I keep noticing more and more screencasts popping up here and there that cover our plugins. And the best part is that I’m not even doing the work! A few have popped up about Blocks and since we released a new version of Blocks a few days ago, it seems like perfect timing.

I’ve mentioned it on the forum a couple times, but there’s cool one about Blocks from Support Casts, it cover Blocks Master Pages.

Check it out: Blocks Master Pages from Support Casts

They also have a cool one for embedding a YouTube video. It’s not specifically about Blocks, it will work anywhere in RapidWeaver, but it’s cool enough that I thought it was worth mentioning.

Check it out: YouTube Video embedding


But that’s not all, Ryan Smith from RapidWeaver Classroom has been pumping out a whole bunch of videos. There’s a bunch that are Blocks related, too.

Here’s a great one on the Image Text block.

Check it out: Image Text from RapidWeaver Classroom

And here’s one all about how to use the Blocks Library -- a really easy feature, that not too many people use as much as they could.

Check it out: Blocks Library from RapidWeaver Classroom

They have a ton more RapidWeaver related videos too. Here’s a list of everything they’ve posted to YouTube: All the RapidWeaver Classroom videos.


I’ve linked to the YouTube versions of these, but make sure that you jump to over to their real sites. Both have high-resoltuion versions of the tutorials that are much easier to follow. And be generous, send ‘em a few bucks to show how much you appreciate all their hard work.
Or at least stop by the RapidWeaver forum and say thanks to Ryan and Larry.

Yep, you heard us. Collage 1.2 is free to use, free to publish, no restrictions, no time limits. Jump on over to the Collage page and grab a copy.

What’s the Catch?

As you might have heard, Collage 2 is coming very soon. It’s just around the corner. But Collage 2 is more than a just an upgrade. It’s an entirely new plugin. It’s so different that instead of just a regular upgrade we designed Collage 2 to load as a completely new plugin. You’ll be able to use both Collage 1 and Collage 2 pages on the same site.
So Collage 1 will be free and Collage 2 will be introduced in a few weeks. And no, it will not be free.

Answers to all your Collage 2 Questions

Can I get Collage 2 today?

No. It’s still in private beta testing. Soon, though. We promise.

What’s new in Collage 2?

That’s a secret. You’ll just have to wait... ...ok, I’m like completely bad at keeping secrets, that was as long as I could hold it in... ...it’s got a new lightbox, a slideshow, cool graphical frames, savable styles, rounded corners, a great new interface to let you customize everything, and a whole lot more. I’ll post more to this blog as we get closer to the release.

What are the requirements for Collage 2?

Collage 2 will only work with RapidWeaver 4. Collage 2 takes advantage of the great new RapidWeaver 4 plugin interface to do some really cool stuff. Rumor has it that RapidWeaver 4 will be a free upgrade, though, so as soon as it’s released you’ll be all set.

How much?

If you’ve purchased Collage in the last three months, Collage 2 will be a free upgrade.
If you purchased Collage before that, then it will be a $7.95 upgrade.
If you’re new to Collage it will be $14.95

Do I have to upgrade?

No. Of course not. We’re even making sure that Collage 1 will continue to work with the new version of RapidWeaver. But, we think we’ve made this new version of Collage so great that you won’t be able to resist!

Will upgrading change all my pages?

No. Collage 2 is a totally new plugin. Your Collage 1 pages will remain as they are. Since Collage 2 supports larger images for slideshows and lightboxes, it didn’t make sense to just “upgrade” the pages. It’s best to start Collage 2 pages from scratch, from the original images -- that way you’ll get the best quality output.

If I download the free version can I upgrade for free?

Umm... no. We actually have to feed our families, too. That means occasionally we ask for a little bit of money. In return we try to make the software absolutely great, totally irresistible, and super fun to use. Our hope is that after you’ve tried it out $15 will seem like a bargain.

This weekend I might be a bit slow to return some email messages. I'll be out of the office, away from my desk, and nowhere near civilization at all.

From time to time I like to get out in the wilderness and see the trees. So this weekend I'll be backpacking a ways through the Santa Cruz mountains. I leave Friday morning for the woods and if all goes well I should emerge down near the coast a few days later.

