SOFTPRESS/FREEWAY IS BACK.. like a Phoenix rising from the ashes

Freeway
1

Ok… a lot of people have just discovered that SoftPress has been rebooted and with that comes return of Freeway, Chroma and Exhibeo!

Personally, I am over joyed and welcome the great news… over the years I have used a vast array of different software programmes and none have been close to being a personal friend as freeway… I want it to succeed and I know there is an appetite for a peace of software that does exactly what freeway can do, so I don’t see why it can’t succeed with the support of its users. Over the backend of last year I read a fair amount of heart felt comments on the forums, a lot of people wondered if they could even move on after Softpress doors were closed…

So to all those people who didn’t upgrade, contribute, buy the templates or buy other Softpress software but still expected complete support and were devastated when everything shut shop then you are going to have to change your way of thinking… if you want the company to succeed then you are going to have to actually support it.

I suspect there has been too little in terms of a commitment of actually money/income for Softpress for too many years and if you want this company to be a success then you are going to have to get behind the software and pay for it. I saw so little commitment from its users when it was obvious that freeway would need help. Comments like “its too expensive” or “I don’t want to pay for a monthly subscription” I ask you one thing… ask yourself how much is your time worth?

If its a few pound a year then fine you can gripe about the cost of software as much as you like and download the FREE Freeway Express, but if like me, you actually value your time then a peace of software that you can use and make money with is worth a huge amount… and I don’t mean a 100 dollars every 3 or 4 years… lets face it I spend more than that going to do my weekly shopping and that doesn’t even take into account the cost of fuel getting to the supermarket.

If a client pays for you to produce a website, you spend time making the site the best it can be and they pay you for your skills to design and build it, and your knowledge of how to use it. If a year later they come back to you and say, hey i want you to upgrade our site with x, y, and z and i want you to train my new employee on how to use it, what would you say? ‘Well ok just send it all over and i will do all those things for free’ NO, i very much doubt it, you wouldn’t survive on fresh air! You will say ‘ok, it will take so many hours of my time to do those things for you including the training, that will be X amount of money’, each company or individual is the same or we would not earn money. So if you want the new Softpress to succeed then you will need to pay for it.

On another note, one thing which disappointed me even more than the closure of Softpress last summer was in the way some of our extremely talented contributors have been verbally treated, those comments and posts were quite underserving and unfair, you hide behind your words with little understanding of what you say/said and the consequences of those words. I am fairly sure we are probably not going to get ‘The Big Erns’ knowledge and expertise back to this forum and I am fairly sure Thomas Kimmich doesn’t fancy contributing much either, you need to respect contributors knowledge because they are giving you information to solve an issue you do not understand… FOR FREE!
I feel, and i hope you do too, that the loss of those knowledgeable contributors have made the the freeway forum a very much smaller place… lets try and not let that happen again, be mindful of what you say and ask for, politeness goes a long way and peoples knowledge in the forums are there out of free help, its not a right or a demand.

Lets all hope Freeway can be placed at the top of the podium were this Software deserves and that enough people will support Softpress and the forums properly… with a proper income and respect, because they give you the tools that give you the ability to make your income and survive.

Max

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

2

Well said and true Max!

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

3

True words!
So glad to hear that the Softpress team is back!
Yay, great start for 2017 :wink:

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

4

Totally agree Max! Well said and keep up the good work.

2017-02-05 11:56 GMT+01:00 purity email@hidden:

True words!
So glad to hear that the Softpress team is back!
Yay, great start for 2017 :wink:

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
Information for existing FreewayTalk / Groups.io users - Site Feedback - Softpress Talk

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
https://freewaytalk.softpress.com/person/options

5

Hi Max,

thanks for your words. If you don’t mind, I allow me to add some things:

###The community

Well - what to say. I have to admit, that some of my comments are “provoking” so I shouldn’t wonder much about some of the hefty reactions coming back. I did it - and I have to take it as is.

###The product

I remember a sentence you said quite often which sounds something like this:
“I know both. Creating by hand and using FreewayPro. But there is nothing beating the speed, wrapping things up in FreewayPro.”

I TOTALLY agreed. Hand-coding is slow and confusingly - especially by growing complexity of your grid.

