The only thing rapid about RapidWeaver is how quickly it will make your blood boil.

 by Frank Petrie

As the internet becomes more and more a major part of our human dialogue, you probably can't escape doing some creating. Whether for your church group or to post pictures of your last vacation for the in-laws, you're gonna have to learn some HTML, at least.

But if you don't want to learn all about tags and CSS, you'll have to get a WYSIWYG editor. But they cost hundreds of dollars. So, what do you do?

"RapidWeaver is a next-generation web design application to help you easily create professional looking web sites in minutes. No knowledge of HTML, CSS or even javascript is required, RapidWeaver will take care of all that for you."

It will? Show me.

THE GOOD

Simple installer. Drag-n-drop. And it has a Themes Drawer. Therein lies the only positive things that I have to say about this software.

THE BAD

The only thing rapid about RapidWeaver is how quickly it will make your blood boil. I don't even know where to begin. This app is so buggy, there isn't even a learning curve; there's a tolerance curve! For something that should be so basic (as it is obviously geared towards the beginner or 'lite' user) you would think that it would be a LOT more intuitive. Particularly at this price!

I tried building a basic site, but I couldn't get the HTML code to come up in the main window, despite the fact that the blank pane was entitled "HTML Coding." The choice of themes is limited and basic. There are third party sites, but their themes are equally limited and basic. If you want to make any adjustments to tailor your site, you have to hand code. So, why not just do that from the beginning?

To their credit, they have a straightforward Help File and an Online Forum. But as the software keeps acting up, you'll never get that far. And to be honest, the authors never claim that this will replace Dreamweaver or Go Live! But this app is maybe on par with the web builder that comes with your.Mac account. And that comes as part of my account fee!

THE UGLY

I'm only allowed so many words per column, so don't get me started.

THE CLOSE

If you were unfortunate enough to pay the exorbitant US $34.95 for this truly worthless software, you've paid your penance for three lifetimes. I can say without hesitation that this is the most overpriced, fetid piece of coding I have ever dealt with. For Rapidweaver to be of any value whatsoever, the next generation of web designers had better be Cro-Magnon. For half this price you could buy yourself an excellent book on web coding from O'Reilly or Peachpit and build yourself a competent looking site while learning a bit of coding.

Now, when I don't like a piece of software, I'm blunt but try to add some constructive comments to my criticism(s). Here goes. I think the authors could best serve the computing public by pulling this electronic abomination from sale.

Yes, It's THAT bad!

RATING: -1 out of 10

©2004 Frank Petrie, Freelance writer, Macsimum News contributor, SJAUG eCommunicator, Curmudgeon Email: phranky@mac.com iChat: phranky AIM: phrankyw Archive: home.comcast.net/~phranky

MACinations December 04