I have published a new series of screencasts on the ExtraContent feature found in some 3rd-party themes. ExtraContent has become more popular in 3rd-party theme development, and the feature offers increased flexibility in how your content is displayed inside the layout of a RapidWeaver theme.

Some tutorials discussing ExtraContent in specific themes have been available here in the RapidWeaver Classroom curriculum, but I felt it was necessary to cover the topic in a more linear way, as is the norm for series of tutorials here at RapidWeaver Classroom. This new ExtraContent series will take you through the different methods of utilizing this feature, and each video tutorial works with a different ExtraContent-enabled theme, so you will be able to see a number of different examples of how ExtraContent is enabled in these 3rd-party themes.

There are currently 4 new tutorials that take you through the ExtraContent feature, and at least one more will be added to the series in the near future.

For more information about ExtraContent, or to see walk-through videos I have created for specific ExtraContent-enabled themes, please visit ExtraContent.info.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver 5.0, ExtraContent, screencasts, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials

I have updated the RapidWeaver Classroom curriculum with two new tutorials. The first is in response to a common question I receive, that until now was not addressed in the curriculum. This question involves the use of a RapidWeaver website to build an email mailing list, and whether or not RapidWeaver is capable of creating HTML emails to send to a mailing list. This new “HTML Email Newsletters” tutorial addresses these questions, and can be found in Lesson 8 of the Section 101 curriculum. I discuss a couple of different solutions, including the one I use for RapidWeaver Classroom.

The other tutorial discusses how to create a splash page in RapidWeaver, and involves a special theme and a few customizations to make it perfect for this purpose. This “Create a Splash Page” tutorial can be found in the “How to...” lesson under Section 301 of the curriculum.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver 5.0, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Splash page, HTML emails, mailing lists

I’ve released a new screencast on the Styled Stack from Joe Workman. This is an awesome stack that very well may replace the plain Text Stack that is bundled with the Stacks plugin. The Styled Stack creates a content container for your text that can be styled in a number of ways -- rounded corners, drop shadows and background images are all available to this stack. Joe has done an awesome job of addressing some common requests all in one stack! Check out the tutorial under Section 202 of the curriculum, in the Joe Workman section.

On another note, Happy Thanksgiving to all of our U.S. students! I hope you all enjoy the holiday and are able to spend good time with family. Don’t stay away too long though, as some very exciting things are right around the corner, so stay tuned!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, styled stack, Joe Workman Stacks, screencasts, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Last week I released a new video tutorial on the El Sexy-o Stack from El Stacko, but I mistakenly forgot to update the blog here with that information. Nevertheless, the El Sexy-o Stack screencast can be found in Section 202, under the section for El Stacko stacks. El Sexy-o is used to create a unique lightbox-effect for image galleries and other types of content on your website. It has some cool features and flexibility that makes it unique, so check out the screencast for more information!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, stacks, ElStacko, screencasts

Two new video tutorials have been released to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. One tutorial covers Joe Workman's Dispatch Stacks -- these stacks provide an upload feature on your website, so that visitors/customers can upload files to you via Dropbox, Amazon S3, MobileMe or your web hosting server. The other screencast covers Link Inspector from CosCulture -- this plugin checks for broken links on your website and is especially useful for larger sites and those with many external links.

The Dispatch Stacks tutorial can be found in Section 202 under the Joe Workman section, and the Link Inspector tutorial is located in Section 201 under "Miscellaneous Plugins."

Check back next week for new stacks add-ons tutorials!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Dispatch Stacks, Joe Workman Stacks, Link Inspector, CosCulture, screencasts, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Two more Joe Workman Stacks, Gyro and Tabulous, have been added to the section of Stacks Add-ons in the RapidWeaver Classroom curriculum. Both stacks offer outstanding features and eye-candy for your RapidWeaver website.

Look for many more Stacks screencasts to appear in Section 202 of the curriculum over the next several weeks.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, Joe Workman Stacks, screencasts, Gyro Stack, Tabulous Stack

A new video tutorial has been released to subscribers, covering the Valet Plugin Manager. This is a unique add-on that lets you enable and disable the 3rd-party plugins you have installed for RapidWeaver. This is great for troubleshooting purposes and for improving the performance and stability of RapidWeaver, and I consider it an important tool for all RapidWeaver users -- especially those who work on multiple projects.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Valet Plugin Manager, screencasts, RapidWeaver video tutorials

7 new screencasts have been released that cover stacks from ElStacko and CosCulture. These screencasts have been added to a new section of the RapidWeaver Classroom curriculum: Section 202: Stacks Add-Ons. This new section will be exclusive to 3rd-party stacks that are released for the Stacks plugin.

The following 7 screencasts are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers:

• ElStacko: El Book-o Stack
• ElStacko: El CallBox-o Stack
• ElStacko: Exposer Pro Stack
• ElStacko: Sidewinder Stack
• CosCulture: DragZone Stack
• CosCulture: Image Roundabout Stack
• CosCulture: Notifications Stack

RapidWeaver Classroom has also partnered with ElStacko and CosCulture, who have both begun offering exclusive discounts to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers! Current subscribers will receive more information on these discounts soon.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, ElStacko, CosCulture, screencasts

Two new screencasts have been released to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers today. The first covers the symTune Image Slider plugin from SymfoniP, which replicates the look and feel of the image slider in the iTunes Music Store. It’s provides a great way of featuring content on your website, and offers a really slick presentation of images.

The second tutorial release is located under the “How to...” lesson in Section 301, and it walks-through the process of splitting a RapidWeaver website into multiple project files. This is great to understand when building large, or media-intensive websites.

