switching to Nikon now!
Boys boys boys (and girls)! Everyone knows Nikon takes better pictures! 
I have both Foundry and Foundation, I missed the Platform discount as I was on holiday. 
Both Foundry and Foundation are mature and excellent for creating a website. Itâs a bit like Lego putting the pieces together. If youâre a newbie going through their tutorials is the way to go.
The thing that took a while to get my head around was that RW depends totally on third party plugins. Buying the Stacks plugin is a must as you can buy so many stacks that provide different functionality to your site. The benefit with Foundry and Foundation is that they pretty much contain all the stacks youâd need for creating a general website.
Pity, you missed the discount for Platform @svsmailus
However, there will be a Fatherâs Day special on June 16th, so keep your eyes peeled 