Duncan, my humble thanks not only for your detailed replies, but for your kindness in extending a 15% discount off Sparkle to us. Once again, for you folks who might have missed it, Duncan (developer of Sparkle) is offering the discount here:
I would also like to add, Duncan, that Thomas is someone whom I consider a “Responsive genius” among us. He used Freeway to accomplish things I could only dream of, and that remained true even after I watched his videos on GridMeister. I’ve been a Freeway user since version 2 back in 1999, but my poor brain is handicapped in that I’ve never been able to figure out how to use Freeway (or rather, how to ENJOY using Freeway) to create truly responsive sites like Thomas, Ernie S., and others here. Those folks may chide me (if not but in their hearts) about my having “not spent enough time on learning it,” like they did. And they’re right. But I lack the time and desire to learn it. I may know how to code in Assembly on a PIC MCU, but that doesn’t mean I want to be a web coder. Not in the least!
“WYSIWYG” being deemed “dead” or not, I nevertheless want to pour my right brain on the web in as painless a way as possible, yet yielding a truly responsive website result, without bloated code, and with a very beautiful to behold look. Except for the left-brained coders, I think that’s what we all want (the majority of people who need to create or modify websites).
Let it also be know that I am not a full time web designer. Web design is only a tiny part of my job. So even though I’ve been using Freeway since 1999, I’ve never had my job description changed such that I have become a web-designer-only. People who design web sites for a living, living and breathing that almost exclusively, will perhaps think differently than I do. And that’s okay. I am just saying for the record who I am and what I want to accomplish.
Yes, I’ve heard that some full time web designers are called upon by big corporations to create only a Foundation website or only a Bootstrap website. In that case, those full time web designers may need to buy more than one web design tool to help them. But that doesn’t relate to me. I couldn’t care less if it is Bootstrap or Foundation or Thomas’ Gridmeister. I just want a truly responsive site that looks great and is easy to build and is easy to modify. Modify being the key word seeing that I often need to make modest edits fast and get those uploaded with only 5 or 10 minutes to spare.
I have been participating in FreewayTalk for years, but never more than now. Now that Freeway is no longer updated or supported, I am scrambling to decide what to do. And I am not embarrassed or ashamed at telling the world my thoughts. So here they are…
I like many thinks about Sparkle.
I like many things about Blocs.
Pinegrow is only useful to me as a last resort HTML importer that allows feeble-brained folk like me to make minor edits easily.
From what I’ve read about apps other than those 3, I am not in the least bit interested in those.
I am still using Freeway for now, but would like to get started on a fully responsive site soon, prompting me to choose either Sparkle or Blocs.
Sparkle Pro is, for a limited time to us here, 15% off the $79.99 retail price, making it $67.99. Sparkle, to me, is similar to Freeway in some respects and may be a somewhat painless move for some. Sparkle also has a trial app that is limited by number of pages and a watermark, but it is free to use forever. That is very helpful for people really wanting to test the app (which requires more than just 5 days).
Blocs Personal also retails for $79.99, but there is no discount being offered (to my knowledge), and the trial version limits you to a shocking 5 days. It looks a bit easier to use than Sparkle, but then you have less flexibility than Sparkle too. The Blocs UI is lovely to behold, and like Kentucky Fried Chicken, there is something mysterious about it that makes you crave it.
And there you have it.
marka,
Does our recent dialog help? If you or others have any additional questions, let them be known. This thread is about Sparkle. Duncan has been very helpful. And even though Thomas disagrees on certain points, his input is necessary and helpful too. No one wants to merely sing to the choir. We want to hear all sides and examine Sparkle objectively.
Thanks to all who have kindly contributed to this thread to date.
James Wages
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