These tutorials are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. Not a subscriber? Register now or learn more about RapidWeaver Classroom!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, screencasts, RapidWeaver video tutorials, SymfoniP, symTune Image Slider, Split a RapidWeaver Website

A new tutorial covering the Speech Bubbles Stack from Joe Workman is now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. This is a pretty awesome stack that creates speech bubbles with rounded corners for your content. It’s very easy to use and accomplishes something that was once more complex to achieve -- I know from personal experience, having added speech bubbles to RapidWeaver Classroom, and trust me when I say that it wasn’t nearly this easy! Thanks to Joe for another great stack, and I’m sure most of us can find good use for it in our projects.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Joe Workman Stacks, Speech Bubbles Stack, stacks

Two new tutorials are now available that cover the Doo-Daily and Doo-Spin stacks from DooBox. Both of these stacks allow you to add dynamic content to your pages, either by having different content load randomly with each visit, or by having content set to appear depending on the day of the week. These new tutorials are available now to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, DooBox, screencasts, RapidWeaver video tutorials

A new tutorial is now available covering the symMedia5 plugin from SymfoniP. This is an outstanding plugin that allows you to add both video and audio files to a single page, and have them play in a single player, with a nice scroll bar to navigate through and play the added media. In addition, this plugin supports HTML5 video playback, and if you aren’t familiar with the significance of HTML5 video then you will learn a bit about that as well in this tutorial.

This is the first tutorial on a plugin from SymfoniP here at RapidWeaver Classroom, though there is a FlowBox Stack tutorial available. SymfoniP has been producing some great RapidWeaver plugins for mixed media (photo, audio, and video) -- so they all will be covered in the coming weeks.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, screencasts, symMedia5 plugin, SymfoniP, RapidWeaver video tutorials

In the past week I have produced a couple of walk-throughs for new RapidWeaver themes. Flame, from Elixir Graphics, and Havnit, from seyDesign are both ExtraContent-enabled themes with some phenomenal design and flexibility. These walk-through videos are available in both the members’ area and on the Curriculum page, under the ExtraContent section. I have also re-worked that ExtraContent section to include all the tutorials I’ve produced for ExtraContent themes -- currently there are 3 each for both seyDesign and Elixir Graphics.

In other news, production of tutorials for the symMedia5 plugin from SymfoniP are almost complete, so look for those additions to the members’ area early next week.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, ExtraContent, seydesign, Elixir Graphics, theme walk-through

The 4th tutorial in our CMS series is now available online to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. This CMS solution involves Pulse CMS, which is the first full-blown Content Management System to be covered. I have chosen to start with Pulse CMS because you host it on your own server alongside your website, which is a great advantage because all of your content exists on one server, opposed to some of it existing on another server that you have no control over.

In advance of viewing this Pulse CMS tutorial, I recommend viewing the “Working With an FTP Application” lesson, which can be found under Section 301 of the tutorials. This lesson will get you comfortable with publishing files to your server via FTP, which is required to install Pulse.

More CMS solutions will be covered in the weeks to come, alongside a variety of custom stacks and even a few new RapidWeaver plugins.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Content Management Systems, CMS, screencasts

I have released 3 new tutorials on stacks available from DooBox. Each of the following stacks is covered:

• Doo-Corners - Easily add rounded corners to your content in Stacks
• Doo-Columns - Create up to 4 columns with increased design flexibility
• Doo-Code - Add a feature that allows code (or other text) to be copied with the simple click of a button

These screencasts are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. Not a member yet? Join now!

Be on the lookout for future tutorials on more great stacks from DooBox!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, DooBox, screencasts

I am happy to announce the release of a new tutorial series called “Choosing a RapidWeaver Theme.” This series is comprised of 5 screencasts that total about 45 minutes -- discussing how to find themes, along with tips and strategies to use when looking for the best theme for your project. With the release of this series I have re-organized the curriculum listing a bit, placing these tutorials just below the lessons for RapidWeaver, along with the ExtraContent and BlocksBox tutorials, since these are all theme-related screencasts.

Subscribers to RapidWeaver Classroom can now view this new series. Additionally, several more screencasts have already been produced on another topic, so another new release is coming very, very soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver themes, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts

I have been without Internet access at home/work for the past 7 days. After calls to my ISP over the course of the week, technicians have been called out and they have been working on the issue today. As I write this I am hopeful that service will be restored before the weekend begins, and that I’ll be able to publish this post I am writing now. It’s really been a perfect storm of issues that has caused this long outage, and when I lost service last week I never would have imagined that I would be disconnected this long. Needless to say I can’t wait to be back online!

So what’s the point of blogging about this? As I put the loss of Internet service in perspective, I considered what it has cost me, and what it hasn’t. I’ve certainly lost quite a bit of productivity over the course of the week, but at the same time I haven’t actually lost any work. My computer didn’t crash, my hard drive didn’t fail, and my web server didn’t go down or lose my website files. But what if one of those things did happen?

Let’s consider the chance of a major issue with your hosting server -- where all of your website files are published. Your hosting provider has an issue with the server, which takes your website offline, and the end result is actual data loss. Your website files have been permanently lost due to a hardware failure. This is bad news, but the goods news is that you built your website with RapidWeaver, and since RapidWeaver is a desktop application, your project file serves as a backup of your entire website. As soon as your hosting provider gets the server back up and running, you simply re-publish your website and things are back to normal.

This is a rarely considered strength of using RapidWeaver over an online CMS such as Wordpress. Your work is done and saved locally on your computer, so you don’t have to depend on the reliability of a machine somewhere else to keep your files safe. So you are secure with a backup of your website on your own computer, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be making back-ups yourself. If your project file(s) only exist on one hard drive, you should have an additional drive to backup to, or at the very least a USB flash drive. Ideally you have a second drive with Time Machine configured to make regular backups automatically. The outstanding PlusKit plugin also has a backup feature that you can use to make backups of your project file as you work. You can never be too careful, and so a combination of automatic and manual methods might be a good idea.

Finally, if you manage assets of your website directly via FTP (a.k.a. warehousing), then you will want to make manual backups of those files and folders by downloading them to your computer. Since you are managing these outside of RapidWeaver, you don’t have the safety of them being included in your project file. You likely have the files locally on your computer anyway, but in case of emergency it would be helpful to have all of those files together in a folder that is an exact duplicate of the folder of assets you had published on your server.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Backups

I am happy to announce the launch of a new series of tutorials on Content Management Systems! As mentioned in my previous blog entry, I have been researching different CMS solutions and I have now begun to produce screencasts on the subject. The launch of this series begins with 3 video tutorials, which are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. More tutorials will be released in the coming weeks, with the goal of providing the most comprehensive coverage of options available to RapidWeaver users.

Once again, if you have any experience using a CMS with RapidWeaver, please comment here and let me know your thoughts. I have developed a list of solutions (see previous blog entry), but am open to other options and I am interested in personal experience with any of them.