While I'm away Christi will be handling the critical email messages, but if it's a technical or HTML question and you need an answer before Monday you may want to check the RapidWeaver forum. There's some really bright guys over there.

Remember, there are lots of other great ways to get the info you need too. We've got a great Wiki, our very own forum, a FAQ, and even some cool screencasts. And when all else fails you can RTFM. ;-)

I'm going to lug my big camera along with me, so I promise to bring back some nice pictures. And if you ask really nice I might even post my Moleskine journal pages too.

New Style

Today I'm introducing a new look to the YourHead website. The shocking orange had grown stale and I've been in the mood for something a bit calmer and easier on the eyes. Something that would make it easier to read all the content.

New Home

The biggest change is to the front page. I decided to break with my tradition of no-hand-coding. This time, for the front page only, I've done a bit of extra Javascript to build the animations.
So, I've cheated a bit, but the results are really nice. Some slick animations and a simple way to jump to anywhere in the site. From one quickly loading page you can now get info on any product, buy any product, download any product and jump over to the main info pages too, like this blog. The information density on the front page is huge, but the page stays really quite simple. Of course, I did the initial layout of the page in Blocks, then opened the HTML and injected a bit of hand optimized code. Now the homepage lives in a RapidWeaver HTML page, so you can rest assured that the whole site is still published with RapidWeaaver.

New Documentation

I've always thought that a wiki is the perfect way to take advantage of the vast amount of info that the RapidWeaver forum generates. There's so much great information that gets buried in the forums. I wanted a place that anyone could easily capture the best of those discussions and save it for others to see. It's not quite empty, but the info in the wiki right now is still pretty basic. If you want to add a tutorial or find a way to contribute, then just do it. I've left editing privileges wide open. Just sign in and start typing.

New Structure

Our site has grown very organically since our early days of just one plugin. It was time to reorganize a bit. There are probably more than a few broken links here and there. If you notice something out of place, just let us know.

All the MacZot! deals are done. The sales are over. And we're still trying to clean up from all the celebrating that's been happening since last week. I sure hope you enjoyed it -- and got some good deals while they were around. If you didn't, don't worry, there's still our mega-bundle -- it's still a pretty sweet deal.

Did you get it?
On Thursday Blocks was on MacZOT! -- but don't worry if you missed it -- we're not done celebrating yet. Now is your chance to complete your suite of YourHead plugins. We're running a weeklong 25% off sale on every single plugin. No bundles, no gimmicks, just a good deal.

But don't wait too long, this insanity will only last through the weekend, then we'll be back to normal.

Just use the coupon code: AFTERZOT

One Day Only!
Today, August 30th 2007, Blocks is on sale at MacZot! If you act fast you can get Blocks at a ridiculously low price: Half Off. MacZot! runs a 24-hour sale on something new every day, it's always a shockingly low price, and once the 24 hours are done the sale ends... no exceptions. Now is your chance to get Blocks on this 24-hour super sale, but act quick, it'll be gone before you know it.
Go Get It Quick

Complete the Zot!
MacZot is offering a half off of Blocks, so we figured we'd offer HALF OFF ALL THE OTHER PLUGINS. It's a super deal, but like MacZot! it will only last for 24-hours. If you wait until tomorrow and you'll definitely have to pay more for the same stuff. That's just the way this sale thing works.
Get More Info

Oh, and there's just One More Thing™
We've been hard at work on a super secret project with Mike from YabDab. Mike's helping me out with his web commerce expertise and I'm lending a bit of Cocoa. Together we're going to bring you a super simple way to build a web commerce site using PayPal. Things are still pretty rough around the edges, but with a bit more elbow grease we're planing on bringing you something easy to use, powerful, browser independent, and of course, bug free.
We've put together a sneak preview.
Check It Out

We're hard at work on a new Accordion build. It's still a ways off yet and we're trying to make sure we've got everyone's suggestions for what else too add. So if there's an Accordion feature that you've been dying for, and we don't support it yet, now is the time to be heard. Send us an email and let us know.

