#rwml

RWML (RapidWeaver Multilingual) remains one of the best packs of stacks for creating multilingual websites in RapidWeaver. It works great, whether you're building separate "mini sites" for each language or offering options for website user to toggle the display of translated text and other content on a page-by-page basis. A very flexible set of stack elements to make multilingual websites quicker, easier and more reliable to create.

The main change to happen in this RWML update is support for a brand new language switcher. It's called the "Popup Picker". This new language switcher works like a modal popup, which greets the user when they first arrive at your website:

The purpose of this new popup picker is to ensure the website user makes their language selection, before they can continue any further. This could be a convenient system to implement; like in examples where you have page elements (such as a cookie popup message) that cannot otherwise be easily translated into multiple languages, owing to screen space or technicality constraints.

By design, the text "hello! - please select your language" alternates in a loop between each language your website supports. The buttons are purposefully big and bold to make language selection easier on a touch device or computer. Superbly well designed and implemented to exceed the highest usability standards.

As you'd expect, almost every aspect of the modal popup and its window shade can be customised to match your existing website.

A bonus feature is some extra cookie tracking. Once the website user has made their language selection from this new popup, they won't be nagged again for a predetermined length of time! Of course, you can still provide existing language switching options, so a user can easily change their preferred language later on.

This RWML update is a free update for all existing RWML 2.x  users and is available to install via the automatic updater in Stacks / RapidWeaver. The new popup language switcher stack is available for use in your Stacks Library.

This stack update is free for all users of RWML 2x. You can update via automatic updates in Stacks / RapidWeaver or download the latest version from your Paddle account. As always, please ensure all your RapidWeaver project files and addons are suitably backed-up before commencing the update. The main changes in this version include:

Newly revised user guide published on the website, explaining the full details of how RWML can be used and how to configure it. This includes some example RW project files you can download and open in RapidWeaver 7 and RapidWeaver 8 for better illustration of how the stacks work. Emphasis on reducing the amount of written content and cutting straight to the basics of what RWML can do and how it works.

New RWML Language Switcher stack, completely rewritten from the ground-up with support for many more switcher types to suit different webpage placements. Buttons, tabs, radio selects, checkboxes, select menus - it's got them all! Much emphasis has been placed on improving accessibility and providing more customisable style options for things like buttons. Of course, your ability to custom-build your own buttons or add links to a theme menu bar has still been retained.

A couple of very minor / insignificant changes ahead of Stacks 4. Mostly to help pages load / publish slightly faster in RapidWeaver 8.

If the selected language is not available, we now fallback to the default language. In other words, if a user enters a country code that has not been configured, the stacks will fallback to the default language and content will always be shown.

Fixes to the RWML Meta stack. If using a third-party SEO stack, we recommend using that inside a RWML Wrapper stack. And because the RWML Meta stack only uses Javascript to translate meta tags, you may find more success in following the subdivided methodology - if meta tags are particularly important to you for searching, SEO and social media etc.

RWML Redirect stacks no longer append the language query string onto the target page URL.

Renamed the RWML Master stack to RWML Base. This is simply to ensure it shows at the top of the Stacks library (RWML group) when you are searching for it. The renaming does not effect previously setup 'RWML Master' stacks. After installing the update, the 'RWML Master' stacks should effortlessly and seamlessly rename themselves to 'RWML Base'.

Fixed a bug whereby the presence of SSL and non-SSL websites at the same domain could confuse RWML and cause an incorrect 'alternate' URL to be written into the head section of the webpage. The option has also been added in the RWML Base stack to disable the generation of 'alternate' tags, which some users prefer if they want to make their own.

If you are still using RWML 1x, you really, really should consider upgrading to RWML 2. Version 2 has now been available for nearly two years and is currently the most popular selling stack on the Stacks4Stacks website. Version 1x is far behind and I know for sure its broken for some users.

The product page for RWML can be accessed here.

As many others on the forums will testify, there is simply no better way to build a multilingual website with RapidWeaver. RWML gives you everything you need and takes account of things you may not yet have even considered.

RWML (or RapidWeaver Multilingual) is the ultimate set of stack elements for helping you make your RapidWeaver website fully multilingual. These powerful stacks let you translate just about every aspect of a webpage. Your website visitors can choose their preferred language from a select menu or custom flags / links. Their language choice is 'remembered' by the system; on subsequent visits and page views.

Over the course of nearly two years, the stacks have been completely rewritten around a shiny new, intelligent, reliable and ultra-efficient PHP codebase. This latest version of RWML gives you immense flexibility for building the perfect, multilingual website you never thought was possible with RapidWeaver! The sophistication and advancements made in RWML v2 are truly remarkable.

RWML 2 is a major update. To briefly summarise the main changes that have happened in RWML v2:

The editing interface has been improved; with emphasis on making the stacks easier to use and bringing the most important settings and instructions to the front.

Some stacks have been merged together. For example, instead of there being three different switch stacks, there is now just one. Expanded settings let you swiftly toggle between different switch types.

We now use server-side code (like PHP) to determine what content to display. What's the big deal with this? Server-side means only the content relevant to the selected language is sent down to the web browser. This brings enormous efficiency savings. Plus smoother and faster loading websites.

A couple of the stacks have been renamed, to better-reflect their revised roles within the RWML set.

The new 'RWML Wrapper' stack lets you effortlessly place other stacks inside. You can regulate when those stacks are shown, based on the current language selection.

All the RWML stacks are now rebranded as 'Stacks4Stacks', with new meta data, support links and secure update checking capabilities.

We are now making use of newer Stacks API features. These will give you faster page previewing, better compatibility with other stacks and improved reliability with an ever-growing choice of web browsers.

The RWML Menu stack no longer overwrites elements in navigation links (like spans and Font Awesome icons) and should work more reliably with a greater choice of theme designs and frameworks. It can now simultaneously translate mobile, desktop and breadcrumb links in most themes.

RWML is no longer dependent on older third-party addons (like PlusKit) which have been known to sometimes cause RapidWeaver problems (especially after updates). Everything can now be accomplished with RWML and Stacks. No extra purchases required.

A brand new 'RWML Meta' stack at the request of former users, for improving SEO (search engine optimisation) and Twitter / Facebook sharing.

The RWML Sidebar stack can now also be used to embed content within ExtraContent containers, FreeStyle banners or custom containers, using Javascript.

Added a new 'RWML Replace' stack, to search and replace simple words or sentences in those harder-to-reach outside parts of a webpage, with simple Javascript. For example, mobile menu toggle buttons, site titles, site slogans and footer copyright text.

Click here to read more about RWML, watch a tutorial video, download a free demo version and access the new (illustrated) user guide.

Looking to update from RWML v1? Please carefully read the user guide to understand the update process involved. If you purchased RWML after 1st July 2017, you can download the update direct from your Paddle account. For any purchases before this date, please get in contact before Saturday 30th September 2017 (with proof of purchase), to claim a 100% coupon code. The free update window closes after this date.