Not a RapidWeaver Classroom subscriber? Register now for access to these, and 170+ other RapidWeaver video tutorials!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, CMS, Content Management Systems, screencasts

I am currently researching and learning various Content Management Systems and why they may or may not be good solutions for use with RapidWeaver. Allowing for user-editable content outside of RapidWeaver has always been difficult to solve, as RapidWeaver wasn’t created with that feature. Various plugin-ins and stacks have been released over time that address this issue, but how you know which one to choose and how to use it? This is a deep topic and one that I have wanted to address for a long time, and I think we’re at the point now where enough solid options are available to where I can make recommendations and explore all of the available options to some degree.

My research and testing will result in a new series that covers different types of content management -- not exclusively limited to online CMS systems. Video tutorials will be produced over the next weeks, culminating in a comprehensive resource. Here is a list of what I have been working with so far:

• Google Docs and PlusKit
• RapidBlog
• CushyCMS
• SurrealCMS
• WebYep
• Pulse
• PageLime
• Unify
• Dynamic Content Stacks from Blueball Design
• CMS/CSS Stacks from Joe Workman

If you have experience with any of these, or with something else altogether, please comment on this post and I might contact you personally for more information. As I mentioned, this is a deep subject and everyone can benefit more from feedback based on your own experiences.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, CMS, Content Management Systems, dynamic content, screencasts

I am excited to announce that Joe Workman has joined seyDesign, Elixir Graphics and NCD Themes in offering a discount to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers! All subscribers receive a coupon code good for 10% off any Joe Workman product. You can find the coupon code in the Members’ Area after you login. Thanks to Joe for his outstanding products and for this offer!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Joe Workman Stacks, discounts

Last week saw the introduction of the new Lime Theme from Elixir Graphics and the Gyro Stack from Joe Workman. Adam and Joe asked me to create a walk-through screencast to demonstrate the new theme and stack, and you can find that video below. Both are outstanding products, as Lime has amazing design and offers 3 ExtraContent areas, and the Gyro Stack executes a fantastic feature for your website -- you’ll have to check-out the video below to see it in action.

I will give Gyro the full RapidWeaver Classroom treatment with a dedicated tutorial in the near future, so be on the lookout for that. My thanks to Adam and Joe for including me in the release of these great RapidWeaver add-ons!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Lime Theme, Gyro Stack, Elixir Graphics, Joe Workman Stacks, screencasts

I have published the 6th screencast to the Complete Design Demonstration series -- this tutorial demonstrates how the Learn More page was created. The most unique part to this page is the use of a free Table Stack created by Phil Warrender.

There are still a couple of screencasts left to go in this series, and I am working on quite a few new tutorials for custom stacks as well, so check back soon for more!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts

Nick at NCD Themes has extended a new discount to all RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers: 10% off ALL themes. Nick is an extremely talented RapidWeaver theme developer, and his latest release, Omega, is off-the-charts awesome! Thanks to Nick for this generous offer -- yet another reason to join us here at RapidWeaver Classroom!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, NCD Themes, discounts

A 5th tutorial has been added to the Complete Design Demonstration series. This video demonstrates the creation of some features of the members' page. Specifically:

• Adding 5 columns of images and text to an ExtraContent area
• creating anchors
• linking text to video that displays in a Lightbox

This tutorial demonstrates the use of snippets for ExtraContent and the Lightbox stacks from Joe Workman. It is a lengthy 18-minute video with a lot of information packed-in! Look for more tutorials in this series to appear next week.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, stacks, ExtraContent, lightbox

I am very excited to begin offering a new series that incorporates much of what is taught here at RapidWeaver Classroom. The Complete Design Demonstration series takes you through the process of designing a website from start to finish, using many of the different 3rd-party plugins and theme features such as ExtraContent. In this first C.D.D. series, you will see how many of the pages here at RapidWeaver Classroom were developed, using 3rd-party plugins such as Stacks, PlusKit, Carousel, Accordion, and EasyTube Gallery.

This series is best viewed after you have made your way through all of the RapidWeaver and 3rd-party plugin tutorials, so that you are familiar with the interface of the different plugins. The purpose of this series is to demonstrate the usage of plugins and other features in a real-world scenario, and to break-down designs that are seemingly complex into something much more simple.

I have published the first 4 videos (45 minutes) of this series to start, and more screencasts will be added in the coming weeks as I demonstrate how to build a majority of the pages found here at RapidWeaver Classroom. You may also notice that I titled the series with a number 1, as my intention is to create multiple series over time that demonstrate the usage of different plugins and strategies.

I hope you enjoy this new series and find it helpful as you explore how different plugins can be used in your own projects. There will be more to come soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, stacks, EasyTube Gallery plugin, 3rd-party RapidWeaver plugin tutorials

An announcement was made this week that the Haloscan service is shutting down for good on February 19th. Haloscan is the commenting system that RapidWeaver’s blog page has used for the past several years. The newest version of RapidWeaver integrates commenting with JS-KIT, but long-time users of RW who have comment-enabled blogs will likely be using Haloscan accounts, and so this announcement affects those users, myself included. Below is the email that all Haloscan account owners should have received this week:

Haloscan is being shut down on: Feb 19, 2010
The Haloscan hardware and software is physically failing and we have no choice but to discontinue the service.

Two Options: Switch to Echo or Export your comments FREE.
Although we can't rescue Haloscan, we are trying our best to limit the negative impact on users. To do this, we have worked hard to provide 2 options for Haloscan sites.

View the Haloscan Upgrade FAQ

Realmac Software has made a statement that it is looking into integrating a different commenting system in a future release of RapidWeaver. No definitive timeline has been set for this update. You can view the official response here.

