Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
The only way I’ve been able to make sense of Xway is by opening their Ambient Light Xway document and deconstructing it. Yes, video tutorials would be nice but you can learn quite a bit by studying the Ambient Light doc. They may have held off making videos, partly for time’s sake, but also because this is not the final version of Xway.
Dan Brown
On Mar 13, 2021, at 10:04 PM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
The Ambient and Amber Light documents were constructed using the steps described in the Xway tutorial (available from our website).
I agree that it would be nice to have video tutorials, but we don’t currently have the resources to do that - and Xway is also a moving target (I’ve updated the PDF tutorial for each new version)
As another dyslexic I’m going to second this. I’m a visual learner. I truly have tried reading the documents and tutorial but it’s been a frustrating trouble.
My own hunch is that a large portion of the people eattracted to original Freeway were visual learners.
I understand that at this stage of Xway’s developments things are in flux but video tutorials don’t have to be “polished.” Simple screen casts walking through some functions and a basic web page design would be so helpful.
Craig
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:04 AM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
On Mar 14, 2021, at 10:42 AM, Craig Seeman <email@hidden> wrote:
As another dyslexic I’m going to second this. I’m a visual learner. I truly have tried reading the documents and tutorial but it’s been a frustrating trouble.
My own hunch is that a large portion of the people eattracted to original Freeway were visual learners.
I understand that at this stage of Xway’s developments things are in flux but video tutorials don’t have to be “polished.” Simple screen casts walking through some functions and a basic web page design would be so helpful.
Craig
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:04 AM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
On Mar 14, 2021, at 10:42 AM, Craig Seeman <email@hidden> wrote:
As another dyslexic I’m going to second this. I’m a visual learner. I truly have tried reading the documents and tutorial but it’s been a frustrating trouble.
My own hunch is that a large portion of the people eattracted to original Freeway were visual learners.
I understand that at this stage of Xway’s developments things are in flux but video tutorials don’t have to be “polished.” Simple screen casts walking through some functions and a basic web page design would be so helpful.
Craig
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:04 AM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:42 PM, Craig Seeman <email@hidden> wrote:
As another dyslexic I’m going to second this. I’m a visual learner. I truly have tried reading the documents and tutorial but it’s been a frustrating trouble.
My own hunch is that a large portion of the people eattracted to original Freeway were visual learners.
I understand that at this stage of Xway’s developments things are in flux but video tutorials don’t have to be “polished.” Simple screen casts walking through some functions and a basic web page design would be so helpful.
Craig
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:04 AM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
Can I put the other side please - I hate video tutorials. They’re so difficult to follow. The written word can be looked at again, and again, until it makes sense. And I can go back to it in six months when I’ve forgotten what it said. I’ve been using this lockdown to learn Xway and to learn a lot more about css etc. Last week I’d never heard of flex-box - this week I’m an expert (well, nearly!)
Keep up the good work - looking forward to the next update and hoping for tables.
Alan
···
On 14/03/2021 19:31, Robert Mitton wrote:
Craig, I totally agree.
Robert
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:42 PM, Craig Seeman <email@hidden> wrote:
As another dyslexic I’m going to second this. I’m a visual learner. I truly have tried reading the documents and tutorial but it’s been a frustrating trouble.
My own hunch is that a large portion of the people eattracted to original Freeway were visual learners.
I understand that at this stage of Xway’s developments things are in flux but video tutorials don’t have to be “polished.” Simple screen casts walking through some functions and a basic web page design would be so helpful.
Craig
On Mar 14, 2021, at 1:04 AM, Robert Mitton <email@hidden> wrote:
Trying to wrap my extremely dyslexic mind around Xway. If I can see how to do something rather than trying to figure out something by reading text (which is a bummer way to do things) it would be a great way to learn how to use this Freeway Pro “replacement”.
I have a bad feeling that Xway is not going to be as intuitive, or as visually easy to understand as Freeway was for me.
I know I need a modern replacement for my trusty Freeway Pro 7, but I don’t want to be tearing my quite long hair out by the roots while trying to figure this all out. Will you all please be making some tutorial videos, asap?
I am a visual designer and have come to the same conclusion as some other Freeway users concerning Xway (and its tutorials). Regrettably after trying to do a preliminary update in Xway for my sites, I have had to move to a more visual platform. The replacement program is not as extensive as the old Freeway, but when commercial pressures are involved you just need to get the job done.
Video are really annoying, because they’re so slow to get to the point. Written are annoying, because they’re often arcane and poorly written. Of course, we’ve learned to zap through video and to skim-read written, although often in the end… it would have been faster just to work through the process whilst only quietly muttering complaints to ourselves, under our breath.
My personal view of the XWay tutorial, is that following it step-by-step, is actually a very efficient way to learn the basics. The only video tutorials I’ve ever just sat through without complaining (to myself) are from Affinity Photo. They’ve put a lot of effort into them though and it shows.
I like the Mac’s iWork UI, which XWay employs, especially that the depth can be hidden until needed. Sort of the diametric opposite of the Microsoft approach, which visually, is sort of like trying to unravel linguini. My wife has used for Word for 25 years and every time I look at it, I feel like I’m being punished.
