Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way - but $49 to go from 5.42 to 5.5 seems like a lot to me considering I’ve had the product for less than a year. I am still in the “experimental” stages of using it - and if this is typical of the pricing strategy may never go beyond that.
If the upgrade is really worthy of this price tag then why is it not a full release rather than a point release?
well maybe ya are …
maybe i’m the only one that feels this way - but $49 to go from 5.42 (which was a freebie) to 5.5 sounds like only a 12 pack. and considering i’ve not done snot with the product for about a year, if they keep offering such reasonable upgrades, i may continue my program of not doing much of anything in the future.
49 bucks, call it 50. subtract the 30 you’d need to cough up for a gallery action, and it’s 20 dollars. that’s about three beers at the ef’n airport. give the boys a break, they gotta eat ya know.
i work for a living, am building my first site and it’s slow going i might add, and currently fighting a bedbug infestation to boot. and I think 50 bucks is rather a bit too cheap considering the relative dearth of software bugs and the amount/quality of INSTANTANEOUS tech support avail at the literal touch of a button.
and .. if they tossed in another release point, they’d have to bore you the full monty, like those asswipes in seattle.
question :
when i go to 5.5, do i need to replace that big thick reference manual i bought along with 5.x , or .. does the new short book clear up the differences in detail ?
Hi Peter
the 5.5 supplement has all the extra’s in it so no don’t throw away the old 5 manual as its still perfectly valid… oddly enough I kept all my old manuals and box going way back to the beginning…
For people who are wondering if the upgrade is worth it…
Well that’s going to have to be a personal choice. There is a demo so you can test it to see if you can make use of all the new goodies.
For me personally the Relative Page Layout is a god send and for all those that have struggled with inline / box model layout… then its a great advancement…
Up until I used it I couldn’t see how freeway were going to be able to get the css layout system to work as effortlessly as the table layout method… but thev’e done it… and more importantly IT WORKS…Yipeeee
it’s not to say that you can forget about how to do it manually as there will always be occasions when creating this by hand is going to be an advantageous.
One area that freeway had the potential of being better than any other program out there, including dreamweaver, was in producing email ready html… all it needed was the html honed to this demanding and confusing sector. Well that now been done… and it works a lot better than my action!! so if you have to or want to design compliant emails, with descent code then this is an absolute must.
If you add things in like: Freeway Showcase, site mapper, a javascript site search action and from what I have read a total of 70 new or improved features then I would say its a bargain.
Personally the upgrade cost is (compared to say mmmmm adobe) is tiny…
This is just my opinion and I know other will disagree. All I would say is test it out with demo and see if all the new features are going to be useful.
What might have been an interesting idea is if they released 5.5 as a regular software update and then these Actions could be a bundle sold separately where you had the option to buy that and still continue to receive regular updates through the 5.x versions.
I have never been a big supporter of buying an upgrade package to fix bugs in a particular software that I couldn’t change or do anything about. That’s not fair. Plus the upgrade to 5.5, in reality, is an actions bundle that you could still use Freeway 5.5 as a whole without them. Am I right?
Not many companies I know only go half-way in their versions and then charge you at the half way mark. Typically it’s through a complete version number cycle before the big cha-ching comes in.
An interesting thought that might make customers happy in knowing their product has some longevity, plus Softpress has the opportunity to sell Action bundles to those who could really use them.
Sometime around 4/8/10 (at 16:27 -0400) Jon Paris said:
If the upgrade is really worthy of this price tag then why is it not
a full release rather than a point release?
Try not to look at the version number so hard. Look instead at the
features on offer. Also consider this: if the announced features
(i.e. easy ways to do X, Y and Z) were instead available as
commercial Action add-ons, say at $10 or $15 each, would you consider
some of 'em? And then consider that these features are properly
integrated and supported as part of the core application itself…
I fully understand your disinclination to spend more on something
that you bought relatively recently, but this is really just an
accident of timing. Freeway upgrade costs over the years haven’t been
at all high. So don’t worry, this isn’t a frequent hidden tax on
Freeway users.