Some things are already complete and a few have been summarily cut from the list for a variety of reasons, some are on the edge -- should I do it or not?

For sure:
Open on hover

Maybe:
Hover images/backgrounds

No way:
Horizontal

Obviously we'll be reworking things to work with the new version of Mootools. It changes a few items and a couple things had to be rewritten, but I think it's safe to say that Newer MooTools == Better MooTools.

The guys at RealMacSoftware just updated their site showcase page. I think all of the sites use YourHead plugins somewhere, but one site in particular uses Blocks and looks really cool. Check out the simple design, inclusion of graphics, text, and white-space. Love this site.
Check it out: e-glue

Blocks 3.0 introduced 4 very large features and they've dominated most of the forum posts, screencasts, and blogging. But there were a lot of additions to Blocks 3.0 that flew in under the radar. So I figured I'd blog about a few.

First up is a much requested feature: the grid. It's just an alignment grid, but used in conjunction with the guides and the Snap-To feature it can make laying out a page a whole lot easier.

To turn on the grid, open up the Blocks Inspector and select the Settings tab. Here you can turn on the grid by selecting Show Grid and enable snapping by choosing Snap To Grid. Snapping allows blocks to jump a few pixels when they get close to a grid line. In Blocks 3.0 snapping also works when resizing with the handles. Of course you can also specify exactly how bit you'd like the grid to be. I keep mine set at 25px, but you can make it different for each Blocks page.

Want to learn more about Blocks. Visit the online manual, the detailed Library reference, or the Smart Block™ page.

If you've been hungry for more info on Blocks 3.0 you may have noticed a few links in the sidebar while visiting the Blocks page. One of the pages has the details on Smart Blocks. Down at the bottom of the page there's even a Blocks Library block to download. It's a very simple flash embedding block, but it does show a couple of cool things: it builds a GUI for an HTML block, it alters the HTML with properties from the block itself, and it uses the GUI to replace the asset file name.

As simple as it is, however, Smart Blocks are still pretty foreign. So I decided to produce a little screencast showing at least how to USE a smart block. How to CREATE a smart block is for some upcoming screencast. But this screencast will get us halfway there.

Check it out and let us know what you think: Watch it!

NB: This library block does embed flash on a Blocks page, but this isn't really the recommended way to go about it. Building a xHTML/CSS strict version is left as an exercise to the reader. ;-)

A bunch of people have asked how I created the Blocks info page. And after telling them, "It's obviously a Carousel in a Page Block, can't you tell?" The befuddled emails and forum posts that I got in response, even from some of the forum pros, made me realize that it really isn't obvious. And even after knowing it WHAT it is the HOW was still elusive.

So we've made a little step-by-step guide that does just that -- tells you HOW to create a page just like that.

But we're pretty lazy here and we know you'd like to be too. So we let you download a Blocks Library Page and a Carousel Style so that all the details are taken care up front. All you have to do is create the pages, drop in the layout/style, and add the content.

Click Here to get started.

Things are starting to calm down here after the big Blocks 3.0 release. The few bugs that we have collected look to be far from show-stopping and the number of people who have downloaded and upgraded has been absolutely huge.

We hope you enjoyed the big release along side RapidWeaver -- a whole bunch of people worked really hard to make that happen. We sure thought that the surprise release made it even more fun. Definitely worth the extra effort.

We want to say thanks for all the great compliments and feedback. We're feeling really great about Blocks 3.0 and we're glad you're liking it too.

We've sent out hundreds of free registration codes to people who purchased blocks in April and May. If somehow we missed you, just send us an email to our support email address and we'll get you fixed up.

Our email support mailbox is still bursting full with all sorts of questions, and we're working hard to get to through every one, but if it takes a day or so to get back to you, we appolagize. Be patient, we'll get there.

We're polishing up Blocks 3.0 for a release very soon. There are just a few items remaining and a lot of work that needs doing to fix up our website. The finish line is within sight, though, so we're pulling out all the stops for the last sprint. Keep your eyes peeled and your RSS feed tuned, it won't be long now.

