[Pro] New Freeway 8

Freeway
12

On 23 Aug 2018, at 17:06, freewaygal email@hidden wrote:

But really nice to know that "Fretspace " is updated.

Fretspace is a personal project that I developed when I wasn’t working for Softpress. I’m a guitarist, and I wrote Fretspace because it was a program I’d always wanted to have. If you don’t play guitar or a similar instrument it’s not for you.

I also wrote it as a way of learning Swift and Cocoa. Swift is a modern programming language that Apple introduced as a replacement for Objective C, and Cocoa is Apple’s application framework. Previous versions of Freeway are written in C++ using an old application framework (MacApp) and an old set of APIs (Carbon) that Apple have decided to discontinue.

We’re currently working on a new 64-bit version of Freeway. It’s not possible to compile a 64-bit version of Freeway 7, because it uses 32-bit APIs that Apple have abandoned. So Freeway is being rewritten from scratch. This is a major task, and (as I’ve said previously) it’s going to take us a while to complete it.

We’re also trying to support our existing users in the meantime. I reply to posts on FreewayTalk, and I deal with other support and sales issues. There are also experienced Freeway users who provide help and information here, and we’re grateful for their support.

If you decide to move on, that’s your choice and you’re free to make it. We’re grateful to users who continue to support us, but we understand that people come and go, and have always done so. I appreciate that you’ve been a Freeway user since version 3. Thank you for staying with us during that time.

I’ve worked on Freeway from the start and it’s something that I’m personally committed to. Creating a 64-bit version of Freeway is a major undertaking - even compared with previous transitions such as creating an OSX version - and it’s going to take us some time to do this.

Jeremy

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13

Thanks Jeremy, I started with version 1 of Freeway. I remain attentive to your information because I like your product. At the moment I’m using Webflow and Sketch but I will buy Freeway version 8 as soon as it becomes available … Will it be possible to integrate Sketch projects by copying and paste them in Freeway8?

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On 23 Aug 2018, at 22:15, Auguste email@hidden wrote:

Will it be possible to integrate Sketch projects by copying and paste them in Freeway8?

We’re always open to suggestions!

There are some other things we need to do first though…

Jeremy

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15

Hi Jeremy. A big selling point for Freeway is “code free” design. It’s possible that some users (such as myself) used other similar apps before Freeway to do web design such as Apple’s iWeb but outgrew them. I’d like to see Freehand open, for instance, iWeb files.

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16

Thanks, Jeremy. I imagine that some of Freeway’s users (like me) got into having a website at a later age (I’m 75) and/or, also like me, started without a shred of technical knowledge. Freeway has been invaluable to me. I just didn’t have the energy and stamina to take on a large new learning curve. User-friendly Freeway filled in the blanks nicely and still does. I’ve been on ever since Fwy Express 3.5 and Freeway has been an invaluable treasure to me and my initially low-tech brain.

Thanks for the work you’re doing to put out version 8/64-bit. Don’t feel pressured into going too fast and not getting it exactly how you want it. It’s not time-urgent. Right now I’m using a new iMac with OS High Sierra on Fwy 7 Pro. Everything has been working perfectly from the moment I moved up to OS High Sierra. I can look forward to Fwy 8, but without the time pressure, since 7 Pro is working fine as long as I remain in High Sierra.

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On 23 Aug 2018, 10:19 pm, David Damico wrote:

Hi Jeremy. A big selling point for Freeway is “code free” design. It’s possible that some users (such as myself) used other similar apps before Freeway to do web design such as Apple’s iWeb but outgrew them. I’d like to see Freehand open, for instance, iWeb files.

iWeb files will be very different to Freeway files - and if you need to understand them, you’ll probably need to ask Apple for help with deciphering it. Also worth knowing that a lot of iWeb relied on server side mechanics - those on their own servers. You could probably get a subset of functionality on a non-Apple server, but if you wanted the galleries, the blogs, the commenting, you needed Apple’s backend.

So, really, for an iWeb like product from Softpress, they’d need a major investment on server side stuff as well - hardware, software (with all the security needs that implies), and the will and resources to support it. Lord knows how much that would cost, and I guess that Softpress may not be in the position to support all of that.

Right now, I‘d be jolly happy if Freeway 8^2 just opened the Freeway 7 files I have without any fuss :slight_smile:

And, while Jeremy is cheerfully taking suggestions for what file formats to load natively, can I pitch in my own hopes for Affinity Photo and Designer? :wink:

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18

It would be great to be able to paste a clipboard object into a Freeway page, and have it become a template layer you could draw native Freeway objects above. I used to recommend to people re-building a site that they place a screenshot of the original as the page background in Freeway, and then draw over that. Something that is not a part of the actual output page would be better for this, though. I’m thinking particularly of how Illustrator lets you use a placed photo as a (automatically ghosted-back) template layer here…

Walter

On Aug 24, 2018, at 2:34 PM, Paul email@hidden wrote:

And, while Jeremy is cheerfully taking suggestions for what file formats to load natively, can I pitch in my own hopes for Affinity Photo and Designer? :wink:

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19

good to hear it’s still work in progress… if u need a real dumbass to try it out… i’m ready!
if time allouwes me, i keep waiting on 8!

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Upgraded to 7 a couple of months ago after a long break (5 years)
Ever so pleased I did.
Feels like and old friend.
Like Chroma and Exhibio as well.
Good luck with Freeway8, there’s a real market and if you can integrate product training and support into some kind of business model (Adobe) your on a ‘chicken dinner’.
Kind regards
RogerG

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21

We’re always open to suggestions!

