Quick and easy way to get websites up and running! With "Stacks" and either the Foundation or Foundry "free-style themes", you can have a very nice. fully responsive website up, with pretty much any layout, running very quickly! I have built over 150 websites with Rapidweaver over the years!
Monolithic file structure makes it a bit CMS unfriendly. You can make "client editable" websites, as there are several solutions, but they have missing features. In particular, the ability of the end user to add "pages".
If you are looking for a fairly easy static website builder, this is a great choice! Be aware though, it needs a few add-ons to be truly useful, in particular the "Stacks" plugin.
Needed to create websites for small to mid-size businesses quickly, and cost effectively. This fit the bill!
Very fast and simple to use. Ideal for building simple websites you host yourself. Unlike online services (that you pay a subscription for and you have to do your hosting and domain name registration with them too) RapidWeaver provides more flexibility and independence. The websites RapidWeaver generates are 'static' with good quality markup. Modern and mobile responsive. The 'official' RapidWeaver community forums are a great resource for technical support and to get information about new / updated addons.
The addons supplied with RapidWeaver are lackluster - very limited in functionality and somewhat outdated. You definitely will need to budget extra towards some better addons from third party developers, like 'Stacks' from Yourhead Software. Sometimes RapidWeaver has gone for long periods of time without receiving updates and bug fixes; often while Realmac (the parent company) has diverted interest into failed side projects, like online photo storage services, blogging, Mac apps and games.
Don't go out straight away and spend a fortune on third party addons. You can save considerable time and money by asking for recommended addons on the RapidWeaver community forums. Sometimes other users will advise you of free addons from different vendors, as opposed to the paid / promoted stuff on the community addons site. Some addons are limited in functionality, whereas others can do much more.
Ability to build and deploy static websites independently. Not having to rely on outside services for web design and development, which can get very pricey.
I love the drag and drop features inside of rapid weaver that are useful for me as a graphic designer. It allows me to create elegant, modern, mobile friendly websites that my clients love. The developers of rapid weaver themes offer stellar resources and I have experienced a great deal of help from the rapid weaver community. It's easy to use for those of us whom are not very tech savvy. There are few thing that RW cannot do. Forms, pictures, pluggins, websites that are simple or complex can all be designed. It is an Outstanding product that is simple to use and incredibly user friendly. The developers continue to improve the softwares functionality and backend.
I wish more people would use rapidwevear I would like to see more content management systems options and more options for better search engine optimization. I also desire more online editing options. The program does crash at times however RW continually improves with every new version.
Absolutely I would recommend rapidweaver it is an incredible platform for building websites! I would recommend graphic designers or people that only need one website to purchase rapid weaver. Happy weaving!
Building websites for my clients is easy with Rapid weaver. Before Rapidweaver I always had to recommend somebody else for website building. Not anymore, RW does all the heavy lifting so that I can have happy clients. For anybody that struggles with coding but has an eye for design RW is a great platform.
RapidWeaver is my go to software when I need to get a simple professional website up FAST. Once you have a collection of 3rd party tools on your belt you and launch unique and stunning websites in often less than a day.
The biggest complaint about RapidWeaver is that to create sophisticated features for your website you are often left needing to purchase 3rd party addons. While this is true, the cost is usually low, non-residual unlike many alternatives, and allows you to make an extremely robust amount of design and functionality changes.
Most, if not all, who purchase RapidWeaver are going to want to also own the plugin Stacks, which gives you a more drag-and-drop style of designing that allows for much more flexibility in designing your website(s). Know that you won't find as many free plugins in markets like WordPress, but that addons are really worth their price for the amount support most 3rd party developers provide in the RapidWeaver community.
RapidWeaver is not my go-to tool for some website's that have more complex custom databases. Not that it can't be used for this, but that's simply not my preference for using this software.
The problem RapidWeaver helps me solve is speed. In the past I would have turn down clients with a lower budget because I didn't have the time to design them a site that I'd be proud of and one that could still provide them with all the functionality they needed.
RapidWeaver changes this in that I can now very quickly create a website that is fully responsive without having to mess with any code. The biggest disclaimer is that I often have to use 3rd party products to achieve everything I need, but the good thing is that once you own it you can use it on any other sites you develop.
I like that everything I need is in the same file my proyect is. The snippets, the graphics, the pictures even the java scripts you use or jquery codes everything is waiting for you when you open your Rapidweaver File.
I don't like the upgrades. The upgrades always hurt your business. I manage to find a way to successfully upgrade on every version but for people that never used Rapidweaver before the worst thing they will encounter is the Upgrading process. They simply don't know how to make your life easy when the time to upgrade arrives.
Wait for a X.5 version before jumping to it. First versions are always full of misbehaviors.
I've been fixing other websites within Rapidweaver from clients that tried to create their websites with online solutions like wordpress. The benefit of using Rapidweaver is the Stacks Plugins. This move the app to another level and it's one of the reason why this app has a fan community.
Particularly enjoy the Stacks add-on that allows seamless placement of text, images, and objects onto the website. If you have a basic idea of coding (html, css, etc), you will be able to more aptly customize your web site without purchasing "pro" versions of the provided themes.
Purchasing Add-on software is the only way to achieve maximal use out of RapidWeaver if you are looking to build a professional web site. You may be able to get away with the default options if you need a website for personal use or for a smaller scale application.
Be prepared to spend more money beyond the base price for wider scale application. Also, for really specific customization with this software, you will need basic coding knowledge.
I was able to build a professional website for the purpose of attracting new customers. This software has made it very easy to quickly put websites up to implement my marketing strategies.