For those with Haloscan commenting who wish to keep their comments, an upgrade to JS-KIT is likely your best option. For others who are fine with losing their comments and do not wish to pay a fee for JS-KIT commenting, and do not want to wait for an update to RapidWeaver, an alternative worth considering would be the RapidBlog plugin from Loghound, which provides others options for blog comments. RapidWeaver Classroom does provide video tutorials covering the RapidBlog plugin.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, Blog Commenting, Haloscan

2 new tutorials on Joe Workman Stacks have been released today. Tutorials on the MovingBox Stack and Link & Anchor Stacks are now available. Joe has been generous enough to offer the Link & Anchor Stacks for free, so visit his website to download the stacks and view his other incredible offerings.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, screencasts, Joe Workman Stacks, RapidWeaver video tutorials

I have published 5 new screencasts on troubleshooting RapidWeaver issues. This is an important series because RapidWeaver, like most software, can have issues that result in lost work and/or great frustration. I may add additional troubleshooting tutorials in the future, so if you have any tips that I’ve left out then please let me know.

Next week will see new custom stacks tutorials from Joe Workman, so stay tuned!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, troubleshooting RapidWeaver

I am happy to announce the release of 3 new tutorials on Joe Workman Stacks. Joe Workman has been developing for the Stacks plugin for some time now, and a couple of months ago I produced a tutorial on 13 Video Stacks that were developed by Joe. Today’s release adds 3 more stacks to the curriculum, and I have separated Joe’s stacks into their own section, whereas before all custom stacks tutorials were located under the Stacks plugin listing.

The following tutorials are now available:

Lightbox Stack - Easily add a Lightbox effect that displays any type of content.

Translate Stack - Allows visitors to read your website in any language.

Curtain Call Stack - Provide your visitors with a unique presentation of content -- especially great for video or special promotions.

Of course you can expect to see coverage of many more Joe Workman Stacks in the future!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, stacks, Joe Workman Stacks, screencasts

A new video tutorial covering the FlowBox Stack has been released to subscribers of RapidWeaver Classroom. This is an outstanding stack that provides a lightbox-type overlay for displaying video, images, and even other webpages. It is quite flexible and so the 18-minute video goes into detail of all the different ways content can be presented inside the FlowBox.

This is the first screencast on a SymfoniP stack, and you can bet that there will be more to come!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, screencasts, stacks, FlowBox Stack

I recently published a new video tutorial on the FaqMaker plugin from Loghound. This plugin has actually been around for quite a while, but I have recently rediscovered it myself and made it a part of my toolset. FaqMaker provides some great flexibility in creating a highly functional -- and even creative -- FAQ for your website. FaqMaker can utilize anchors or even a Lightbox to provide information to your visitors. Most websites need an FAQ of some kind, so FaqMaker is a great solution for this purpose.

This screencast is available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers and can be found underneath the section of Loghound plugins. Enjoy!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, FaqMaker plugin

yabdab software has releaed an upgrade to its popular PayLoom plugin, now available as version 2.0, and RapidWeaver Classroom covers this latest release with 2 new video tutorials. This upgrade brings some major enhancements to the plugin, including an on-page shopping cart and unlimited product options that include price overrides.

With this release, the previous version of PayLoom is no longer available, but those tutorials will remain available for anyone who owns that version of the plugin.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, PayLoom, screencasts

I have added another tutorial to the weaverPix plugin section. This tutorial demonstrates how to customize weaverPix to produce a really nice-looking slideshow. You will see how it pays-off to take some time tweaking settings to get things just right. In this example, a slideshow is created that mimics the feature found on the Home page of the iTunes Store. weaverPix has a lot of flexibility and you will see another example of that in this latest screencast.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, weaverPix, screencasts

Later this month will mark the 4-year anniversary of when I joined the RapidWeaver community and adopted the application as my website design tool. This has had me reflecting on my experiences over the past 4 years, and reaffirming my position on RapidWeaver as the best solution for web design. Couple that with the current obsession over my new iPhone, and the idea that results is this: RapidWeaver is like the iPhone.

Background Story

Recently, after coming to the end of my contract with a competing cellular provider, I made the switch to AT&T for the sole purpose of owning an iPhone. I've waited a long time to experience the iPhone -- I can remember the first iPhone release, and going into an Apple store that following weekend to demo a product I wouldn't be able to own for quite a while longer. As much as I wanted an iPhone, I couldn't justify breaking an existing contract and tossing a few hundred dollars to make the switch early, so after a very patient wait the time has finally come.

I've had my iPhone for a couple of weeks now, and it wasn't long after getting it that I started creating comparisons between the iPhone and RapidWeaver. Now granted, RapidWeaver does dominate my thoughts for many hours every day, but the more I thought about it I determined that it wasn't a stretch at all to draw that comparison. So follow with me here for a few minutes and let's explore this idea a bit.

It Starts With Function

There's no doubt that Apple created a brilliant product in the iPhone. It worked the way people wanted a smart phone to work -- it was intuitive and well-designed. Of course the loyal Apple followers would adopt it regardless, but the massive success of the iPhone can be credited to the fact that its just a great product.

RapidWeaver is a great product foremost because it is functional. An intimidating or poorly designed product is going to struggle to be successful, and RapidWeaver succeeds because it makes a very intimidating idea quite simple. Website design is intimidating. As a young, creative, techie person I was still intimidated by the thought of designing websites when I first started exploring the idea. If a piece of software is done well enough to clear that first hurdle, then that's a big deal.

Based on my experience working with RapidWeaver users, RapidWeaver's demographic is Mac users, and that's it. As far as I can tell, there is no specific age or gender that the software appeals to most. That's a statement to how functional and intuitive this software is. One RapidWeaver user is a college kid wanting to create websites as a source of income to get through school, while another user is a recently retired woman who wants to sell homemade creations online as a hobby. RapidWeaver works the way people want a website design application to work.

Its Strength is Its Development Community

At some point in Apple's marketing campaign for the iPhone, the television commercials stopped talking about what the iPhone could do "out of the box," and started talking about what it could do with the available 3rd-party apps. The iPhone can certainly do a lot out of the box -- it is a phone after all, and so it makes phone calls, receives voice mails and does a nice job of organizing your contacts. There are some solid apps that come with the iPhone as well, expanding its usefulness so you can know the temperature outside, jot down some notes, or get directions to your destination.

I certainly appreciated what the iPhone could do out of the box, but it wasn't long before I was browsing the app store and downloading some apps to demo. Of course I ended up purchasing the ones I loved, and I'm always looking for others that will add new functionality, or that maybe even improve on the functionality of an app I already own.