There are some other things we need to do first though…

Jeremy

I know Jeremy there is a lot to do for Freeway 8. I would like to make further suggestions that may help for the future. After the proposal of the integration of Sketch files. I would like to draw your attention to new products that are really interesting.

Maybe Freeway 8 will adopt some features?

Flow https://createwithflow.com/
Framer X https://framer.com/x

I wish you a nice day :slight_smile:

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22

Id like to add to this conversation… I plan to stick with FW and Softpress , as a long time user there is very little I cannot accomplish with FW7. I learned early on how to build responsively from scratch from all the incredible teachers on this forum, And Jeremy has always replied to me if I needed help with something.

I also work with talented designers who are part of our FW family. It is no small feat to build this type of framework from the ground up, so thank you guys…xo
Carla

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23

Hi Jeremy, I hope things are proceeding at Softpress Towers. Still a big fan of Freeway and Softpress but you guys are more secretive than Robert Muller. Would love to have an update on Freeway 8…

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24

Sorry, it’s Robert Mueller!

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25

Yes I think it’s a good idea :slight_smile: Where are you with the development of Freeway 8? At the moment I am on Webflow but I do not like the principle of the subscription …

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A suggestion for FW8.

I think it would be very smart for Softpress to adopt the Affinity (Serif) model for FW8. Serif have run up to year long betas for their new apps (e.g. Affinity Photo). The betas are free for anyone to download and use and will continue to work up until a new one is produced, or the final shipping version is available. IOW, they’re time limited.

This has worked really well for them. People happily tried them out, because they were free. They were able to contribute to the development with feature requests, suggestions and bug reports and when they finally shipped, they continued in much the same manner and their forums are extremely active. The pricing model was also very effective versus Adobe’s software, as they understood the market and its gigantic size and potential. In my view, the same holds true for web software.

So I would love to see FW8 released as free beta software 6 months to a year prior to final shipping, with perhaps an update to Walter’s forum software, to facilitate the feedback aspects of beta/bug reports/feedback/suggestions. I think this would really build momentum prior to release.

(I have in my head a thought for Dave and his generosity, as I haven’t really posted here for a long time)

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I’m upgrading to Mojave today, and will report back after some time after installing it and running Freeway for a bit to share any issues I might have.

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So far so good, no problems. I’ve only done some minor updating of existing pages but there were no issues.

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Serif are massive. If you’re on Windows, you may have heard of them. When I told my father in law about Affinity Designer when it was in Beta, he said that Serif are a really good company to deal with, and the produce a lot of Windows based resources and software. Considering he’s on Microsoft everything the rest of the time, this seemed like a good recommendation to consider the Affinity software more seriously.

Glad I did.

Knowing how Softpress ticks internally (ex employee, also dealt with them on a freelance basis for a long time too), I’d say that a year long beta would not be something they would consider. Mostly because Softpress is much smaller, it’s certainly far smaller now than it was, and to grow and survive, it’ll need your money sooner rather than later.

They have done public betas in the past, but those have been very short - a month at the most IIRC. So the possibility of some kind of public “hands on” beta period is possible given past behaviour, but certainly not anything that should be expected.

You will recall their their demo times has always been quite generous - usually a month, and that is more than enough time to get the feel for the software and getting something decent out of it.

On 22 Oct 2018, 8:40 am, grantsymon wrote:

A suggestion for FW8.

I think it would be very smart for Softpress to adopt the Affinity (Serif) model for FW8. Serif have run up to year long betas for their new apps (e.g. Affinity Photo). The betas are free for anyone to download and use and will continue to work up until a new one is produced, or the final shipping version is available. IOW, they’re time limited.

This has worked really well for them. People happily tried them out, because they were free. They were able to contribute to the development with feature requests, suggestions and bug reports and when they finally shipped, they continued in much the same manner and their forums are extremely active. The pricing model was also very effective versus Adobe’s software, as they understood the market and its gigantic size and potential. In my view, the same holds true for web software.

So I would love to see FW8 released as free beta software 6 months to a year prior to final shipping, with perhaps an update to Walter’s forum software, to facilitate the feedback aspects of beta/bug reports/feedback/suggestions. I think this would really build momentum prior to release.

(I have in my head a thought for Dave and his generosity, as I haven’t really posted here for a long time)

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Yes Serif are a large company and have been around a long time … also producing imaging software for the Windows platform … not that I have any dealings with Windows. :slight_smile:

Really though, it’s the ‘buzz’ aspect of extended betas, that I feel has worked for them, as opposed to having a long enough ‘trial’ period. The betas aren’t about trialing the software so much as involvement in its progress and contributing in a useful way. The fact that the software is available as a free download is very important in encouraging this … but also, Serif couldn’t charge for beta software, as it’s not production ready. The real crux, is that when you are ready to hit the button on launch, you already have pent up demand, waiting for the day. Not only that, the beta base are likely to continue aiding with the effort and are not disappointed when bugs are still found to be in the shipping version. Fixing those quickly and releasing in a new build is very convincing. I had one bug that they fixed and managed to get into the next day’s build … so I had a fix within 24hrs. Impressive (if fortunate).

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Surprised to still be receiving notes from Softpress forum. Does anyone / many people still use Freeway Pro? I thought it was dead in the water.

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