Hi all - Newbie post from an Oldie!

General Web Design
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This is my first post since just joining for forum. I heard about this forum, but totally forgot about it till Gary at @Webdeersign recommenced I came to have a look.

I am just saying hi right now and a few questions if anyone can assist!

What i’m using now:
I am currently using Blocs for some projects and really enjoying the experience, but at times I do get really frustrated on doing simple things out of the box and I have spent literally hrs and hrs trying to get a tabs section to do some simple things, I then need to find various classes from the bootstrap page to bring back into it. In all fairness, yes it can do it - but it takes me a long time to get my head around.
Norm, Eldar and the team there are fantastic and the forum is really good and knowledgeable.

I also have started looking at WP - Elementor (free version at the moment) and love the look of this too, but love how example using Tabs again - how this is so so simple out of the box with a full list of changes etc in the menu.

My old Projects
I was a huge user of Rapidweaver before I went to Blocs and loved it, but had a few websites just give me issues with Rapidweaver needed to be the latest 8 version and then Foundation went to 6, and a couple of stacks I had needed the new version and threw the website out - and then was told I needed new version of Stacks…so the whole expense and frustration lead me to Blocs to have a one single in the box solution and its 80% there.

What I want now
I will still carry on my Blocs projects and future Blocs, but I have some Rapidweaver projects where I need regular page updates - bit like a manual Blog, and I love in Rapidweaver I can just update that page to the server and not keep having to do the whole website all the time. So id like to run a few sites still in Rapidweaver 7 which I have.

I was looking at Foundry which does seem to tick a LOT of boxes and has some amazing features and to be honest - I think would work for me 100% for my Rapidweaver projects, but also been recommended Source, and this does look great too and so much less bloated than the others.

I have also been looking more into Wordpress, as I have had some people mention if I did wordpress sites, this is a huge market to get into. I have learnt my way around and I have been told also that the one to look at without all the huge bloated size is Oxygen, and so many have said its blowing Elementor away in terms of size, speed and features and its more of tool for developers and they have a one off fee instead of per year.

Any source users here ? please post your sites and offer advice?! anyone using Blocs vs Source, Foundation 6 and Foundry etc…thanks all !

Great forum too - had a good look and it seems to have a lot of the regulars from Blocs and Rapidweavers forums on which is good to see !

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Welcome.

There are loads of demo Source sites and this was one of the first live site threads - Gallery of Source sites?

It’s a good indicator of how good a RW Framework is, when there are loads of actual live sites. It’s also a good indicator of how easy a framework is to build with, when so many live sites appear so soon after the framework is released. Amazing to think that Source is just over a year old.

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Hi ya,

thanks, I’ll have a good look at them all now.

One feature I am looking for with Source is styling stacks with shaped top and bottoms to them. I think in Foundry they call it MASK - how would the best way to get this in Source?

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Took me a while to find the Mask stack on the Foundry documentation pages. The documents look nice but they are not very usable. Anyway…

If it is just simple shape dividers then you could either generate your own (with an online tool) and add to the Source SVG stack. Alternatively there are stacks like BWD’s Bevel and i think 1LD has a stack that does this kind of thing too.

Side note: I have a lot of examples of using the SVG approach (including layered effects) in the upcoming Elements 2 project file.

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Thanks…just having a play around with some new options…but very impressed on Source so far.

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The pricing of some stacks has taken a RW/Stacks solution into to an area where it is in danger of pricing itself out of the market. Some stacks cost more than a years Elementor Pro ($49/pa).

It isn’t just the financial cost of buying into a solution. It is also the relearning that comes along with new versions. E.g. Foundation users who “upgraded” to F6 had to relearn a great deal, so that could be a big factor.

You shouldn’t need to update to RW8, as RW7 is perfectly capable IMHO, however, many developers create demo files using RW8 that can’t be opened with with RW7. This is just an unfortunate consequence of new versions.

Stacks4 is a very significant update over the previous v3 and you should update to Stacks4 if you decide to revert to RW. I would also say that you should avoid stacks (or frameworks) that don’t require at least v4. Stacks stuck in the old v3 world are not taking advantage of the significant updates in v4. V4.1 will have significant performance updates according to Isaiah.

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Hi @AdieJ,

Since you mentioned Wordpress, have you tried Brizy 2.0? I got it the Pro version about a month ago, and find it powerful and easy to use. Brizy 2.0 Pro is now a full theme builder for WP, and with the PRO version you can white label the projects for you clients. Like Elementor, they have a free version that lacks some of the PRO features, but you can see how you like it before buying it, and you have 30 days to try the PRO version.

Cheers,

Ricardo

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Thank you,

Just had a small play with Source and liking what I am seeing so far.
I will keep RW7 at the moment and if what I am doing seems worth while, I will look at updating stacks.

Gary, I have noticed you have a lot of curves and slopes on some of your websites, is that done with BWDs Bevel?

And as a matter of interest - you do seem to have moved websites from Foundry to Source, which is good - but whats the main reason? they look great by the way !

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Hi @Ricardo,

Brilliant - thank you. I will have a look tomorrow. I want to have a few options of sites and leaving me open for WP. I will add that to my list also. Another one I have been told to try is Oxygen, a few of my friends have just started with it and loving it. Its a one off payment too and huge community and reviews are all saying they have moved from Elementor to is.

Here is the link : https://oxygenbuilder.com

I have been working on a site on Blocs today too and its going great !..i do want 2 or maybe 3 options of builders. Going to be Blocs, Source (RW) and one the WP ones. Best of all worlds.

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I tried Oxygen as well, and it is a good product. I was leaning towards it before Brizy version 2.0 came out… but when it did, I was sold.

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Another great tool for WP Development, is Local by Flywheel. You can do ALL your development locally, and then just migrate your locally developed site to your hosting server when done. Check it out.

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No. I use SVG images in the Source SVG stack and position using the FlexBox controls.