RWSkinz Public Beta
RWSkinz has existed for a long time and has been used to great success for many client websites, completed internally. I made the mistake of showing a couple of RapidWeaver users last December (and some Adobe Muse refugees since then) what I was using in some projects to turn-out quick, professional websites. They were blown away by the capabilities of RWSkinz and have been begging and pleading with me relentlessly ever since then to make it available for them! Some of the new items I wanted to include in this latest RWSkinz update have only been made possible with the release of RapidWeaver 8. So I'm pleased to unveil this public Beta of RWSkinz.
First, a couple of quick and important notes:
This theme framework is only compatible with RapidWeaver 8 and upwards, due to some of the API-specific features it includes. Sorry, but RWSkinz will not be made compatible with RapidWeaver 5 or 6 or 7. There is already at-least 6 months worth of work invested into bringing the theme to RapidWeaver 8.
Automatic updates are disabled. Only those actively 'in the loop' will get email notification of any further Beta releases going forwards, if more releases do happen before a final release.
The live preview only has 3 basic pages tonight and there is no video tutorial for this design system. Please understand that I cannot dedicate lots of time answering 'how to' questions. Please take time to read the information on the product page and spend some time playing around with it yourself. Trust me, it is fun and easy to work with!
This theme works great with ALL of the free stacks added to ThemeFlood website in recent weeks, including Bootiful. The Sectional, Topper, Gator and Intrinsic stacks mentioned on the documentation are being added soon, when their video documentation is complete (some of you already have Beta versions of these to test with).
It is safe to build websites with this Beta of RWSkinz. There are no major changes anticipated that might break or undo work you start with this theme.
This is a public Beta, so therefore no update or discount pricing will be available. Everyone pays the same price from day one. You will need to pay if you want to continue using the theme when it is released. This is not a free theme.
Constructive feedback via email please. Feature requests are very welcome, but at this late stage they will be judged based on their usefulness to other potential users.
When will it be released? Ideally the first week of September, so potentially as soon as next week. Subsequent free updates will continue to be rolled-out after the initial release, with new features and any bug fixes required.
How much will this cost? The plan currently is to charge $60 USD. The cost will include free updates, compatibility with all current and future ThemeFlood branded stacks, and access to expert technical support (including theme modifications, like CSS). This is a professional-grade addon for the serious weaver. The higher-than-normal price tag also ensures lots of dedicated one-to-one support can be provided for all users and we have a sustainable business model going forward. Like our other themes, once purchased, you will be able to freely use RWSkinz and the associated stacks for as many personal or commercial websites as you want - no complicated pay-per domain or subscription pricing.
Is this simply a rip-off of X, Y, or Z? Absolutely not. RWSkinz has a long history, although admittedly it has only surfaced into the public domain in recent months. It's substantially different to how quite a lot of other blank framework systems work in RapidWeaver. Psychologically RWSkinz puts you into a mindset of creating clean and distinctive page designs - with emphasis on content clarity, simplicity, higher website accessibility standards and faster loading pages. RWSkinz should easily meet the requirements of any individual or small web design agency with an eye for all-round quality. A decent website should not only look good on the surface, but function equally as well underneath too.
This sounds great - I'm in! Please use this link to access the new product page for RWSkinz that went live this evening. Again this is pre-release - so the live demo is lacking many examples (especially of stacks and building pages free-form). There may be some holes in the documentation and there is no video presently. However there is hopefully enough here to get you very excited about what's to come!
Two more examples combining RWSkinz and Intrinsic stacks can be found here and here.
