More On iPad Compatibility

Since we've gotten some questions about when our themes will offer complete iPad compatibility, I made a short video that explains what we've been working on, including a demo with iPad so you know what to expect when we start rolling out theme updates.

Enjoy~!

iPadUpdateVideo


iPad Theme Support

Over the past few days we've gotten a flood of emails asking if our themes are compatible with Apple's new iPad, and asking we release updates soon.

Well, good news - our themes are already iPad compatible! The special link tags and javascript we use to target iPhone and other mobile users will only detect iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android-based devices. iPad users will automatically see the full desktop version of any sites you build with our themes.

That being said, we do need to make some minor adjustments to ensure that larger format websites (those with a width of greater than 700px) display on iPad without any "overflow". Since iPad's screen width in portrait mode is only 768 pixels, there's a possibility that larger websites may stretch beyond the boundaries that iPad can display.

If you don't want to wait until our theme updates are ready, you can add a meta tag to your RapidWeaver site under the "Header" tab in the Page Inspector. The Name value should be "viewport" (minus the quotation marks), and the Content value should be "initial-scale = 0.8" (again, without quotation marks). This is the same approach we'll use with our theme updates (at least until we find a more elegant solution).

UPDATE: We have found a more elegant solution, but it requires adding a custom iPad stylesheet and changing the template index.html file that is included with each theme. The brand new theme we're currently working on will use this approach, and we'll release updates for our other themes shortly after this new theme is released.

UPDATE: If you add the above described temporary fix for iPad, and then remove the built-in iPhone support from your site, you may need to add another meta tag to make sure iPhones properly display your site. As explained above, create a new meta tag in RapidWeaver with the same Name value ("viewport") but with a Content value of "width=960" (minus the quotation marks).

Hope this helps, and Happy Weaving~!

Support Interruption

We're going to be out of the office this Friday until Sunday evening (2/5 - 2/7), so any support requests sent over the weekend will be answered on Monday (2/8). Hope you have a marvelous weekend!

Mirage v1.7 Released

We've just released a significant update to Mirage. This fixes some nagging bugs, most notably a display issue with Firefox when using CrossSlide in the header. For a full list of what's changed see the Readme file included with the installer. If you have v1.4 or earlier you can download the update installer from the Mirage page, but keep in mind that you must have a copy of Mirage already installed on our Mac for this installer to work properly.

Also, if you ran the installer before we posted this notice, please go back and download the installer again, as there was an issue with the initial version that prevented it from properly installing the necessary files. This has now been fixed, so if you've run the installer but the Mirage icon in the theme drawer still says "v1.4", please do so again to make sure the update is correctly applied. We're sorry any confusion this may have caused.

Theme Updates Galore!

Right on the heels of our release of Phelix, we've now finished some major updates to both MobileFusion and SmartDock Mobile.

MobileFusion's changes were mostly under the hood, and fixed some lingering bugs (especially one that would cause display problems on some pages with forms) and in general made it easier to use.

SmartDock Mobile saw almost a complete overhaul, with improvements in navigation, more color options, and it now has the ability to automatically resize images that are too large for the iPhone's screen.

As always, these updates are free of charge. Enjoy, and Happy Weaving~!

Phelix Released

We're very happy to announce the release of our newest iPhone-enabled desktop theme Phelix! An incredible amount of time and effort went into designing this theme, and it is my personal favorite and one of the best RapidWeaver themes available anywhere.

Phelix brings many firsts to the RapidWeaver theme community - like all our desktop theme it is iPhone-enabled, which means it will automatically serve a mobile optimized version of your site to visitors, but what makes it special is that this is the first theme to automatically resize images that are too large for the iPhone's screen.

Phelix's clean design and remarkable flexibility make it the perfect fit for any project, and since it provides phenomenal cross-browser support, you don't have to worry about how your site will look in Internet Explorer.

So, take Phelix for a test drive - we're sure you'll love it!

Mirage v1.4 Update

I'm a little late posting about this update here on the blog. Most likely you've already heard about this, so I'll keep it short and simple.

Lots of good stuff. Lots less of bad stuff.