The Blocks 3.0 beta test is going well and I think we're confident enough that we can start to show off a few of the features. We've created a little screencast that shows how to build a basic website using master pages.

We know this isn't quite as good as getting Blocks 3.0 today, but hopefully it'll tide you over for a couple weeks while we finish it up.

Watch the Screencast

YourHead has been operating in stealth mode for a bit. We've been working on a big update. No, we're not quite ready for a release. We still need a bit more time to polish things up. Would you like to have a look at some of the new features?

Well, like all the cool kids on the Block we've started using Twitter. We even posted a little video. If you check out our twitter feed (user name Isaiah) you might be able to catch a link to the video. Here's the video teaser:

3-Users, Twitter-Status-Badge, Twitter-Stream-Badge, and a Flickr-Badge all mashed up on one RapidWeaver page. And I did it in under three minutes -- with Blocks 3.0 -- due to be released... soon.

Want to see it. Come on over a twitter with us. We'll let you in on all the juicy gossip.

OK, so this one isn't so much Carousel related. But it will help you keep up with the rest of the week. A very nice user Bart Vosters sent me a great little widget with only one purpose -- keeping tabs on the YourHead Blog. I'm releasing it on my downloads page. Go grab a copy.

I'm not sure which strokes my ego more; having someone build a widget that is intended just to read what I write, or releasing it on my website and telling people to download it. Both seem remarkably egotistical.
But there it is... it's totally egotistical... but it IS kinda cool, no?

...and it will definitely help you grab that next version of Carousel at the end of the week.

So go grab a copy and never miss another YourHead release.

There is a little problem, though. It seems that it doesn't like to download all of the images. Why? I have no idea. There's a free plugin to the first person who tells me how to fix it. Two plugins if you fix it and mail it back to me!

I also mention that there's also another RapidWeaver fan widget. It has all the function of this one -- but much less ego stroking since it will read the blog of a bunch of the RapidWeaver developers and themers. You can jump over to the Elixir site and grab a copy.

What's up next? Let's see, I've got a plugin coming at the end of the week, styles yesterday. The only thing left is to release a couple themes I guess.
Keep your eyes on the new widget, they should land Wednesday or Thursday.

I've teamed up with a couple great designers to bring you a whole week of cool Carousel stuff. We're going to start the week off with new Styles from Henk Vrieselaar. In case you've been under a rock for the past month. Henk has been producing tons of new Carousel styles. We've commissioned him to produce some of his very best, extra great, super duper styles and bundle them up for us. What we have are some really classic styles with cool transparency effects. And there's some that will work really well when you're building that super cool animating photo album.

We've set up a page to show off all the new styles -- in a Carousel of course. Jump on over and check it out!

What's next up? A widget? You'll have to check back again tomorrow to find out.

New stuff is just about to land here at YourHead. We've got some fun new releases planned over the next week or so. And they're coming in all shapes and sizes.

First up there's a plugin release coming. It's not a new plugin, but we're adding features and squashing bugs in one of the favorites. Some of the features have been requested for quite a while and one of the bug fixes is in dire need so we're putting everything aside to get this out as soon as we can. It'll be a free upgrade so you might want to keep hitting reload until you see the announcement.

Next up are some new Extras, but not for Accordion. We've made some arrangements with some designers so that we can bring some new Extras to our web store, and maybe offer them in a bundle package.

And finally, we've finally found some themes that we think are well suited to some of our plugins. And through yet more back alley deals, we've managed to bring them into the YourHead fold -- but only for a limited time.
For a while now I've been hunting for themes that would be simple enough to give Blocks some room to really breath, and plain enough that your photos really jump out from the page. You would think simple would be simple to find, but it's taken me quite a while. Well I think I've found something pretty nice and we're going to bring 'em to you at quite a steal.

Keep your eyes peeled, subscribe to the RSS. You'll definitely want to see it.

Our page has an all new look. We've redesigned from the ground up. It's a new theme, with new content, and even a new bundle deal.

A New Bundle for New Customers
If you're a new customer coming here for the first time, then this bundle is for you. You can get a sweet deal on all the plugins and get 15% off every last one. But don't wait I'm probably going to come to my senses and change it pretty soon.