But the last half year I started to question this - putting Freeway on the test bench. NOT by seeking an alternative app - you won’t find anything comparable anyway. I tried to strengthen my skills. Whether for future use or even to bring this knowledge back into Freeway.

And I have to admit, that I found a way being much more precise, quicker and more modern. The key is, that I wrote my own grid-system. It’s certainly not better than any existent but it’s mine. It’s based on theGrid I taught my subscribers in theLounge. I probably should set up a lil video screencast on it - just to avoid too much lines of word on it.

The downside? It’s not really to transfer into Freeway’s current workspace. Because it’s build on dynamics not on static. It’s build on box-sizing: border-box and it’s build on display:flex.

###The developer

I certainly am happy that FreewayPro is back, somehow. I can’t help the community discussing the advantage of positioning things absolute anymore. And I’m not willed picking up all this redundant discussions about things being in fashion years ago.

But I instantly hope, that the developers are this time INCLUDE the expertise of the contributors and not giving them the ongoing feeling being unheard.

All I can offer is:

ASK us or ask me. Ask about the things we figured out during the last half year. Create something new and do it under the term of progressive enhancement to enrich the app. Don’t mind much about a re-writing of the existing. Keep it installable as is - but think new. We have been forced to do - I expect nothing less from you.

Certainly I can’t speak for the rest though, but I’m here.

Cheers

Thomas

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

6

Hear, hear!

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

7

Very well said Thomas, and I would like to add that I think Adobe Muse (which I’m currently using) has pretty much got the responsive malarkey pretty spot-on, and it would be great if the FreewayPhoenix could incorporate something along their lines.

Trev

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

8

Personally I’d recommend Softpress to focus on one (major) app, their flagship Freeway. Freeway could be something (1) after it has been rewritten, (2) after it has been cleaned up, (3) after all ancient features have been cleared out, (4) after finally a decent UI has been introduced, (5) after a decent CSS editor has been introduced (which could be a stand alone app), (6) after at least all CSS3 and HTML5 features are fully supported, and -last but not least- (7) the list of feature requests of about a mile long that has been on the beta list for years has been dusted of and -for as long as things still are relevant- included.

Don’t even think about introducing a Freeway that just has been rewritten, but (again) just isn’t quite there yet (remember Fw7?).

Forget Exhibeo (lightyears behind in progress) and Chroma (which adds completely nothing new or rather less than existing apps). They don’t matter (for now) in their current form … rethink. The competition is behind the horizon.

Only when your app matter, really matter, you’ll catch up, keep and expand your market.

I’m not a code-wkzzard, Id like to see stuff in order to learn how to use it. Mr. Trial and Mr. Error are my mentors. I’ve been watching closely on what magic Walter, Ernie and -earlier- Dan Jasker did, and just tried to copy their work.

– Richard

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

9

Really appreciate Richards comments as always. I have got Coffee C, but have been busy on print projects to really grasp it. There were elements that I love about it, but I missed the freedoms FW offered. Like Richard, I’m not a code wizard AND I WILL NEVER BE ONE, one of the reasons I got into FW. As long as FW moves forward and can still offer the ease of use is all I am concerned with. Admittedly Responsive has design restrictions, but that’s the sign of the times - it can also be a whole lot of fun and one thing I enjoyed in Coffee Cup was the ease of seeing where the breaks points had immediate effect. I wasn’t even tempted for VIMEO or CHROMA. Exciting times ahead, Dave Streeten

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

10

I have no problem paying more for the App or an annual fee.
Billy

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

11

I’d be happy to pay an annual fee that covered all updates that were issued during that period as long as if I opted to stop paying the software still worked. The Adobe model is not attractive to me as when you stop paying your software stops working.

All the best

Gordon
http://www.gordonlow.net/

On 6 Feb 2017, at 11:32pm, billy kimmel email@hidden wrote:

I have no problem paying more for the App or an annual fee.
Billy

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:
https://freewaytalk.softpress.com/person/options

12

Hi everyone i have been reading any of peoples wishes and desires on how freeway should progress and so I thought heck I will throw in my thoughts… remember these are just my thoughts and not specifically true for anyone else.