Okay...I realize that's a bit sparse on details ;-) - here's the complete lowdown:

- Even better IE6 support (dare I say, nearly perfect?...Okay, maybe not, but pretty darn close!)
- Added support for the brand new IE Google Chrome Frame Plugin
- You can now display your site logo, title, and slogan above a CrossSlide slideshow in the header
- Stylesheet management has been improved - All the default styles have been moved to Mirage’s base stylesheet. Mirage v1.4 now only loads ~7 stylesheets by default, and this means you can add more plugins to the same page without worrying (so much) about IE compatibility
- Increased the fade out speed of the drop down menu to improve overall menu performance
- Fixed a small bug that may have incorrectly displayed ExtraContent areas in the header image
- Fixed a small bug that incorrectly displayed the site logo, title, and slogan on the iPhone if you chose to display the header image below the main menu in the desktop version

Enjoy and Happy Weaving~!

Glide v1.7 Released

By now you probably know that the monstrous Glide update has officially been released.

*Whew!*

There's so much good stuff packed inside, what with the new drop-down menu version, support for CrossSlide and Pulse, and better IE and 3rd party plugin compatibility, that upgrading really is a no brainer.

So now that the update has been released, what's next?

*Gleeful cackle* Well, let's just say that I'm literally bursting with good ideas. And not just new and awesome themes, but also a new and even awesome-er Plugin. That's right, I'll be taking the leap down deep into the world of RapidWeaver 3rd party plugins here in the near future.

That being said, don't expect anything real soon - there's a learning curve to be had, and though the web-design portion of creating a plugin can be knocked out fairly simply, actually building the plugin involves some heavy duty Mac OS X programming skills.

I'm also considering putting together a monthly extended support program. Not really sure quite yet if this is going to happen just because of the tremendous time investment required, but there are so many people who ask me for custom css help and theme customization, that I'd like to make this available. Still thinking about that....

As a final tease, I took a break from working on the site redesign to write this...which means, you'll see the new design in the next few days if nothing drastic happens (fingers crossed). Stay tuned!

Glide Update Coming

When I started working on this update to Glide, my biggest concern was making sure it could work with all the various plugins that our customers use, while still looking fantastic on all the various browsers out there. And that presented a problem because IE compatibility is a factor, which means we're limited in the number of theme options we can provide. IE only supports 30 stylesheets per page, and typical RapidWeaver themes serve one stylsheet per theme option.

A sticky problem.

Even so, I steeled myself against the challenge and significantly altered the underlying code that handles Glide's theme options. The result is an updated version of Glide will only serve about 11 stylesheets by default. Considering that v1.0 serves over 20 stylesheets by default, this is a huge improvement, meaning more plugins can be used on the same page, and IE compatibility is greatly improved (it was pretty good already).

Just to be clear, if Glide's defaults are changed, more stylesheets will be added - but we've also changed how some options are applied, so changing certain options will also reduce the number of stylesheets on the page. Pretty smooth~!

And if that's not enough, we've decided to include a brand new, drop-down menu version of Glide in this update free of charge.

Holy cow!

Of course, there is a catch to all this awesome theme update goodness - the price of Glide will go up to $24.95. The good news is that there's still time before the update is released, so if you get a copy now you'll get the update for free. A HUGE bargain.

Happy Weaving~!

Mirage v1.0 Released

I’m immensely happy to announce that Mirage, our newest RapidWeaver theme, is now available.

This release comes a bit earlier than we were planning - after the classified report that was posted in the RapidWeaver Forum a couple of days ago an avalanche of RapidWeaver users joined our mailing list asking for access. A few even managed to figure out where the sales page is and have already purchased copies.

Mirage is our finest theme achievement to date, and apart from all the good stuff you’ve come to expect in an exceptional theme, we’ve also added built-in support for the CrossSlide and Pulse jQuery plugins, and included tutorial videos and 23 snippets to help you get the most out of everything Mirage offers.

Here’s a short list of Mirage’s features:
- A powerfully simple & clean design
- Beautiful drop-down menus that degrade gracefully - in other words, they’ll even work on browsers without javascript support
- iPhone/iPod Touch/Android-enabled
- support for 6 ExtraContent areas
- built-in support for FancyZoom, CrossSlide, and Pulse
- Tested on all the major browsers: Safari, Firefox, IE 6/7/8, Chrome, and Opera
- A plethora of theme options and color pickers
- Tested with a large number of 3rd party plugins

You can preview Mirage, to see it in action, or get your copy right away.

