Blocs5 isn’t necessary as Blocs5 behaves in the same way as RW Stacks regarding adding code. If you add code to a Blocs5 project, it doesn’t go beyond the Project. It stays in the project and is not accessible from other projects AFAIK. You can just save your code in a text file and paste into any project which is the same as Blocs5 and RW Stacks.
Blocs5 has an excellent Code editor with auto correct and ID & Class entry for everything in addition to user Container Tags.
The Stacks Template feature is somewhat similar to what Blocs Plus adds but only for code:)
The WYSIWYG point is a good one, and as you know I‘ve been frustrated with Isaiah for not making it possible to move from stack to stack in Preview mode in Stacks 5.0 (something that seemed to be promised in Stacks 5.0s new menu, and was possible in earlier versions). I frequently work in Preview — I use RW’s Edit mode only for assembling and organising content — and currently this seems like a lost opportunity. Just being able to (optionally) see a selection box in Preview around the current stack would be an improvement. Having said that, I don‘t think I would ever want to use a WYSIWYG Editor — dragging out stacks with different widths and positions and having the application create positioning workarounds seems like a nightmare to me. I suspect that’s why Adobe Muse ultimately bombed, as Dreamweaver had before it.
It isn’t a nightmare, it is a solution. There is no positioning workarounds needed. Everything is positioned with pixel perfection because everything that is positioned on a web page has already been aligned with the same pixel presision in the Blocs edit window. There are several display mode options to hide or show stuff such as Wireframe, Outline mode, etc… E.g. If you add something in a CSS Grid for example, and you can’t see it, then either you put it in the wrong place, you didn’t create enough space or you put it behind something. This is exactly the same in RW edit mode, except that in RW you have no hope of seeing it. As you build something in a WYSIWYG editor, if it disappears, you just go back one step and figure out the issue. In RW you don’t see the result until you preview.
This particularly works well with Flexbox layouts. You can just try the alignment buttons until you get what you want, all in edit mode in Blocs5.
The other trick that Blocs has is the layer tree side panel (which Stacks does not have) providing another way to select stuff in teh edit window.
I’d also be interested, 80% is a staggering figure. To come to this conclusion, you would obviously need to be actively using both applications (RW+Stacks / Blocs).
I’ve no doubt there are pros and cons, when comparing any applications developed to do the same task. But overall, competition is good, it keeps everyone on their toes 😀
Hejsan I am the one responsible for that statement. I actually did not mean RW by itself; even Blocs have the same functions now it has incorporated FTP upload, and it is possible Blocs can do a bit more than RW alone. It was of course meant the combination of Stacks and RW. If you see the staggering amount of stacks available, there is not much that that combination cannot do. Just Joe Workmans Foundation 6 with all the “swatches” he sells for Foundation 6, so much can be done. We have the superfast Source framework. We have database access, so many email forms and some can save to Google Sheets also. Several advanced ways to password protect your pages. CMS like Armadillo, Poster 2, Easy CMS, Total CMS and some more, I also have some that are not sold anymore. On-page advanced calculations that can be combined with forms. Big White Ducks’ incredible stacks, that Mr Tavenor gives away for free. Webshops, and a whole lot more. I have actually not tried to calculate the actual percentage of features between the Blocs and RW/Stacks, but it is a good idea to do that. I am really busy for the time being, so maybe when I get the time, I will make a list of functions of both Blocs and RW/Stacks and then the actual percentage will show if my statement was correct. I am not sure it will be 80 per cent more, but it will at least be close to that I am sure. And yes I have Blocs since version 3 I think. I also have other page builders for WordPress, Oxygen is a very powerful one that I like but took me a long time to learn. My newest page builder for WP is something called Cwicly, which is an extension to the Gutenberg Editor in WP. I am learning that right now actually. I see some good potential in this one. But the one combination I feel at home in and uses the most is RW/Stacks. Even in some WP sites that I have made, instead of buying plug-ins, I make a page in RW for special functions. So I know for a fact that I can do a lot more with Stacks. If Stacks App becomes reality, I really do not need RawidWeaver anymore.
This is getting silly, but in the interests of meaningful fact checking:
Please list at least 3 things that RW+Stacks+F6+all the swatches can do that can’t be achieved within the core Blocs5 App. I hope this exerecise alone, will bring you up to speed.