At the moment I see a huge variety of tools which allow the website sector to build sites.
Lots are glorified HTML editors with a bolted on visual UI and other applications tend to completely hide the actual building process, so a compiler rather than editor,
and from where I am looking these two directions are ultimately the problem.
These applications are aimed purely with developers in mind and that also goes for the compilers… (there are exceptions but not many)

so why do I say that?

just think about how the market has been driven… designs have been visually condensed into fitting specific restrictions and that

  1. it needs to be responsive
  2. it needs to adhere to the google holy bible of requirements
  3. it must be quick to download
  4. it must have trixy effects like animation or parallax scrolling.

So when a software developing company sets out to create software it will have these overriding parameters in mind. A software developer has to have in mind that a user needs to create the above list or a software developer creating a compiler has to make sure that the code which is spat out on a publishing cycle can again adhere to the above list… no wander all the sites are looking the same… so little of the applications abilities has anything to do with real creative flexibility.

So many designers are brainwashed into thinking we need to use a 12 column grid here or a 16 column grid there blah blah blah and so the software direction reflects that.

You can see this to be true because all you need to do is open up the million and one templates which are available… You choose your grid and you choose your colours which of course are already specified from the google materials list etc… its all the same.
You know… the big hero image or slider, then a centered main strap-line, followed by sub-heading and that’s usually centered as well around a middle section, which contains three blocks and that’s because research has indicated people like un-even numbers, then we have another horizontal block containing bullet points and that’s all topped and tailed with a hamburger and a large footer of multiple columns … Do you recognise this design…zzz zzz

It’s not that I haven’t used ALL of the above… I have and I hate it. So what’s the answer? I don’t know but I do know, generally, sites are visually BOOOOORING.

What has given me hope though, was working with a designer in Spain, she contacted me because she needed some help on converting some of her sites for her clients so they could be made responsive.
The resulting designs have made me think… I mean really think about how the heck I was going to make those designs responsive none of those designs would fit a grid or standard. What it has shown me is that Freeways approach of construction actually didn’t hold me back as much as you may think. in fact, it worked much much better than many of the other software because freeway comes from a time in which you could design what you liked… it has the ability to be freeform.

So for me, its not so much if freeway can catch up with all the competition, but more: can the new freeway expand on allowing me to build what I want to design

Remember these are just my thought… not gospel

Max

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

13

Max…

I agree! especially where you say you had to accommodate a clients site into a responsive but keep close to their freeform design… I have had the same experience. Which is what I love about FW…

A few sites I was asked to recreate into responsive did not lose too much in the visuals… using FW I was able to come close;

I am just relieved FW will stay around, and I will continue to buy all updates
C

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

14

FreewayPro didn’t earn a living for its developers in the recent past and never will, as long as they keep up hunting for the same audience and attitudes over and over again. But probably, this all is a non-profit oriented thing and much money available. Then, I’m certainly wrong and it’s anyway not necessary investing a nickel. Who knows?

Cheers

Thomas

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

15

Hi thomas in a way you are correct.
I think to actually get the best out of freeway has meant users have had to use the extended button a lot and that makes it slow to work with especially when virtually everything is being extended so yes in a way trying to be good for both advance users and beginners comes at a price for both camps

max

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at:

16

Exactly therefore I mentioned, that the current FreewayPro should be kept up as is. Doing the bug-fix and keep it installable on upcoming OS’es. So nobody will be forced to do new things as long as he doesn’t want. (I’d even skip the Express). It is unsupported - but keeps up all the values as are. It’s then probably self-paying (and a lil bit on top).

But the new one should consider more (all).

By the way. While reading your “uniform web-sites” part, one of our company’s site came into my mind. I can’t recall when I created it but assume somewhere back in 2010 or 11 using FW 5.6.5. Whatsoever, it’s been created way before I ever heard of “responsive design”. It’s static cause I haven’t had the time to re-design it yet. Just wanted to show you (link below), cause it has all you mentioned above (Hero-Slider, Grid, …).

So to me, the current “design-approach” isn’t necessarily new. The grid helped me massively to understand “inflow” and was finally the key to make it dynamic.

It’s up to us improving the web sustainably and hasn’t much to do with applications or frameworks we’re used to use these days (at least for me). Unfortunately I’m not good enough doing so.

Cheers

Thomas

freewaytalk mailing list
email@hidden
Update your subscriptions at: