A little bug was found in Blocks 1.2 that caused a spurious "blank.gif" image to appear, but just on IE 6.x for windows.

Blocks 1.2.1 repairs that problem so you should definitely download and install this new version. No other changes, just a quick bug fix.

I've been talking about this release for a few days, well it's finally here.

But before getting to the new features, let me answer a few questions that I get all the time:
1) What does it cost?
This is a free update to registered users. It's also free to try. You can use blocks to completely publish pages with up to 4 blocks without paying anything. If you'd like to register it's $16.95 at our web store. Go get it.

2) Will I have to start all my pages again?
No way. This is a transparent update. Once installed, you'll start seeing the new features immediately. The features that change the content (like PNG support) will need a republish before they make all the way to the Web.

3) How do I update? or The update said it worked, but it didn't, help!!!
There is a bug... umm... I mean unintended behavior... that causes RapidWeaver not to update a plugin if one is already installed by the same name. You'll have to manually uninstall before installing the new one.
There are instructions for doing that are right here on this web site, and in the documentation that comes with the download. RTFM, it'll bring you good karma, I promise.


As well as fixing a number of smaller bugs Blocks 1.2 adds these new great features:

Drag Select
Drag the mouse to select one or more items. This feature was so obviously missing that no one even bothered asking for it. But I knew you wanted it anyway. It's yours.

Locking Size/Position
The size and position adjustments can now be locked in place. It's a simple way to get more precise control over your page.

Cross Platform PNG Support
With a Mac we all take for granted that the whole world is able to view just about anything on the web -- transparent images, modern formats, you name it. The sad reality is that most of our Windows using neighbors (I like to think of them as pre-switchers) still can't even view a PNG file with transparency without it corrupting their web page. That, of course, is just too much of a limitation -- so I had to fix it. With this release you'll be able to use transparent PNGs and our pre-switching friends will still get to see your beautiful pages. If only we could help them out with the rest of their OS.

Auto Cropping
If the "Show Overflowing Content" is turned off (which it is by default) an extra "guard" div is added around all the blocks content. It will keep all of your blocks inside your theme. This is a really important fix for those who will be browsing with Windows Internet Explorer (and with Internet Explorer at over 80% market share, who isn't). It makes Internet Explorer compatibility a breeze.

Auto Resizing
Instead of letting text flow out of the bounds of a block, the text is automatically resized to fit within in the block, no matter what browser or font size the user is using. You probably won't notice this feature, but that's the whole point.

Blocks is just about to get better. We're not talking earth shattering features that will make you oh and ah, but this is going to be a good release nonetheless. Before I get into all the cool new stuff, I should also mention that there's just about a week left until the discount from ScreenCastsOnline runs out. So jump over there and watch screencast #38 and get a 15% discount before time runs out.

As well as a couple small interface updates I'm going to add some big-time compatibility enhancements. What does that mean? Glad you asked:

Upgrade #1: The IE overflow problem.
If the Content Width of your blocks page is set too high to actually fit inside the content area of the theme that you're using then Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 freaks out. It starts rendering your page all over the place putting stuff here and there and everywhere. It's crazy.
Now of course you can always just go turn your content width down and that fixes the problem -- but lots of people don't -- and despite big warnings on the website and in the manual it looks like I'll get about 2 questions a day via email and one forum post per week asking why IE 6.0 is freaking out.
The fix is actually really simple. It's not necessarily guaranteed -- and the page may still generate some warnings if you really break the rules, but by and large it will render the page correctly and produce nice output no matter how crazy you get with the Content Width.

Upgrade #2: Block is to small problem.
We all know that the user is going to view your page on the platform/browser that is least like the one that you designed the page with. It's Murphy's Law. So it's no surprise that they can also turn the font size up in the browser to billboard proportions so that they can avoid their reading glasses. What this means to your web page, though is that all those carefully planned blocks will soon be too small for the monster sized text within them. What's a designer to do?
Javascript to the rescue! With Javascript we can measure the size of the block and the size of the text contained inside, then tell the browser to resize the fonts down a bit until they fit into the block -- all before the user even notices.
To tell the truth, I'm having real problems with this one. It works fine all browsers except... wait for it... Internet Explorer on the PC! Oh man, that browser is the biggest pile of crap ever produced. 1.2 may ship without Upgrade #2 working for IE 6 PC -- PC users might have to wait until 1.2.1 for pleasant looking Blocks pages. Kinda serves 'em right for using Windows. ;-)

Upgrade #3: The machine that goes PNG!
As we all know, if you try to use PNG images to show off transparency -- and really, that's the best reason for using PNG images in the first place -- then (who else) IE 6.0 PC users either can't see your creations at all or they see something that looks pretty bad. But web monkeys and CSS Zen monks know that there are ways around this limitation. You see, when IE came out they knew they were shipping without PNG support and like any self respecting MS software engineer decided that the best way to fix this glaring functional hole was to let any old web site call random DLLs on your Windows machine and display them in IE. I know, I know, it sounds like a HUGE security nightmare to let any old web page call Active X remotely -- and trust me, it is -- but being MS they had another trick up their sleeves: a totally obtuse API. Yes they made it so difficult to use that almost no one would. Until now!
Now with the simplicity of Blocks and RapidWeaver you'll be able to do what only the 1337 hackers and Nigerian bankers have been able to do, use PNG transparency in IE 6.

All these features and more will be yours in Blocks 1.2. It's a free upgrade to registered users and it's coming soon.

Today we're releasing Blocks 1.1. If you've been waiting for beta testing to complete, then this is your lucky day. We fixed a couple last minute bugs so you should really give it a download even if you have an up-to-the-minute beta version.

If you're new to Blocks then take a couple minute to check out our Blocks pages on our site, give it a download and see what you think. We think it's the best thing to web-site building since... well... since RapidWeaver itself.

Beta 10 of Blocks looks like it's working pretty well. There have been few reports of any bugs so it's now entering the final stages of release. There will be precious few, if any, changes between beta 10 and the final version 1.1, but one that will be made is becoming available today -- more documentation.

Since the early days of Blocks I've hesitated to write much down. As with my other development I find that once the tool is in the hand of a bunch of users they tend to do stuff with it that I had never really considered. My hope was that by insisting that people explore the interface and learn by doing that: #1 I'd build a much more intuitive product and #2 people would find more bugs because they'd use it in ways that I hadn't even thought about documenting.

But when the final version rolls around, people really need some details. So I've added the standard set of pages to my Blocks area. You'll find pages on Installation, a really basic Quick Start, how to Register, and a Reference that touches on every piece of the interface.

It's all pretty rough. Lots of bad grammar, just like this sentence. Probably lots of spelling errors too. Being married to a profession editor makes you a bit lazy that way. In the next few days Christi will probably rewrite a good deal of it -- so let it sit a week or so before you all send me a note saying how bad it is.

While we wait to see if Blocks Beta 10 is going to be dubbed the final version 1.1 it's a good time to update Columns and give it a header and footer.

If you use Collage you should recognize the new interface, it's almost exactly the same. I've added a new tab with two more text areas, the text areas let you add a header above the columns and a footer below. I think it's pretty much self explainatory.

Go check it out.