#rwskinz

A video tutorial showing you how to download a suitable Bootstrap 4 theme, add it as a resource in RapidWeaver, slice the HTML markup and import the whole lot into RapidWeaver ready for editing.

The whole process from start to finish is no more than about 10 minutes for anybody proficient with HTML.

As this video demonstrates, the end result is an exceptionally well-designed and constructed template. Ready to populate with your own content or stacks. The time and money savings are vast!

Requires the RWSkinz framework (version 1.1): https://themeflood.com/rwskinz

More examples can be viewed on the RWSkinz live preview.

Help is available with the basic conversion of compatible Bootstrap themes, for customers of the RWSkinz framework.

This free update for RWSkinz includes the following changes:

The site title is no longer duplicated in mobile, if enabled in the navigation bar.

Fixed an issue that was causing the Jumbotron content to not align correctly in some situations.

New font sizing options for the title and slogan in the Jumbotron

New footer alignment options (left, right and centre).

New setting to make the lower navigation bar 'fixed' and continue to display its drop-downs (these become drop-ups!).

New setting to disable drop-downs on any navigation bar configuration.

Improvements to iPad compatibility.

New options to display parent page links or sub page links in the sidebar container (desktop only).

Alignment improvements to drop-downs, if they are on the first parent link in the nav bar.

Updated Font Awesome icons to version 5.3.1.

Various other minor tweaks, fixes and general improvements.

Another significant new feature to make an appearance in RWSkinz 1.1 is support for imported themes. Have you ever searched the internet and come across really good Bootstrap themes and wished they could be used inside RapidWeaver? Our new imported themes method makes it feasible to slice the HTML of a suitable opensource Bootstrap theme and import it into RWSkinz. The demo site has been updated with some incredible examples of what is possible and this page documents the process involved in bringing a theme into RWSkinz. This feature alone takes RWSkinz to an entirely new level of sophistication. Take a look at some of these impressive examples using imported themes from startbootstrap.com:

Admin Dashboard

Agency

Clean

Creative

Freelancer

Grayscale

If you are an early-bird customer and have already purchased RWSkinz (thank you again!) you can download 1.1 from your Paddle account. It may also show in Waterfall or as an automatic update in RW8 too.

We still have not officially unveiled RWSkinz to the wider RapidWeaver community yet. Support for imported themes was a really cool feature we wanted to complete first. Some one-to-one email support sessions and video training will be starting next week.

Since announcement of the public Beta a week ago, I've been inundated with very positive feedback about RWSkinz. It seems this is very-much the theme framework people have been desperate for. It is quite a lot different to how other frameworks in RapidWeaver work, which seems to be a big attraction for many. Features like the ready-made page components, compatibility with any page type and ability to re-skin a website are already proving a huge-hit with early adopters.

So in time for the weekend, I have switched-on the purchase buttons and uploaded more demo pages and some new video documentation. Click here!

Is this the end of development for now? Certainly not!

This is one of the most ambitious RapidWeaver addons I have pulled-together. There certainly will be more updates and additions to come. Of course, buying into the theme now means you will be on the direct channel to get automatic updates as these become available. And as part of this phased release, the RapidWeaver community and forum announcements will follow later. So this is kind-of an exclusive release, just for those in the know!

I hope people will continue to provide feature requests - so we can collaborate together and shape this framework around what people actually want.

Our core focus here is to create a strong and future-proof web development framework for RapidWeaver 8 that returns emphasis back to the core fundamentals of what good web design should be - ease of use, great accessibility, compliance with web standards and faster loading web pages.

There are a large number of different website designs RWSkinz can confidently build - which is why I've been using it for client projects since about 2010. More examples are being added to the RWSkinz demo site and further free stacks will be added soon. So keep checking back to see what’s new.

PS: Managed to shave another 100 KB off the codebase. So now a basic RWSkinz page (complete with the yew tree sample banner image) is under 750 KB un-cached. That in itself is quite an achievement.

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!