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. RapidWeaver's 3rd-party development community is its greatest strength. Some might say that its community of users is the greatest strength, but I would argue that the community wouldn't be as large and devoted if a 3rd-party development community didn't exist first. The themes and plugins available for RapidWeaver take a great app to the next level, by adding features and functionality to extend the usefulness of the application.

The iPhone is a great phone without additional apps, and RapidWeaver is a great web design program out of the box, but both benefit tremendously from the add-ons that are available to them.

More Love for the Developers

I began using RapidWeaver when there was just a very small number of 3rd-party developers on the scene. RapidWeaver was good enough on its own to where I committed to it without understanding what was to come, but when Yourhead released the Blocks plugin and Loghound created PlusKit, it was as if I was using an entirely new product for the first time, and I began to see so much more potential with the improved flexibilty these plugins offered.

Jump forward to today, and the 3rd-party developer community has exploded. I remember when RapidWeaver users wanted an e-commerce solution, and now there are multiple e-commerce plugins, from multiple developers! Of course I have some favorite plugins, including some that I would define as "must-haves" -- but even a past must-have in Blocks has been almost completely replaced in my workflow with Stacks. Major props to YourHead for one-upping itself! As I now do my part with RapidWeaver Classroom, I am regularly having to keep myself updated with the steady influx of new plugin offerings from new developers. Where I could once list the developers and their plugins by memory, I now refer to one of the many great resource websites that stays updated with this information.

Last I heard there were over 80,000 apps available for the iPhone. With a number like that, what can the iPhone not do? The RapidWeaver plugin library doesn't boast a number quite like that, but the potential is there and I feel that I can already ask "what can RapidWeaver not do?" and have it be a legitimate question.

RapidWeaver is Like the iPhone

Convinced? Regardless of your answer to that question, it's tough not to be convinced that RapidWeaver is an incredible web design application, and that with infinite possibilites brought to reality by its development community, a very strong future is certainly to be expected.

-Ryan Smith
RapidWeaver Classroom

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, iPhone

You can now own all the available RapidWeaver Classroom tutorials as part of the "RapidWeaver Classroom: The Complete Library" DVD. This DVD is created on-demand, so all of the tutorials available at the time of purchase will be included on the DVD. These are the same high-resolution videos available with a RapidWeaver Classroom membership. The previous DVD offering still remains and is now called "The Essentials" -- and includes just over 100 of the RapidWeaver Classroom tutorials.

The RapidWeaver Classroom DVD is a great option for those who have limited internet access or travel often, or those with ISP bandwidth restrictions. Of course, for those who want access to the latest RapidWeaver Classroom screencasts, then a subscription is the best choice.

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver DVD, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts

I am happy to announce that RapidWeaver Classroom is now covering plugin releases from another fantastic RapidWeaver plugin developer, Greg Barchard. Our first tutorial release covers the weaverPix plugin, which provides a very flexible Flash slideshow feature to your RapidWeaver projects. There are two tutorials on the plugin and you will surely be impressed with the options it provides over the Photo Album plugin's Flash slideshow feature.

Be on the lookout for more screencasts on Greg's projects in the future!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, weaverPix, RapidWeaver training

I have released a new tutorial today that covers the excellent Table Stacks from Phil Warrender. There are two table stacks, available for free, and these really provide great flexibility in presenting content on your website. This screencast is available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers, and can be found under both the Stacks and "Working with Tables" sections.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, stacks, tables, screencasts

I am happy to announce the release of 3 new video tutorials covering the excellent RapidCart 2 plugin. This is an update to the RapidCart plugin that has already received the RapidWeaver Classroom treatment. RapidCart 2 adds a ton of enhancements that really makes it stand-out as an exceptional e-commerce plugin for RapidWeaver. You can enable multiple payment processors, such as PayPal and Google Checkout, and there is a lot of flexibility and customization options for your e-commerce page in RapidCart 2.

These new screencasts are available to subscribing RapidWeaver Classroom students. Enjoy!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidCart 2, screencasts, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Two new screencasts have been produced and both involve ways to add video to your RapidWeaver website. The first screencast covers the new EasyTube Gallery plugin, which provides a great way of displaying videos from YouTube. The second screencast covers a bundle of Video Stacks, to be used in conjunction with the Stacks plugin. There are 13 stacks in all that can be used to embed video from YouTube, Viddler, Flickr, Vimeo, QuickTime and Twitter-related video services. These two screencasts are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers.

While on the subject of add-ons for the Stacks plugin, these add-ons or “custom stacks” have really taken off over the last couple of months. I’m really excited about this as these stacks are providing all kinds of functionality that is very easy to implement. As a result I will be producing more screencasts on what I consider to be the best of these custom stacks, so expect to see more tutorials in this area very soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, video with RapidWeaver

I have released a new tutorial in the “How to...” lesson. The tutorials covers the creation of anchors. An anchor is used to link text or an image to another location on the same webpage. It’s great for an FAQ, or for a long page divided into sections. This tutorial is specific to RapidWeaver 4.0, which allows you to add custom attributes in the Add Link panel. It’s very simple to do and can be very handy!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, anchors

Today I’ve added a new free RapidWeaver tutorial on how to accept registration and payment through your website. Using the right combination of plugins, you can provide a process by which a visitor completes a registration form and then is presented with a method for paying. This is a great solution for events that require registration and payment, such as conferences, classes, etc. The tutorial presents several different methods of accomplishing this, from using the basic Contact Form page with a PayPal button, to a FormLoom page that redirects to a PayLoom page. See the video embedded below, or visit the Curriculum page for this and other free tutorials. Enjoy!

Tags: free RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver 4, screencasts, PayLoom, FormLoom, Payment, Registration

Today marks the release of a new lesson of “How to...” tutorials at RapidWeaver Classroom. These tutorials are found under Section 301 in the RapidWeaver Curriculum, and it’s an area that will be added to very consistently in the future. I love teaching new 3rd-party plugins as they are released, but it’s important to cover different methods of accomplishing needs, and so that’s what I hope to address with the “How to...” lesson. Three new tutorials have been produced to kick-start the lesson, and these cover:

1. customizing a header
2. creating a sign-up form
3. accepting payment or donations through your website

For quite a while I have been accepting feedback from RapidWeaver Classroom students, and as part of the feedback I ask what types of tutorials they would like to see in the future. This is one area where these types of requests may be fulfilled, so I’m excited to hear what all of you are wanting to learn and I will do my best to satisfy as many request as possible!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, how-to

It’s been a busy week that has culminated in the release of video tutorials on 3 separate RapidWeaver plugins. Yesterday saw the release of tutorials covering GoogaLoom and RapidCart, and now there are new tutorials available for the TabLoom plugin -- YabDab Software’s latest offering. TabLoom provides a great method for organizing a lot of content on a single page, by breaking the content into separate sections inside of a nice, tabbed interface. A total of 3 videos are available on TabLoom -- combine those with the 3 others released yesterday and that’s a total of 6 new screencasts this week totaling close to an hour of new training!

