Rapid Weaver Gets Big Update

Though the version number only jumps .1 to 3.6, there are many improvements here and unfortunately an upgrade cost of $25. Much of the changes are small interface tweaks, such as there is no long a code vide tab in the main window which is good and bad - yes its great to view the code but you couldn't edit in there so it had its usefulness but there are also some great new features which I will give an overview here.

If you write a blog, as I do, using Rapid Weaver you'll notice there isn't a drop menu of you categories any long, instead an empty text field for you to enter. It's a smart field so if you have categories setup, the auto complete helps you out. This method is pretty cool and it also allows you to file this into multiple categories. A new feature is tags, you can now tag your blog with keywords, works exactly the same as the categories. Both tags and categories are saved in the setup dialog, so you can go ahead and make your modifications there.

A brand new Flash Slideshow is now included with new transitions, Ken Burns effects and Flickr support via RSS feed. This looks like a pretty nice looking slideshow, just remember to get the latest JavaScript file if you are using a custom template.

A huge and exciting edition to RW are snippets which are reusable chunks of code that are saved by name. This could make managing the sidebar easier from page to page, or if you have some dynamic code you'd like to maintain a little easier.

Lists are easy to make now with the List feature. Select a bunch of lines and choose Format->List and a dialog asking what kind of list to make, choose one and click OK. If you aren't fluent in HTML or CSS, I must say the menu is a bit archaic looking.

A basic list will look like:

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3
• Item 4

Only 1 issue I wish they'd make a bid easier is linking an thumbnail to a larger version, this should be built in, but you still have to manually do a lot of work to do this. Please fix this. RapidWeaver costs $49 for a single license, and $25 to upgrade and is a great tool for building small to medium websites quickly.

Tags: web, development, design