Is there anyone at Softpress that can direct me how to address my problems with FW5?
I created a portfolio site using FW4 Pro - works fine. Simple minimalist layout. I had help along the way from certain people on here (thanks Keith). Then I upgraded to FW5 Pro and attempted to update my sites. Oh boy, what a mistake that’s turned out to be.
Now the ‘Text link styles’ Action is broken (“known Javascript error” is the message); the image ‘group’ Action no longer works. I can still click to open the image but instead of hitting ‘N’ for ‘next image’ in the group I have to close the image and open the next. Clumsy to say the least. A huge number of previously linked images are now “missing”. Yet if I open the same document in FW4, they are there! The list goes on. Basic things to you guys maybe, but frustrating to a relative novice at site creation.
Frankly, Freeway 5 has been nothing but trouble for me and I’ve found myself refusing to use it (even though I paid good money for it). I own and manage four sites and each attempt at updating them with FW5 is nothing short of a disaster. Whereas FW4 seems to work just fine.
It’s beginning to seem that unless you’re in the right ‘clique’, no-one on this discussion board responds to a genuine request for help from a relative novice. Least of all Softpress engineers. Perhaps I should ask for a refund?
WOW… Charlief you seem really peeved at the moment so I thought I better calm things down a tad if I can…
I would like to think that nobody here only responds to people that are in there particular circle… I don’t and I am fairly sure nobody else does either.
The big problem is most of us work, so I only ever look at the forum in my tea break or when I get home and I am assuming most others do the same, plus its the holiday season so people are away. So please be patient if you can.
The other problem why people may not be responded is the sort of problems you are having could be down to multiple things so most of us will be shooting in the dark to try and figure out what’s gone on with your artwork.
I haven’t had any problems myself moving 4 artworks over to 5 though I know others have.
So my advise is if you don’t receive any fixes / help on the forum why don’t you contact the support staff directly at freeway, describing your problems and I am sure they will help. In the last resort and if all else fails… did you want me to have a look if so zip up the freeway 4 page and then send it to me and I will have a butcher at it.
It sounds like you’re being piled on, as they say in American football.
One thing you can do is remove the Text Link Styles Action – its functionality is built in to Freeway in v5. If you click on an HTML box on the page, you will see a new section at the bottom of the Style tab (paintbrush) called Links. This gives you all the function and power of the Action technique, and probably more.
Now this Image “group” action – do you have a link to that? I haven’t heard of an action that lets you navigate with the keyboard – sounds cool.
When upgrading from 4 to 5, one of the things I noticed with third-party Actions was that if I just opened the v4 document, most Actions worked, but some were hobbled. The reason they worked at all was that the Action was cached in the document (this is what Freeway does normally in all cases) but was not actually installed in Freeway 5 (which has a completely separate Actions folder in your Library/Application Support folder).
In the case of more complex Actions, especially those which rely on external script libraries and other helper files, only the core Action itself gets embedded in the document, and the external helper files are missing. This leads to JavaScript errors in the browser or pages that won’t publish.
The key is to remove the Action from the page entirely, publish the site, and then do a clean install of the Action in Freeway 5. Then re-apply the Action to the page or page element, and publish again. But don’t leave out the step of publishing without the Action – otherwise you won’t clear the cached (and broken) version out of your document.
Just to add to Walter comprehensive answer to the actions part.
If you need to (I do) you can run both apps with one set of actions but only if they are freeway 4 and freeway 5 compatible by installing the actions in the Freeway 5 library and using an alias of the folder and place it in the Freeway 4 library that way you wont have more than 1 set of actions to keep up-to date. I would only do this though once you have things settled and stable and not before.
Walter… I think you told me about that trick… :o)
Walt: That does help. Thank you. I had no idea the functionality of ‘Text Link Styles’ was now built in. The image action I described is something I’ve used for some time. It greys out the rest of the screen while displaying the image clicked on
Max: I too am at work right now and whilst I realise most people are in the same situation, sometimes - not always - but sometimes, requests for help go unanswered for long periods of time. For novices in this field, help offered here is invaluable.
I am a magazine Art Director (going on 20 years) and know all the expected applications in print back, front and sideways. But, I enjoy helping less-knowledgeable colleagues raise their skill levels. I believe it helps us all.
And I gotta tell you, within the Macintosh world, it’s something I’ve grown to expect - and rely on, when my abilities needed coaching.
No offence was intended… and thanks for your kind offer.