Here are 4 things that AFAIK F6 + all the swatches, can’t do:
CSS Grid
Scroll based animations
Page edge dividers
Page Masks
Also, from what you mentioned about Wordpress Page Builders, why don’t you at least assess using Blocs5 with PlusPlus to meet all your RW+ Stacks and Wordpress requirements in one App? Come back and let us know what you find.
Regarding, Stacks CMS solutions, you mentioned 3 ageing CMS’s, so you should also checkout the much newer Blocs Volt CMS from Jannis (inStacks).
My perspective, retrospectively: I remember my initial experience (and frustration) with Rapidweaver 4 or 5 I think it was and not really liking it at all. This was after using iWeb, Freeway, several other “visual” web design apps and learning some basic HTML and CSS. However, RW became interesting (and perhaps more frustrating) when YourHead introduced their Blocks plugin. When Stacks arrived Rapidweaver became a tool that functioned for me - it introduced me to what was going on “under the hood” with Rapidweaver as well - and revealed that app’s shortcomings again.
RW’s themes could be interesting design-wise but were rarely a good fit for what I wanted. I started using BlueBall Stacks’ blank “framework” and later moved to Foundation 1 then 6. Finally, I came to Stuart’s Source and suddenly the RW/Stacks world was good for me. I can’t stay enough about how much I like what Source provides and Stuart’s support and direct help have been the best I’ve ever experienced.
Like others, I’ve been annoyed by RealMac’s RW 8+ launch/roadmap debacle and now I’m eager to get my hands on Isaiah’s StacksPro when it is released. Rapidweaver itself has now become the fly in the ointment in all this. I had my eye on Blocs since v3 and should have picked it up sooner I guess.
Anyway, I just purchased Blocs 5 (Pro) and I’m enjoying learning how it works. I like it’s design and, with a little guidance from some of the videos, it is fun the work with. A far cry from my experience over the years with Rapidweaver. While I’m not ready to trade what Source offers me today - and even more hopefully with StacksPro - I’m impressed with Blocs 5. As Norm says, competition keeps everyone on their toes.
PS I’ll note that I am not a web designer just a casual novice user.
It is getting silly, because there are so many different things we‘re comparing. If it‘s ‘what does Blocs offer out of the box compared to what RW offers out of the box’ that‘s one thing. But, in both cases, one needs more than one box. If it’s ‘what can you get for the money’, that‘s another thing. What Kent is getting at, which I think is a more useful measure, is ‘what is the range of capability you can achieve with RW/Stacks compared to Blocs’. And there, there is no doubt that what Blocs offers is currently less than a fifth of what RW/Stacks can offer. Then there is the question of ‘how easy is it to develop stacks compared to brics?’ We know, from the sheer number and variety of stacks, that it‘s fairly easy for developers to bring new technologies to the platform as stacks.
There is also the question of one product versus multiple products. Thus, for instance, F6 + swatch pack can do page masks (as can Joe‘s Mask stack) but it can‘t do CSS Grid (but can with Source and the Grid enabler). It can‘t do page edge dividers, but Joe’s Seams can, and it can‘t do Scroll based animations, but Joe’s Drift can. So one supplier — WeaversSpace — can most of those things (and stacks all), but in different packages. However F6 + swatch pack does a whole lot of other things, some of which Blocs can‘t currently do. And if you had all Joe’s stacks, for example — just Joe’s stacks — you’d be able to do a whole lot of things that it would be really hard to replicate with out-of-the-box components on any other platform. But it would cost you.
What this boils down to is ‘if you were starting over, what you start with?” And, of course, that depends on what you need. OTOH if you already have 1000+ stacks, the question is ‘why would you switch?’ That‘s a very different question. And the answer has a lot to do with the future of the platform and how important that is to you. At this moment, the future is not looking great for any platform: my prediction for 2023 is that small users are going to be investing less than in previous years, and are less likely to be switching away from what they are already using. We‘re moving into a deep global recession, and that is a time for consolidating one‘s tool set.
I agree with quite a bit of what you say, but as a small user, I’m curious about what to consolidate.
I have RW8 and Stacks 4 and Foundation 1 for my website. It could do with a refresh.
For me, Foundation 6 is an investment of time and money, so I was looking at Source, which is fun to use and immensely capable for my needs, but again, a learning curve and a few extra stacks. Not huge, but still.
Realmac then announced it’s new direction and I really didn’t like the attitude, so I won’t be going to Classic and doubt I’ll be tempted by Elements.
As mentioned in another thread, Stacks App has been quiet and I bought Blocs 4.
