Norm,
Many thanks for your kind reply.
Last night I was reading the following Macworld review of Blocs 2:
Toward the end, the article mentions the caveat that PDFs cannot be added within Blocs, and that the workaround is to upload the PDFs separately, then manually type in the links to the PDFs within Blocs. I assume this is something that will be addressed in a future version?
The article also mentions the lack of a built-in FTP uploader (which is something Freeway has). Being rather adept at using the FTP client Transmit I don’t see the lack of a built-in FTP client in Blocs a show-stopper, but I must admit that for some users having built-in FTP uploading would be a significant plus.
Norm, I have another question. On Macintouch we are having a similar discussion for Freeway users about what alternatives exist. Someone there mentioned that they use a Mac app called “Mobirise” that appears to be quite similar to Blocs:
I don’t mean to put you on the spot here, but if you have any thoughts to share about how Blocs stands apart from Mobirise, I am sure others reading this would benefit from that information.
Norm,
I see that Cazoobi was founded by yourself in 2010. RapidWeaver hit the scene in 2004 and Stacks (which in my humble opinion is required to make RW usable) has been available since 2009). But you decided to move forward anyway with building Blocs. Obviously, you then felt there was something lacking in RapidWeaver+Stacks that warranted a better app. What, in your opinion, are the noticeable differences that Blocs brings to the table versus RapidWeaver+Stacks? (I ask this because there are RapidWeaver enthusiasts among us who may wish to know.)
Lastly, I would like to ask a question about the techniques used by Blocs to create Responsive sites. If you have reviewed our “Scrutinizing Sparkle thread” you will see that Caleb Grove (our resident Freeway expert on Responsive Design) points out that Sparkle does not use %-widths and therefore the page merely scales at each defined breakpoint without adjusting/reflowing text, etc. The developer of Sparkle defended such by saying that in most cases, obtaining good results across breakpoints when using %-widths is difficult, which is why Sparkle does what it does with Responsive layouts.
I opened the Blocs website (which I see was created with Blocs) in Safari and then scaled the width to minimum. I noticed that your site “bumps” content 3 times as I decrease the width, signifying the use of 3 breakpoints. And when in the final (most narrow) breakpoint, the text continuously scales as I continue to narrow the browser width to minimum. Doe this mean the narrowest breakpoint is using %-widths?
Caleb, I apologize for disturbing you, but if you have anything to ask or share on this point, seeing you are fare more versed in Responsive design than I am, we certainly would benefit from your input
And please know, Norm, that the reason I am asking questions is not to waste your time but to help myself and other Freeway users out there reading this, who are taking a serious look at Blocs versus RapidWeaver and Sparkle (and perhaps even Mobirise).
Best wishes,
James Wages
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