With the TabLoom and GoogaLoom tutorials now available, RapidWeaver Classroom is up-to-date on all the current offerings from YabDab Software. The goal of covering all major RapidWeaver plugins at RapidWeaver Classroom is getting very close to completion, so check back often for announcements on more new tutorials coming soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, TabLoom plugin

Several new screencasts have been published on the GoogaLoom and RapidCart plugins. Both plugins provide e-commerce solutions for RapidWeaver. GoogaLoom comes from Yabdab Software, maker of the “Loom” plugins, including PayLoom and FormLoom which are already covered here at RapidWeaver Classroom. GoogaLoom differs from PayLoom in a few ways, the most obvious being that it utilizes the Google Checkout system instead of PayPal. Another unique benefit to GoogaLoom is that it supports digital products for download.

RapidCart is another e-commerce plugin for RapidWeaver, and it is from omnidea. RapidCart utilizes PayPal as well, but it also boasts some really nice eye-candy, in the way of animations and a built-in shopping cart feature that keeps visitors on your page until they go to checkout. It’s a very nice implementation with a unique style, and I’m happy to have it included here as a part of RapidWeaver Classroom.

More screencasts are on their way very soon, as in less than 24 hours, so stay tuned for another announcement!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, GoogaLoom, RapidCart, E-Commerce

It's been several weeks now since the RapidWeaver Classroom DVD has been made available, but I haven't actually given it much mention here. The DVD contains about 90 of the video tutorials, including all of the mandatory lessons on RapidWeaver itself. I consider it to be an especially attractive option for those with inconsistent or unreliable Internet access, or for those who have bandwidth capping imposed by their ISP. Of course it's available to everyone, regardless of whether you have an active subscription to the website.

Thanks to those of you who have already purchased the DVD! I've just added an option for USPS Priority shipping which expedites the delivery to 2-3 days. Please note that the DVD is only available to residents of North America, on account of the expensive cost to ship overseas. Then again, if the additional expense doesn't matter to you then you're welcome to contact me about shipping rates to your part of the world.

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver DVD

Last week I updated the RapidWeaver video training library with all-new Stacks screencasts. Now you may be confused because there were already Stacks screencasts there before, but those were ones created by YourHead, and now that they have received the RapidWeaver Classroom treatment, I have replaced the YourHead versions with my own. So you will now receive the detail and explanation for Stacks that you are used to getting with the other plugin tutorials! Thanks to Isaiah at YourHead for letting me post his video tutorials until I had completed them myself.

Speaking of Stacks, did I mention that it is the greatest plugin I've ever used?! Now that's completely my opinion, but I absolutely LOVE this plugin! As an aside, this new RapidWeaver Classroom design is done almost entirely with Stacks. So what are you waiting for? Go watch the new tutorials on this awesome plugin!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, stacks

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a topic of such frequent discussion that I felt the new SEO tutorials here at RapidWeaver Classroom should be available for free for everyone to view. The SEO tutorials are now available for viewing in both the subscribers' area and for free on the Curriculum page (scroll to the bottom of the page). Note that the free videos are hosted by Vimeo in HD, but enrolled students should watch them in the subscribers' area to view them in a bit better quality.

Feel free to leave comments here on these videos, and let me know what kinds of questions I did not address. SEO is such a huge topic that it could certainly warrant more video instruction in the future.

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, seo, screencasts, search engine optimization

I have added a new set of tutorials covering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with RapidWeaver. There are a total of 7 tutorials covering many different aspects of SEO, and this is an important topic for anyone building a website. It's also a controversial topic, with many conflicting thoughts and opinions on how to best optimize your website for search engines. Part of this is because SEO is a constantly changing science, with search engines becoming smarter and modifying their algorithms in order to produce more accurate and valid results.

I have attempted to cover all of the major, valid SEO strategies and make a point to explain the strategies that are most valuable, in addition to including ones that may or may not have great impact. It's certainly an interesting aspect of website design, but it's also very important and so I encourage everyone to go through these new tutorials and execute some of the strategies yourself!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, search engine optimization, seo

New video tutorials covering the SiteMap plugin are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. There are 5 tutorials on the subject, and I have gone into great detail to cover all aspects of the plugin. In addition, viewers will learn how to submit the generated sitemap to Google and Yahoo! in order to improve SEO. Sitemaps are important and I recommend all websites have them regardless of the overall size of the site. The SiteMap plugin makes creating a sitemap a breeze, so check out the tutorials to learn more!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, SiteMap

New screencasts have been added on the excellent RapidBlog plugin from Loghound.com. RapidBlog syncs with Google's Blogger to allow remote blog posting from anywhere. It's a great solution for those who need to blog outside of RapidWeaver. These tutorials are now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidBlog

The RWmultitool section has been updated with a new screencast covering the full version of RWmultitool. This full version provides a lot of features not available in the free, Lite version of the application. This screencast is available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers only.

Stay tuned for new tutorials coming next week!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, RWmultitool, screencasts

I have added a new video tutorial covering RWmultitool Lite, the free version of this great tool. RWmultitool allows you to easily modify images in a theme without needing to modify the theme directly, and without needing a graphic design application like Photoshop.

The full version of RWmultitool will be covered in future screencasts, so stay tuned for more!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, RWmultitool

I have added a new series of screencasts on the excellent FormLoom plugin from yabdab software. FormLoom is a more powerful contact form plugin for RapidWeaver, and it includes a lot of great features to offer flexibility that the built-in Contact Form plugin doesn't include. There are currently 3 FormLoom screencasts available and one more will likely be produced in the near future. Current RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers can immediately access these tutorials for viewing!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver training, screencasts, FormLoom

I have added a new screencast today to the Carousel lesson, covering the creation of a custom Carousel Style. Carousel allows you to create your own style using images for the background and buttons, so if you are comfortable with creating these graphics then you can have a very custom carousel to display on your website.