The problem with the ‘download the demo’ line is that many of us aren’t power users and don’t really know what we might need or want going forward with a particular platform.
And that’s why I love listening to discussions like this, where I can hear what people who know more than I do think.
What evidence can you provide to justify that statement? Where is this crazy talk coming from?
In response to Kent’s so far unfounded claim, I mentioned 4 things that could not be achieved using Kent’s suggestion using “Joe Workmans Foundation 6 with all the “swatches””, and you suggested adding another Framework with the Source Grid Enabler stack and 3 more dedicated stacks. That surely proves the point that Blocs5 with no additional addons, straight out of the box, has some impressive capabillity for the same cost as just Rapidweaver on it’s own.
Here are 3 more interesting things that Blocs5 has that RW and all the stacks ever produced, can’t match.
Blocs5 has a Search facillity built right into the App edit window that searches for Blocs, Brics, templates, etc in your installation and also in the Blocs Store. If you find a Bric for example that you don’t have (many are free!), that is not installed, you can install or buy it, with 1 click to install it and continue to use it without the need to save quit restart. I can’t ever see anything like that happening in Rapidweaver. Currently there are only 37 stacks in the Rapidweaver Addons Marketplace.
Blocs5 has a proper searchable text /image based Knowledgeable, accessible from iside the App.
Blocs5 has a free Proffessional Quality Learning Accademy accessible from within the App. The Blocs Videos are amongst the very best in the business.
@Webdeersign Maybe you should modify your vocabulary a bit… You are writing from your very own unique perspective. I was just mentioning that we have so many possibilities with Stacks, most of those not available to Blocs. Blocs are really nice, but I still can do things with Stacks that I can only dream of doing with Blocs. That is all. I did a mistake putting some percentage on the advantages of Stacks in comparison with Blocs, I apologise for this mistake, sorry.
@pmjd 😂 that is hilarious and possibly correct 😀 At least that is what i did, a short quick mental evaluation of the stacks and possibilities I have in my enormous Stacks armoury.
@Kent, you clearly know a lot more than I do and I’m interested in the examples of what you can do with Stacks that you can’t in Blocs.
I’ve tried to explain my motivations in my previous post. I don’t think anyone really expects you to provide an exact percentage, but a few examples would be really helpful.
And actually, if all you have to do is to make a website with some nice layout and fancy animations, Blocs definitely can do the job, and that perfectly too. And it has some advantages over RW as @Webdeersign mentions. But no way of expansion to the same extent as Stacks provides to RW. Not yet at least.
Honestly I downloaded demo 4 and after Blocs demo 5 just came out, unfortunately I can’t do it I’m used to stacks I can’t understand Blocs…
With stacks you have everything in its place, Blocs seems very confusing to me I can’t find what I’m looking for and I can’t do what I want to do.
I know it’s my fault, but I love Source with its stacks and Tav’s stacks, with them I feel (almost) omnipotent, I can realize any idea I have (then of course asking Tav, Stuart and Gary for help, everything is solved, it’s that’s the beauty of this forum).
In fact it is this forum that makes Stacks great.
Last but not least the excellent Jannis Poster.
I think it’s also worth noting that Blocs lets you add project and page attachments such as additional JS, PHP and CSS files as well as inputting code in a wide range of locations.
This means you can easily integrate any type of 3rd party features manually. So if it’s not yet a feature of Blocs and there is no add-on, there is still the possibility of a manual integration of pretty much any type of functionality.
I think that what you mean is that you have a strong belief or have been perhaps brainwashed to think that “I still can do things with Stacks that I can only dream of doing with Blocs.”
Here is an actual example of something that can be built using only Blocs5, that Rapidweaver users could never achieve or even dream about. Build an Estate Agent realtor web site to export as a template to Wordpress (free) to integrate with the (free) Hive Plus plugin, to create a fully functional CRM management system. I.e a fully searchable sale or rental property management sale, galleries, sale progress, SEO, Sale staff notes and target management with multiple login and auto email marketing system.
The bottom line here is that both the RW+Stacks+all the stacks and Blocs5 are both very capable web building systems. It is missleading though to claim that things can’t be done with one without any evidence.
I use both and I am bloody impressed with both RW7+Stacks and a handful of carefully selected stacks AND Blocs5. I have to fight many problems with RW+Stacks, crashes, lost images, clashes with developers stacks, project bloat and above all a very uncertain future and no visible development in RW that enables me to build better faster sites.