Announcement: Backdraft & FW 7

Freeway
1

First, Backdraft is indeed compatible with FW 7, but is not compatible with the responsive features of 7 (it will be soon, more info in the next paragraph). In other words, you can build a Backdraft website with Freeway 7 the same way you may have built a website in Freeway 6.

The problem is that the Box Sizing action (which Backdraft is highly dependent upon) has not been updated with support for 7’s responsive system. I’ve talked to Joe Billings, and while he has assured me that the action will be updated, he has not supplied me with an ETA.

There is a workaround, but it’s not pretty nor easy (involving removing the Box-Sizing action, removing certain classes from the modules, using some custom CSS, and setting the width via the Extended dialog), so at this point my recommendation is to not use any of the responsive layout features in FW7 with a Backdraft website. If you really need to use them, send me an email off-list and I’ll help you figure it out.

Once the action has been updated, it will be relatively trivial to use the responsive tools with a Backdraft 1.5 website - I will create a page in the docs walking you through doing the needed modifications.

What can you do to help speed up the process? Send a respectful email to Softpress asking them to prioritize updating the Box Sizing action.

Several people have asked me what the future holds for Backdraft. I’ve got great news! It holds a 2.0 release which will eschew the hand-coded CSS in favor of using Freeway’s new responsive features wherever possible. This will make life much easier for you all, as you will be able to modify breakpoints and tweak modules without getting your hands dirty in code.

Also, there is going to be a pretty huge announcement regarding the longer-term future of Backdraft soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Thanks to all of you for supporting Backdraft!

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2

Where’s the ‘Like’ button when you need it!

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3

This is great news Caleb… as I am so used to Backdraft now…(still learning tho)
I will wait to hear updates… I will however upgrade to FW7.
and hopefully all components will come together nicely

thanks all!
Carla

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4

Where’s the ‘Like’ button when you need it!

I think that counted!

This is great news Caleb… as I am so used to Backdraft now…(still learning tho) I will wait to hear updates… I will however upgrade to FW7. and hopefully all components will come together nicely

I must say that I’m more excited about the future of Backdraft than I’ve ever been. Backdraft + FW 7 will be a perfect pair! Glad to hear that you are excited too. :smiley:

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5

I don’t normally do excitement. I’ll possibly make an exception in this case!

Thanks Caleb.

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6

Thumbs up! Great news!
Thanks, Caleb!

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7

Great news Caleb! will be sending polite chivvy on email.

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8

Caleb,
As the other have said, great news … well done… roll on Backdraft 2.0.

John

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9

I don’t normally do excitement. I’ll possibly make an exception in this case!

I trust that you will find it to be warranted. :slight_smile:

Thumbs up! Great news! Thanks, Caleb!

Fist-bumb!

Great news Caleb! will be sending polite chivvy on email.

Thanks Matt - I really appreciate it. Also, bonus points on “chivvy”, it’s not very often that someone uses a word that I’ve never heard before.

Caleb, As the other have said, great news …. well done… roll on Backdraft 2.0.

Thanks John!

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10

BTW, I’ll be looking for a fresh batch of beta testers for BD 2.0, so if you would like to participate, send me an email (keep in mind though that nothing can be done until the Box Sizing action is fixed).

Also, if you have any module ideas/suggestions, right now would be the best time to get those requests in!

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11

At the moment the modules are in 1 column, text and image appear above each other. I would like a single module that has 2 columns, side by side. At the moment you have to do this with 2 modules (I think!).

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12

At the moment the modules are in 1 column, text and image appear above each other. I would like a single module that has 2 columns, side by side. At the moment you have to do this with 2 modules (I think!).

It sounds like you are describing the two column module, but I don’t think that is what you meant. Could you post a quick mockup of what you’d like it to look like at desktop and mobile sizes?

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13

Caleb
I was reading
Request about the 2 column side by side
I have same issue
With a 1 column on left and nothing on right
And also
When I want a 2 column on left of page
And nothing on the right
I use a 4 column
Then when viewed in mobile there’s a huge empty gap
So yes this would be great

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14

At present, if you have 2 modules you would have 2 columns of text. If I wanted 2 blocks of 2 columns each I would have to use 4 modules. And If I wanted each of the 2 column ‘blocks’ to be in a coloured box it starts to get a bit complicated (for me at least!).

So basically, if there was an option to have a single module, but with the choice of having 1 or 2 columns in it.

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15

Noel,

Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee yet today, but I’m having a very difficult time visualizing what you are describing. Or, we are using different lingo. In Backdraft:

  1. A “module” is the block that contains the columns. This is a module:

  2. A “column” is one of the HTML items in a module. In the four column module, there are four column elements. This is a column:

The easiest way would be to create a quick-n-dirty mockup that I can look at.

Thanks!

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16

Think I’m using the wrong terms! I am calling each of the boxes a module - so the top example is 5 modules.

In the ‘fivetwo’ example above, we have a ‘block’ with one column of text in it, comprising of a heading, image and text - all stacked on top of each other.

What about if in this single ‘fivetwo’ block the heading and image where in a left hand column and the text was in a right hand column - all contained in what you are calling a single column.

At present if you want to have a left and right hand section you have to do 2 ‘columns’.

Sorry, not sure how to add images. Thank you for your patience.

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17

Caleb, are you going to re-activate the Buy facility. Although I’ve upgraded to F7. I’ve tried the Backdraft Demo and I like it. Certainly until Softpress release some templates to work off and try, Backdraft seems a better option.

Sorry guys but that’s how I see it.

Peter.

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18

Thanks for introducing Backdraft Caleb! I think it’s brill! The customize CSS action has been really useful too. It’s good to have the option to experiment with the code and I hope it’s still an option when you make the updates.

Thanks again!

Mog

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19

Thanks for introducing Backdraft Caleb! I think it’s brill! The customize CSS action has been really useful too. It’s good to have the option to experiment with the code and I hope it’s still an option when you make the updates.

I don’t see that going away, but it won’t be near as useful when FW handles the bulk of the heavy lifting (this is a good thing). There will still be uses for having custom CSS though, and I (and many others I think) prefer to work with a CSS file instead of Freeway’s styles dialog for layout-type work.

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