Stay tuned for more soon on the GoogaLoom and FormLoom plugins.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Carousel

New screencasts have been added covering the great Carousel plugin from YourHead Software. There are currently 3 tutorials available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers, and one or two more are likely to be produced in the near future. Check back often as new video tutorials are added weekly!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Carousel, yourhead software

Back in January I made an informal announcement here on the blog that RapidWeaver Classroom had surpassed the milestone of 100 video tutorials. Well, an official announcement and special offer has been posted over at the RealMac Software Support Forum, and to spoil the surprise a bit I will tell you that there is a discount involved! So jump over to the announcement thread, leave a comment and take advantage of this limited-time special!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts

I am pleased to announce that 5 new tutorials have been added for the new Stacks plugin from YourHead Software. This is a first for RapidWeaver Classroom as these tutorials are produced by Isaiah himself! He did such a great job that we wanted to make them available to all RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers and visitors -- so these tutorials can be viewed publicly from the Curriculum page or from the members' area.

I am likely to produce our own RapidWeaver Classroom tutorials on Stacks in the future, but for now these tutorials provide a great overview of the plugin, along with some specific uses. Thanks to Isaiah for the screencasts on this great new plugin, and for all of his contributions to the RapidWeaver community!

Tags: stacks, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, yourhead software, screencasts

Another ExtraContent tutorial has been released, detailing the new PlayMore theme from seyDesign. PlayMore offers three ExtraContent areas that provide all kinds of flexibility for presenting content. Thanks to Adam Merrifield at seyDesign for his outstanding RapidWeaver themes!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Playmore, seydesign

New video releases continue today with the introduction of the Accordion plugin from YourHead Software. Two Accordion screencasts are now available and one or two more will likely be added to conclude that series. Accordion is a very useful plugin, and we use it right here at RapidWeaver Classroom to present our FAQ. Enjoy!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts

A new feature called ExtraContent is appearing in newer 3rd-party RapidWeaver themes, and RapidWeaver Classroom has you covered. A new category of screencasts has been created to show you the benefits of this feature and how you can utilize it for more flexibility in your website designs. The first screencast in this series covers the excellent Gotem theme from seyDesign, and there will be more tutorials made available soon.

Speaking of seyDesign, a new promotion is currently underway for RapidWeaver Classroom members and new subscribers. New subscribers will receive a coupon code for 50% off all seyDesign themes until February 15th, and current subscribers will receive 20% off all seyDesign themes. Current subscribers can find the coupon code in the members’ area of RapidWeaver Classroom. Thanks to Adam Merrifield at seyDesign for partnering with us for this promotion!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, ExtraContent, Promotion

At some point in recent weeks RapidWeaver Classroom passed a major milestone of over 100 RapidWeaver screencasts! There is now over 14 hours of RapidWeaver video tutorials available! Still, there is much left to be done and 2009 promises to be HUGE as there are plans to produce another 100 screencasts by the end of the year, and hopefully much more.

So as always, drop by the blog here once a week or so to stay updated with the latest, or check out the Curriculum page to see what’s new!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver training, RapidWeaver video tutorials

I am happy to announce the addition of free tutorials in the iWeb to RapidWeaver section of the website, which has been created recently to help iWeb users transition from iWeb to RapidWeaver. These iWeb to RapidWeaver tutorials will cover some of the basic steps that are recommended in order to rebuild an iWeb website in RapidWeaver. There are currently 3 video tutorials available, with a couple of additional ones to come soon. These free tutorials are hosted using the Viddler service, and the high-quality versions will soon be made available to subscribers in the members’ area of RapidWeaver Classroom.

Tags: iWeb to RapidWeaver, RapidWeaver 4, screencasts

I have released a new tutorial for RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers covering Shadowbox with video. Shadowbox is a javascript box that is similar to the Greybox that has already been covered here, but it provides a bit of a different visual effect and it is increasing in popularity as a method of displaying video. In addition to the video tutorial I have provided the necessary Shadowbox files for download, along with a set of snippets to simplify the setup.

More screencasts are coming soon, including coverage of the new GoogaLoom plugin. Stay tuned!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, shadowbox

Three new screencasts covering the Collage 2 plugin have been added to the members’ area of RapidWeaver Classroom. Collage 2 is a fantastic plugin from YourHead Software that is exclusive to RapidWeaver 4.0, while the original Collage plugin is still available for RapidWeaver 3.6 and earlier. Collage 2 has a multitude of uses, so check-out the Collage 2 screencasts to learn more!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, Collage 2

I have published one more screencast for the PayLoom plugin that shows an example of how multiple PayLoom pages can be used in a project to sell multiple categories of items. It also shows a working, online example of PayLoom pages and their interaction with PayPal for shopping cart and checkout functionality.

Look for Collage 2 screencasts to begin appearing next week!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, PayLoom, screencasts

Hot on the heels of our Greybox tutorial comes two new screencasts covering the PayLoom plugin. PayLoom lets you easily create an e-commerce store on your website that integrates with PayPal. You really can’t ask for a simpler way to add products for sale to your website. One more PayLoom screencast will be added soon.

You will also notice the Collage 2 logo has been added under the 3rd-party plugins section. This plugin will be covered next, so keep an eye out for more information!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, screencasts, PayLoom

A new set of RapidWeaver screencasts are being added to the Continuing Education section, covering the popular javascript boxes: Greybox, Lightbox and Shadowbox. These javascript boxes are very trendy at the moment and add an impressive feature to your website. Whether you want to display images, video or other webpages, these video tutorials will take you through the process. It’s a bit more advanced than prior lessons, so along with the screencasts I will be providing snippets for download along with each tutorial.

The first screencast for this topic is now available, covering how to show a video in a Greybox, and more will be released in the coming days. Also watch for a screencast or two covering the PayLoom plugin.

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, greybox, lightbox, shadowbox

A second screencast has been added on using an FTP application to manage your website assets as an alternative to RapidWeaver’s built-in Assets panel. It is a brief tutorial that will be beneficial to those building websites with many assets, such as audio and video files.

