RapidWeaver

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RapidWeaver


Latest release:	3.5 /
OS:	Mac OS X v10.3.9
Use:	WYSIWYG HTML editor
Website:	Realmac Software

RapidWeaver is a WYSIWYG template-based website creation tool exclusive to Mac OS X. Previous WYSIWYG web editors—especially FrontPage—had a reputation of generating low quality markup, whereas RapidWeaver boasts full compliance to W3C standards.

RapidWeaver was one of the first web editors (along with Site Studio) to use user-selectable templates to define a website's complete appearance. This enforces consistency in the web design and makes it easy to create a fine-looking website, although some may see it as too constraining.

There is a thriving market for third-party templates, and technically skilled users can also create their own. There are also plugins which add new features to the application.

RapidWeaver can generate pages of different kinds, such as styled text, weblog, contact forms, image galleries, Flash slideshows, and podcasts; it also has a built-in FTP uploader, and integration with iPhoto and .Mac.

1 The RapidWeaver workflow
2 Plugins included with RapidWeaver
3 Plugins from third parties
4 Similar website publishers
5 External links

[edit] The RapidWeaver workflow

RapidWeaver is modal - you're either editing your work, or previewing it. Every page plugin has its own interface displayed in the Edit mode that allows users to change its content via typical Mac methods, such as drag-and-drop. Changes can be previewed in the Preview tab - rendering the web page through Apple's WebKit - exactly as it will look through Safari.

The pages are organized in an outline on the left of RapidWeaver - the structure of the outline reflects the structure of the web-site navigation - including the parent-child relationship for nested navigation. To change the navigation of your site just drag the page in the outline to its desired location.

Publishing the site is simple - RapidWeaver tracks the changes you made since the last publish - just press the Publish button and confirm your site settings in the publishing sheet.

[edit] Plugins included with RapidWeaver

Blog
Contact Form
File Sharing
HTML Code
iFrame
Movie Album
Offsite Page
Photo Album
QuickTime
Styled Text

[edit] Plugins from third parties

Accordion (creates expandable menus)
Blocks (allows the creation of wysiwyg-pages based on movable blocks and the embedding of other page styles within a Blocks page)
Collage (a photo album that allows easy applied links and user defined borders, reflection, etc.)
Columns (allows the user to have columns in his/her pages)
SiteMap (automatically generates a sitemap along with an xml-file to submit to search engines)
MapIt (lets you easily configure a page to display your own Google Map)
RapidFlickr (generates beautiful photo albums and slideshows off your flickr account)
Lockdown (crests password-protected pages)
SimpleViewer (integrates the SimpleViewer flash slideshow)
PageTOC (generates a styled text page with a table of contents linked to headers)