I’d like to publicly thank our beta testers, and also give a shout out to Will Woodgate of ThemeFlood for his help answering our questions when we first started working on Mirage.

Happy Weaving~!

The Next Big Thing

And this is going to be huge! I’m literally bursting to tell you about our newest theme - how completely awesome it is, how it really breaks the mold of what RapidWeaver themes are so often viewed to be, and how you can use it in so many different ways for so many different sites - seriously!

iPhone/iPod Touch/Android enabled? - check
Beautiful, exquisite design? - check
A seriously intelligent navigation system? - check
ExtraContent? - check
Custom headers? - check
Custom backgrounds? - check
Much, much, much more? - check

And some other features that are so completely amazing, you’ll wonder how one theme can do it all.

As a wise kung-fu panda once said, “There is no charge for awesomeness.”

Update Installer Blues

One of our customers (thanks Valli!) was kind enough to point out an error in the Unity v1.8 Update Installer. If you’re using the 300px high banner image option, chances are you’ve already run into this problem. The good news is the update installer is now fixed and you can run it again to make sure your copy of Unity is updated properly.

If you don’t plan on using the 300px height option there’s no need to run the update installer again, as Unity v1.8 works perfectly otherwise.

New FAQ Page Now Available!

If you stroll on over to our RapidWeaver Themes Support Page, you’ll see a new FAQ Page is now available. It’s far from complete, so make sure to leave us a comment below with any questions you’d like to see answered.

Unity v1.8 Now Available

unitypreviewsmall
Whew! The story behind this update has been months in the making, every since we first thought up the idea of creating a RapidWeaver theme that could do “double duty”. Being a pioneer offering - the first RW theme to also serve up a separate iPhone version of your site - we were breaking new ground, pushing RapidWeaver (and our frustration at times) to the limit. Unity’s sacrifice was Glide’s gain, as we were able to use the experiences building Unity to make Glide the best it could be.

This major update brings Unity up to par with Glide - pushes beyond it, actually. Here’s what changed:

- Fixed a lingering bug in IE 6/7 so that the sub menu displays properly
- Rewrote the FancyZoom script so it doesn’t conflict with 3rd party plugins (obviously we can’t test all possible scenarios, so let us know if you’re still running into any problems)
- Fixed formatting issues that caused TabLoom and WP-Blog pages to not display correctly
- Fixed the CSS sprite graphic used with blog icons - no more overlap or disembodied icons
- Increased the number of page headers from 10 to 30
- There are now options to hide both the page header and the sub menu located below it
- Added a more height options for the page header
- Added a Content Width Declaration option - for use when you hide the sidebar, you can use this option for any 3rd party plugins that need a declared width to fill the entire width of the main content area
- Changed some footer design elements so Unity displays well on larger resolution displays
- Added a couple of footer text/link color options
- Switched placement of the Menu and Sidebar buttons on the iPhone version

You can download the update installer from Unity’s features page. Keep in mind, you must have a copy of Unity installed on your mac already for the installer to work. As always, make sure to backup your data first before running the installer.

Happy Weaving~!

New Theme Glide Released

We released our newest theme Glide earlier this week, and had a tremendously successful launch! Glide is our second iPhone-enabled theme, and provides many features that can help you make beautiful custom websites:

- Numerous color pickers and theme options (see our intro video on this page)
- ExtraContent enabled, with support for 7 ExtraContent areas
- Easily add Flash and BannerZest using ExtraContent area 1, which fills the entire page banner
- Smooth javascript fade effects on menu items gives Glide a very professional look and feel
- FancyZoom enabled - we’ve rewritten the script so it doesn’t conflict with 3rd Party Plugins
- Cross-browser compatible, tested on Safari/Firefox/Chrome/IE 6, 7, & 8

Enjoy and Happy Weaving~!

Out of the Office this Weekend

I’m going out of town this weekend to attend a memorial service for my wife’s grandfather. As such, I’ll be away from the office, and my responses to support requests will take longer than usual. Thanks for understanding!