I’ve also updated the Curriculum page and the Members’ area with estimated viewing times for each lesson. You can find those estimates below the title for each separate lesson, and eventually I plan to include the running times for each individual screencast.

Keep an eye out for new plugin tutorials and screencasts covering more 3rd-party themes!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, FTP

A while has passed since the last video tutorial update, but today brings a new release with many more to follow soon. The latest release is a part of the “Continuing Education” series, and it covers the topic of using an FTP application to publish your RapidWeaver-created website. I consider using an FTP application to be an important part of the website publishing process, and it helps with managing and troubleshooting a website. At least one more screencast will be added to this topic in the coming days, so check back soon.

In addition to these new tutorials, more 3rd-party plugin tutorials will be appearing in the near future, so keep an eye out for more details!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials, FTP

New video tutorials on working with tables in RapidWeaver have been produced and are now available to subscribers. There are currently three videos on the topic that cover different methods of building or placing tables into a website designed with RapidWeaver. This is the first of many lessons to come that fall under the category of “Continuing Education” -- these will be tutorials on various topics that RapidWeaver users should find useful.

Production of 3rd-party plugin tutorials will continue, but I will be going back and forth between these various topics and the lessons covering plugins. Stay tuned for more to come!

Tags: RapidWeaver 3.6, RapidWeaver 4, tables, RapidWeaver video tutorials

I have released some free RapidWeaver video tutorials for visitors to view without a subscription to RapidWeaver Classroom. Now that the video training library has been built-up with over 10 hours of video tutorials, I felt it was time to share some of the resources with the entire RapidWeaver community. These free tutorials can be found linked throughout the Curriculum page, and as more tutorials are produced I will make more of these screencasts available for free.

These free RapidWeaver video tutorials are streamed using the Viddler service and are at a lower resolution than the video tutorials available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers, so subscribers will want to login to the site and view the high-resolution versions in the subscribers’ area.

Tags: free RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver 3.6

Lesson 2 for RapidWeaver 4.0 is now complete, consisting of four video tutorials covering the updated features in the new version. This completes the tutorials that are needed to cover Rapidweaver 4.0, the remainder of the tutorials for version 3.6 will also apply to version 4.0.

You may have also noticed that the BlocksBox tutorials I put together for Jonas Themes are now included in the subscribers’ area. Those of you interested in designing your own theme might want to consider the BlocksBox theme in combination with the excellent Blocks plugin from YourHead Software.

Speaking of the Blocks plugin, I will begin producing video tutorials for the available 3rd-party plugins, and Blocks is first on the list. Stay tuned for more info on this soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Lesson 1 for RapidWeaver 4 is now available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. This lesson covers all the basics of the software and covers the updated interface. There will be a few more videos in the coming days covering the new features with this version, and then it’s on to 3rd-party plugins!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Production of the RapidWeaver 4.0 video tutorials is underway and I’ve posted several of the Lesson 1 videos to the subscribers’ area already. The remaining tutorials for version 4.0 will be made available early next week.

Following the release of the RapidWeaver 4.0 tutorials, I will begin the extensive task of covering the 3rd-party plugins. So there is much, much, much more to come!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials

I have updated the Curriculum page with the RapidWeaver 4.0 video tutorials that I will be making available in the coming days. A majority of the updates to RapidWeaver 4.0 are user interface improvements and changes to the underlying architecture of the software -- meaning that there isn’t much change in terms of functionality. The current RapidWeaver 3.6 tutorials are not outdated with the release of 4.0, so RapidWeaver 4.0 users will be able to view Lessons 2-7 of the 3.6 tutorials to learn the software.

On account of the user interface changes, I will be redoing all of Lesson 1 for version 4.0, in addition to several more tutorials that detail other changes in the update. Expect these tutorials to appear in the coming days.

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials

Lesson 7 is now complete and available to RapidWeaver Classroom subscribers. These five tutorials will provide you with the knowledge that is necessary to understand how theme modifications can be made to further customize your website. The completion of Lesson 7 should bring you to a point where you understand the functions and structure of RapidWeaver, its plugins and themes, in order to successfully create a complete website with RapidWeaver. The learning doesn’t end there, though! I plan to cover all 3rd-party plugins, which further extend the capabilities of RapidWeaver and offer some very useful, unique and impressive functions for your website.

So what’s next? Well, you may have heard about a little something called RapidWeaver 4.0. RapidWeaver Classroom will bring version 4.0 users up-to-speed with what’s new in the latest version of our favorite application. Not every part of the application has been changed, though, so many of the current 3.6 tutorials will be still be completely relevant for version 4.0 users. Instead of re-doing all seven lessons with RapidWeaver 4.0, I will be covering all the changes that have been made to the application, and then move on to tutorials for the 3rd-party plugins.

Tags: RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver 4

It's an exciting day in the RapidWeaver Community as RapidWeaver 4.0 has been released! I'll be working hard to produce brand-new RapidWeaver 4.0 video tutorials for all of our subscribers who are upgrading. RapidWeaver 4.0 introduces an entirely redesigned user interface, and the majority of the new videos will focus on getting you acquainted with this redesign. There are also some new features that will be covered as well.

All that being said, a majority of the existing RapidWeaver video tutorials are full of information that is relevant to the new version as well. Since version 4.0 is Leopard-only, it's important to me to support both 3.6 and 4.0 users with the tutorials, so be on the look-out for new 4.0 tutorials coming soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver 4, RapidWeaver video tutorials

If you haven't already noticed, the RapidWeaver 4 countdown has begun. RapidWeaver 4 will be available to Leopard users in less than 24 hours from now, and RapidWeaver Classroom will be producing all-new RapidWeaver 4 video tutorials for those who will be upgrading to version 4.0. All of the changes that have taken place with this version will be covered and these tutorials will start to appear within the first week of the release. Lesson 6 is still the priority at this point and will be available to subscribers by Friday.

It's an exciting time for the RapidWeaver community and I look forward to providing these tutorials for both RapidWeaver 3.6.x and RapidWeaver 4 users! Stay tuned for more soon!

Tags: RapidWeaver video tutorials, RapidWeaver 4