I agree 100%, simple tutorial videos please if at all possible! Videos for dummies like me.
Understood completely that resources are limited but, as someone here commented, videos do not need to be polished, or even in depth. Getting us started with the basics would in my view get a lot of people over that initial hurdle. The whole point of Freeway is that it is relatively easy and intuitive (I have still struggled a great deal!) so this is presumably what most of us here are looking for.
I agree 100%, simple tutorial videos please if at all possible! Videos for dummies like me.
Understood completely that resources are limited but, as someone here commented, videos do not need to be polished, or even in depth. Getting us started with the basics would in my view get a lot of people over that initial hurdle. The whole point of Freeway is that it is relatively easy and intuitive (I have still struggled a great deal!) so this is presumably what most of us here are looking for.
The reference manual for looking up specifics should be the number 1 priority. (Not suggestion it isn’t, just noting what’s the most critically important.)
When it comes to video tutorials almost every single one takes FAR too long to get to the point. Even if they don’t, it’s usually a few minutes of something that I could have learned from 20 seconds of reading. Not always but usually.
I use a 360 tour building tool that has no reference manual or even near equivalent. Instead the company has put a lot of time and effort into creating loads of video ‘tutorials’. These are, frankly, only one step shy of utterly useless. If they were teamed up with a regular reference manual they’d be fine, but on their own? I know for documented fact that this has and is causing them lost sales. If just one method is used for helping users use software it should NEVER be videos only.
I teach people to drive. Throughout the teaching profession, whether in my job or classroom teaching, students learn differently. Some may have heard to the V.A.R.K. acronym.
V visual learning
A audio learning
R reading learning
K kinetic learning
You can mix and match or take each heading separately. We all learn differently:
one size definitely doesn’t fit all.
The reference manual for looking up specifics should be the number 1 priority. (Not suggestion it isn’t, just noting what’s the most critically important.)
When it comes to video tutorials almost every single one takes FAR too long to get to the point. Even if they don’t, it’s usually a few minutes of something that I could have learned from 20 seconds of reading. Not always but usually.
I use a 360 tour building tool that has no reference manual or even near equivalent. Instead the company has put a lot of time and effort into creating loads of video ‘tutorials’. These are, frankly, only one step shy of utterly useless. If they were teamed up with a regular reference manual they’d be fine, but on their own? I know for documented fact that this has and is causing them lost sales. If just one method is used for helping users use software it should NEVER be videos only.
I teach too. The whole ‘learning styles’ concept is something of an academic debate topic and has been for a while, but as with most arguments I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle: very few people are purely one style, but this is a ‘thing’ and we do all have our own preferences. In the end most of us benefit from a mix, and there’s no substitute for learning by doing (once you’re at a point where doing is practical).
Hi,
I did a simple web page for client some 10-15 years ago, and used Freeway for this. Since then, I´ve only done monthly small updates for the client. When I got to the point that I really needed to update to MacOS Catalina (and maybe Big Sur) I realised that I had to move on. I downloaded a free trial of Everweb and saw that I would have to relearn, and even with all their videos, some reading was important. So, I decided to stick with Xway and see if could get the hang of it. I did the Ambient web page by reading the tutorial for this, and got the important, basic stuff. I then used that start to make a new version of my existing page and I put a couple of days into this. A few glances at the tutorial and the user guide got me through and I now have an existing new web site, waiting to be approved by my client and to be uploaded with Cyberduck to the web hotel. I did have a lot of tables (that I skipped and used a different method to display things) and also graphics with links to different sites that I couldn´t get to work but besides this I´m happy I took the effort in reading the simple tutorial. My web page is certainly simple, and I am sure many of you need much more out of the program, but I`m happy with it and will stick to Xway. I really look forward to Master pages, tables perhaps and a built-in upload function and of course, videos could an additional help for me and others.
Cheers!
Med vänlig hälsning,
Per Olsson
Berguvsgatan 6, 234 32 Lomma email@hidden
15 mars 2021 kl. 12:57 skrev Peter A-B <email@hidden>:
I teach people to drive. Throughout the teaching profession, whether in my job or classroom teaching, students learn differently. Some may have heard to the V.A.R.K. acronym.
V visual learning
A audio learning
R reading learning
K kinetic learning
You can mix and match or take each heading separately. We all learn differently:
one size definitely doesn’t fit all.
The reference manual for looking up specifics should be the number 1 priority. (Not suggestion it isn’t, just noting what’s the most critically important.)
When it comes to video tutorials almost every single one takes FAR too long to get to the point. Even if they don’t, it’s usually a few minutes of something that I could have learned from 20 seconds of reading. Not always but usually.
I use a 360 tour building tool that has no reference manual or even near equivalent. Instead the company has put a lot of time and effort into creating loads of video ‘tutorials’. These are, frankly, only one step shy of utterly useless. If they were teamed up with a regular reference manual they’d be fine, but on their own? I know for documented fact that this has and is causing them lost sales. If just one method is used for helping users use software it should NEVER be videos only.
The problem with the tutorial is the total lack of illustrations of the actual document being constructed or even the final result. You don’t know what it is supposed to look like therefore you don’t know if you have done something incorrectly until several pages later when something is not working out as it should. Videos would be nice but also, please add some illustrations.