Sometime around 5/8/10 (at 03:30 -0400) Dan J said:
What might have been an interesting idea is if they released 5.5 as
a regular software update and then these Actions could be a bundle
sold separately
This sounds not dissimilar to the ol’ Action Packs that were offered
some years back. Frankly, I never want to go down that road again!
Not only did this effectively fragment the user base (far more than
the Pro/Express divide does), it was a PITA to administer from just
about every possible angle.
Forget what the version numbers are. $49 after a very long time with
no upgrade costs ain’t bad.
Sometime around 4/8/10 (at 16:27 -0400) Jon Paris said:
If the upgrade is really worthy of this price tag then why is it not a full release rather than a point release?
Try not to look at the version number so hard. Look instead at the features on offer. Also consider this: if the announced features (i.e. easy ways to do X, Y and Z) were instead available as commercial Action add-ons, say at $10 or $15 each, would you consider some of 'em? And then consider that these features are properly integrated and supported as part of the core application itself…
I fully understand your disinclination to spend more on something that you bought relatively recently, but this is really just an accident of timing. Freeway upgrade costs over the years haven’t been at all high. So don’t worry, this isn’t a frequent hidden tax on Freeway users.
If you are not too serious about web design and are just doing something for yourself I can understand the reluctance to shell out more. Just ask yourself if you really need the extras - and when you will need them. They are good value.
If you take web design seriously, especially as a business, the cost is relatively peanuts for what you get and compared to what other mainstream software publishers charge, especially as Softpress have a good record on maintenance upgrades for bug fixing, tweaks and additional features at no cost. Plus generous technical support.
No one is forced to buy any upgrade, but from several posts in FreewayTalk alone, it is evident that those who lag too far behind have to go through the most hoops to achieve what they want.
It’s ridiculously easy to make the equivalent of a box model layout compared to way we’ve done it before. Tests so far look good.
–
David
On 5 Aug 2010, at 07:09, max wrote:
For me personally the Relative Page Layout is a god send and for all those that have struggled with inline / box model layout… then its a great advancement…
With a couple super quick tests I found the relative page layout action worked well on new designs but on older designs trying to apply this action was far less successful. The result was a mangled page before even trying to enlarge the text.
I like the new ability to create a gallery or slideshow and feel this is long overdue. I haven’t had a chance to check so far but I wonder if it is possible to remove the image numbers (not captions) I was seeing on each image. Not everybody wants to see a number pasted onto each image.
With a couple super quick tests I found the relative page layout action worked well on new designs but on older designs trying to apply this action was far less successful. The result was a mangled page before even trying to enlarge the text.
Due to the complexities possible in Freeway, certain layouts will work better than others. Take a look at the new templates (which all use the RPL Action in Pro) to get an idea of what can be done. Generally speaking you should stick to grid based layouts with rows, and columns (this should be the case even without the RPL Action).
We plan to make more detailed information available on the KnowledgeBase soon.
I like the new ability to create a gallery or slideshow and feel this is long overdue. I haven’t had a chance to check so far but I wonder if it is possible to remove the image numbers (not captions) I was seeing on each image. Not everybody wants to see a number pasted onto each image.
Currently it isn’t possible to do this, no. I will add it to the suggestions database though (along with the ability to hide the controls too)
I had noticed that the action worked well on the new template designs and I shall try to get a feel for what is possible with a new design I have planned for a website.
Until this action was introduced I admit I was having problems recently seeing the sense of using Freeway for much of my work. The simple method of visually designing a page without the need of coding was great in principal but no good to me if it broke as soon as the text was enlarged. The box model was tricky and time consuming though, so sometimes it just made more sense to hire somebody and I had really become a very occasional user. Overall I think this is a very positive step forwards and the one single feature above all others that I was looking for in Freeway, so I bought the upgrade immediately.
For the picture galleries, yes please let us have an option to remove those numbers a.s.a.p. As a photographer and therefore perhaps one of the more likely candidates to use this option I would say that having image numbers might be useful in a small number of cases but many would feel it is a rather unnecessary distraction most of the time. I certainly wouldn’t want numbers on my images if presenting them to clients as part of a portfolio. I still have to run some tests to see how the galleries and slideshows will work if I add additional text or graphics to the pages.
This sounds not dissimilar to the ol’ Action Packs that were offered some years back. Frankly, I never want to go down that road again! Not only did this effectively fragment the user base (far more than the Pro/Express divide does), it was a PITA to administer from just about every possible angle.
Forget what the version numbers are. $49 after a very long time with no upgrade costs ain’t bad.
While I agree with Keith that perhaps Action packs are not a viable option on the flip-side you have to consider clients who own Freeway and that’s where I come in.
I have several clients who are not going to upgrade their Freeway for several honorable reasons and so I’m left having to keep an old version of Freeway lying around to make sure their files can still be updated in the version they are using (still rolling Freeway 3 & 4 for other clients).
I on the other hand would love to use the upgrade, but I have to back pedal here to make sure my clients can stay up and running. It’s one of the only reasons I still have Express installed and I thought it would be easier to release a pack or bundle of Actions versus going through 10 or so updates and then dropping a price tag. Which is totally fine for Softpress, if they feel that business model is fair then who am I to judge, but I would hope they’d consider these kinds of situations or try and make sure these point updates are backwards compatible.
I had noticed that the action worked well on the new template
designs and I shall try to get a feel for what is possible with a
new design I have planned for a website.
Until this action was introduced I admit I was having problems
recently seeing the sense of using Freeway for much of my work. The
simple method of visually designing a page without the need of
coding was great in principal but no good to me if it broke as soon
as the text was enlarged. The box model was tricky and time
consuming though, so sometimes it just made more sense to hire
somebody and I had really become a very occasional user. Overall I
think this is a very positive step forwards and the one single
feature above all others that I was looking for in Freeway, so I
bought the upgrade immediately.
Has anyone got a website up that uses Relative Page Layout Action? I’d
sure like to see it. (haven’t downloaded the demo yet).
I don’t know that the upgrade is worth the cost, but the new features are most welcome regardless, and the cost seems relatively low.
However, my feeling is it took Softpress far too long to release this after so long a wait from the original release of FW 5. It just seems too little for such a long wait. Definitely a beneficial update though.
http://softpress.com/tny/7lf shows the Relative Page Layout Action, a new template and the Showcase gallery in Action all in one place.
Hope this helps,
Joe
On 5 Aug 2010, at 16:59, Steve Kane wrote:
On Aug 5, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Ashley wrote:
I had noticed that the action worked well on the new template designs and I shall try to get a feel for what is possible with a new design I have planned for a website.
Until this action was introduced I admit I was having problems recently seeing the sense of using Freeway for much of my work. The simple method of visually designing a page without the need of coding was great in principal but no good to me if it broke as soon as the text was enlarged. The box model was tricky and time consuming though, so sometimes it just made more sense to hire somebody and I had really become a very occasional user. Overall I think this is a very positive step forwards and the one single feature above all others that I was looking for in Freeway, so I bought the upgrade immediately.
Has anyone got a website up that uses Relative Page Layout Action? I’d sure like to see it. (haven’t downloaded the demo yet).
Sorry, too used to writing “action” with a leading capital letter in our documents
On 5 Aug 2010, at 17:31, Joe Billings wrote:
http://softpress.com/tny/7lf shows the Relative Page Layout Action, a new template and the Showcase gallery in Action all in one place.
Hope this helps,
Joe
On 5 Aug 2010, at 16:59, Steve Kane wrote:
On Aug 5, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Ashley wrote:
I had noticed that the action worked well on the new template designs and I shall try to get a feel for what is possible with a new design I have planned for a website.
Until this action was introduced I admit I was having problems recently seeing the sense of using Freeway for much of my work. The simple method of visually designing a page without the need of coding was great in principal but no good to me if it broke as soon as the text was enlarged. The box model was tricky and time consuming though, so sometimes it just made more sense to hire somebody and I had really become a very occasional user. Overall I think this is a very positive step forwards and the one single feature above all others that I was looking for in Freeway, so I bought the upgrade immediately.
Has anyone got a website up that uses Relative Page Layout Action? I’d sure like to see it. (haven’t downloaded the demo yet).
Hi paul here is a page that’s been made in RPL
its really really simple but it only took just minutes to layout… its all gridded up like a table but each item is in own div
