Anyone use Freeway Pro to design websites?

I'm using it (have been since version 2) and am a big fan of both the software and the company! Great software, great support!

Strong points :: true WYSIWYG, focused on designing - not coding, the code it generates is really good. Also, freeway has a lot of amazing (mostly free) plugins, just check the 'action' library! I find it to be just as good as Dreamweaver or GoLive. If you know how to use traditional design programs like InDesign or Quark, you can start using this right away.

Weak points :: site important doesn't always give the results you want and working on a site simultaneously with 2 or more people is difficult. Not impossible, but it's not as straightforward as with other programs.

Freeway allows you to do things with amazing ease, that's all I can say.This is my site btw (a new one dedicated to mac will launch shortly)

10464.net

I wouldn't say that. Amazing stuff is done with DW as well.

I think Freeway is for those who (initially) don't care about the code. It allows you to truly focus on designing with out worrying code at all. The code generated by Freeway is very good - I have yet to experience the problem where things I made work in one browser, but not in another.

Freeway produces HTML that works well in almost all browsers. It includes "deprecated" HTML tags that are designed to force older browsers to produce reliable output (i.e. to make the rendered page match your design). The W3C checker flags these deprecated tags as errors, when in fact they are never going to be used by the newer standards-based browsers. Those browsers ignore deprecated tags by policy, because they don't need them. This is how browsers have always worked.

Freeway creates code that will pass the user test, out of the box, without any additional effort on your part. With some post-processing to change <br> tags to <br /> and a few other tweaks (which can be done automatically using BBEdit and a well-written search-and-replace expression), you can create code that will pass the validator test as well.

At the end of the day though, it's just a tool. What works for me, might not work for you. A Freeway 30-day trial ia available should you be interested in trying it out.

If you need to know more, just let me know!

Thanks for the compliment on my site - always welcome I'm currently designing a new site focused 100% on the strength of the Mac platform.

Freeway Pro is the only reason that I can run a web design business. I have a print background and transitioning to the web was made so much easier with Freeway. It's definitely a program that is geared towards designers rather than coders. You cannot get in a tweak the code by hand and the code that it produces at the moment doesn't validate. This may change in the future though as freeway pro version 4 comes out.

Here's my portfolio where every site has been made in freeway...

http://www.31three.com

and a couple that haven't been posted / launched yet....

http://sea.surpasshosting.com/~lwc
http://www.stephenmarshall.net


Hope that helps...
- Jesse BC

So, are you all using the Pro version? Is it worth the price difference over the Express version? Right now I'm running the demo version of Express.

I know someone mentions this every time... but relying on a WYSIWYG tool to design a web site is like working in the print industry without knowing how the hell an offset press works.

You cannot effectively use the tools or design for the medium if you do not know how they work. You can produce mediocre or acceptable work, but there is a glass ceiling.

Do not rely on your tools, for the tools do not make the artist. Learn what the markup elements mean, understand the spec, and understand browser limitations and compatibility.

I would definitely go the Pro route. I believe the express version is limited with what you can do with actions (One of the most powerful parts of freeway) as well as what you can do with css.


I'm not sure if I totally agree with that analogy. I would say it's more like working in the print industry and not knowing the postscript language (Which is pretty common). Honestly, I really don't know how a offset printer works... I pay the printer to know that stuff. All I care is that it comes back how I sent it to them. They will let me know if I've messed something up or need to tweak something. Browsers are much the same way.

I do agree that this offers limitations and I personally would love know now more about coding than I do. I do know folks that are amazing coders that still prefer Freeway. Rare... but they're out there.

Nope. Knowing HTML, XHTML and CSS is more fundamental than that. These are the elements from which a webpage is constructed. Its like working in print and not knowing color theory or typography.

If you're getting paid to do websites then you better have some knowledge of code for various reasons. One of the main reasons is that WYSIWYG editors don't display CSS correctly or can't write CSS properly. Most don't generate code that validates. Check some of the code coming from Freeway page markup. Its bloated and it sucks. Knowing some CSS can reduce the code bloat by a significant amount. Bandwidth costs.

HTML (and XHTML) is dead simple to learn. CSS is more difficult because of the hacks necessary, however an afternoon working out a design will get you a long way. Cheaper than a $300 software package.

What can I say, can web site designers please STOP OPENING LINKS IN NEW F**KING WINDOWS.

The last thing I want to open a new window. I know YOU think YOUR site is important, but if _I_ want to come back to it _I_ will.

All you do is disrupt my browsing experience. I have to close the damn window you just opened, and then command click to put it in a tab, and then close your tab.

DO YOU GET IT?????

No more opening windows.
We've just gotten browsers with tab support, dont you love how there arent a zillion windows floating around?????

I know, lots of sites do it, and I dont like them any better.

How about you at least indicate that your link is going to open a new window?

Put a little icon next to it.
In fact there needs to be three link indicators:

normal - just goes the linked page
icon for opening in a new window ( so that I can at least reduce the rigmorole of getting to the content you think is useful ).
icon for javascript new windows. Because now I open all links in a new tab because of crap designers who think content should open in a window, but this doesnt work with JS new windows, so I need to just click on those links.



On a positive note, site is quite nice. I dont like the funny, and apparently pointless graphics at the bottom of the page.

i have just spent last week trying to explain *just* this point to a group of university design students

has anyone used freeway pro with filemaker? i have been asked to quote for the design and build of a site where the client uses filemaker (on mac's! wow!!) for its backend. and they have a copy of freeway and want to retain this link-up.

i see freeway has a filemaker 'pack' and have downloaded the trial versions to play with. any ideas how weel they work??

i tend to do all my web work in bbedit and dreamweaver where required. so i would want to build my pages that way, then impoirt into freeway for the filemaker link-up

@ mmmpie : thanks for your tips. I'll look into into it!

@ othello : I'm not familiar with filemaker myself, but I do know it works really well with Freeway. If you want to know more, why don't you temporarily join the Freeway email list. It's a really responsive community that is sure to answer your questions. More info here: http://www.softpress.com/en/support/mailing_lists

As for importing html made in other programs into Freeway - sorry to disappoint you, but that's the one thing Freeway doesn't do well.

OUCH!

thanks for the heads up on that one...

I've been using Freeway 5.5 for a couple of year and love it. Took me a couple of days to get my head round it once I mastered it, its so easy to use.

 

I went from not having a clue to be able to make my own websites!!

Interesting this thread popped up again...  I was just about to inquire about web creation apps.

 

 

I am thinking again of creating a site (the old one died with iWeb).  Don't want anything too fancy but would like to learn the ropes a little.

 

What app do people recommend?

 

 

 

Freeway has gone up to 6.0 (v5 still on the App Store).   Anybody use the new version?  Does it work with Hype?

Pro or Express (or even v5 from the App Store (they say 6 can't meet some requirements by Apple...)

 

Others out there:

 

Sandvox 

Rapid Weaver

 

Of course, Dreamweaver but the price will cause nightmares I'm sure.

 

 

I cannot code at all and would rather not have to learn (too many other things I'm studying right now).

I don't want to use iweb anymore since apple is not supporting it. I tried sandvox but didn't like it because I couldn't put my images anywhere on the page.  the images were like text, they could either go at the beginning of the page, the middle or the end. ie I couldn't put text boxes and images anywhere I liked.  I really want that feature because I liked it so much.

so I would like to ask someone who has used freeway if it has the feature I require or not?

esther

I forgot about clicking the notification.  will do it now.