New Theme Nearing Release

I’m not going to spills the beans just yet, but we have a theme under development that, frankly, absolutely rocks! We’ll be pushing out a beta version to our testers within the next week or two, and barring any major bugs we’ll have our standard pre-launch release just for our current customers and mailing list members shortly afterwards.

What can you look forward to in this new theme? Ultimate customization for one. An iPhone/Android mobile version, as with our Unity theme. 7 ExtraContent areas. And another RapidWeaver theme first (at least as far as we know) - an easy way to insert Flash and BannerZest headers into the page header.

Stay tuned for more!

Unity 1.5 Released!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, and it’s my distinct pleasure to announce this new release of Unity. Version 1.5 is a solid update that takes care of a range of bugs and offers some new features as well. Here’s the lowdown:

  • Unity is now IE 8 compatible
  • You can now change the background color in Unity
  • Added support for Android devices - reach a wider mobile audience!
  • Lists items are now properly formatted
  • You now have the option to hide the Logo and Title/Slogan on individual pages
  • You can now choose the height of the Logo & Title/Slogan container
  • Fixed a null error bug when using Accordion, Collage 2, Kwix, some other javascript based plugins in Unity
  • Added a fancyzoom.rwsnippet for those who want to utilize the FancyZoom feature

We hope you enjoy the update. Happy Weaving!

Playing Catch Up

Releasing a new theme is always an exciting time. There's always the elation that it's finally finished, as well as a bit of nervousness for how it will be received by the community. This was especially true with Unity because of the enormous amount of time and effort that went into developing it.

We're now almost two weeks exactly from the day when Unity was revealed to the RapidWeaver community, and I'm still stunned with what's happened. I've never experienced such a positive and overwhelming response from so many people. As a result, we're playing a bit of catch up, and scrambling to fix all the issues that have been brought to our attention recently. Even so, this is a very exciting time - and we have all of you to thank for it!

So this post is a shout out to all of you, the early adopters of Unity. Your support and feedback have been a tremendous boon to us, and I want to thank each of you from the bottom of my heart. Stay tuned, more's on the way!

Unity Background Color Options - Look for it in the next update

A few people have asked about the ability to change the background color in Unity, so I thought I'd make a post here so everyone can benefit from the answer.

Currently, as some of you are already aware, it's not possible to change the background color. We did not make this decision lightly, as the ability to do so is a great feature that allows you to customize the look and feel to adjust your tastes. We tested this option before releasing Unity and were not satisfied with the results, so we decided to continue working on it and make it available in a future release.

Rest assured that this is a high priority, and will be part of the next update to Unity. I'll keep you posted on our progress both here on our blog and through the mailing list.

Unity 1.3 Released

Yesterday we released another update to Unity. Version 1.3 fixes a couple of irksome bugs that managed to squeak past us. Specifically, the Sub Menu lowercase option now works correctly, and displaying a large number of blog archives in the Sidebar no longer displays extraneous icons.

If you purchased Unity on or after March 15, 2009 then chances are you already have the updated version. Otherwise we've provided a theme update installer here that will update and add the necessary files without you needing to reinstall Unity itself. Please keep in mind, for the installer to work you must have a working copy in ~/Library/Application Support/RapidWeaver/Unity.rwtheme. Of course, please make sure to backup your data first before performing the update.

We've got a lot in store for Unity, and will keep you posted on future updates and themes.

New Website, New Themes, New Everything!

Greetings RapidWeaver fans! I'm pleased to announce the launch of NimbleHost's new RapidWeaver Themes site. This update has been a long time in coming, mostly due to a new theme that we are about to announce. More juicy details will be on the way soon, but for now just let me say that I'm immensely, tremendously excited about this new theme. The response from our current customers who have seen it in action has been overwhelming, and I'm sure you're going to love it!

But back on topic - our new site is a big improvement over the previous version. Our Documentation has been updated and pooled together in one central location that's much easier to access, our Support page includes more resources to help you get answers fast, and the unified look and feel is a welcome addition as well.

I have to admit, when we first started developing RapidWeaver themes last year I wasn't sure what the response was going to be like, but the community has opened us with welcome arms, and it's been our pleasure to contribute in the form of innovative and unique themes you can't find anywhere else.

Feel free to browse around, and do let us know what's on your mind, either by leaving a comment or using our Contact page.

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