180 Degrees is Pi in radians.
Our new theme is 180 degrees in the opposite direction. We went from pure white with ice blue accents to bold colors and ink splotches. In 2007 YourHead is in the business of showing off your creativity, so it seems fitting that our theme shows off ours. Let us know what you think. Like it? Hate it? Found a problem? Does it look OK on your favorite browser?

We're not done yet.
Most of the changes so far have been skin deep. But we're planning a rolling redesign of much of the content too. We're aiming to make improvements each week.

Great things to come.
We have so many great things coming in 2007 that sometimes it's hard to know what to focus on. Updates, new plugins, and even more extras. Grab the RSS link (it's at the bottom of this page) and keep yourself informed.

Have you seen this? There appears to be something big happening in the theme world right now. Everybody is super hush-hush right now, so it's hard to say what. But there seem to be a few people in on it. It'll be a good way to kick off the new year.

Here's the link to Elixir's blog where it was first sighted: Elixir Blog
But it also seems to have shown up here, here, here, and here.

I'm guessing that a little more info will leak out soon.


Keep your eyes peeled.

Adding the Page Block was a pretty big deal. Allowing the combination of different page styles really enabled a new way to build RapidWeaver sites, but for the sheer joy of making a cool looking site -- I think I like rollovers even more.

I've totally lost control. I'm adding rollovers to everything. I'm pretty sure that it's not the best design practice to make everything you hover your mouse over change, but right now... I just don't care. It's just too much fun.

Check out the latest version of the YourHead HomePage. Almost everything has a hover effect. It's so cool and it's WAY too easy to do.

Of course this only works in Blocks 2.2 -- and I haven't actually posted that yet. But be patient, it shouldn't be long now.

1. Here's How

2. Double-click on any image on a Blocks page.
3. In the Blocks Info Window click on the Content tab.
4. Drag the rollover version of the image into the Rollover image-well.

Wow, what a lot of work for such a small thing. But it really is a really nice little feature.
Check out my home page. There's rollover images on the "More Info" and "Buy Now" links.
And remember, I don't use any hand coding to do my site. It's either part of the theme, or it's all RapidWeaver.

and two steps back.

Today I finished work on the icon for Carousel. I will probably add more polish to it over the next few weeks, but I think it's pretty good. Pretty good for a non-graphic artist, anyway.

But today I was informed about two bugs in Accordion. So those will have to be patched before I start the rollout of Carousel. Hopefully things should start moving pretty quickly now.

We'll shoot for Accordion tomorrow and a wider audience for the Carousel beta starting later in the week -- but no promises -- there's still plenty to do.

For the release of both Accordion and Blocks I allowed people into an expanded, but not fully public beta test after they blogged a little about it. I'll probably do the same thing for Carousel. Since most of the RW community has a blog, it's not a high hurdle, but it does require a certain geek factor to participate -- which is good in the early beta days.

I just thought I'd post a quick note to let everyone know that the Screen Casts Online discount will be running out very soon. It's about as deep a discount as we will ever give, so get it quick before it's gone.

I think I'm just about ready to let my new app blast off, but I'd like to broaden the beta test a bit more. If you're interested in testing a little app for me (and I mean little -- it'll take all of 2 minutes to test) let me know. I need people...

(1) ...who have a newish machine with a non-crappy video card.
Old TiBooks are very cool. I loved mine. But they don't have the video memory to run accelerated 2D graphics. If you think your refresh rate is up to it, you're in. I'll let you be the judge.

(2) ...who really like to give me feedback.
And I don't mean "this is great" I want to know what you thought and why.

If you feel like you fit the bill, then go check out the forum. I'll start a thread about the beta test. Maybe we can let others read along and experience the trials and tribulations of being an unpaid beta tester.

Don McAllister from ScreenCasts Online has posted a great new tutorial on using Accordion and Blocks. If you've been thinking of jumping into using these plugins or trying to eek out their more advanced features, then you really NEED to go watch this tutorial.

As always, Don makes things look easy. He sets up pages in Accordion and Blocks and shows you every step of the process. Go check out his site for info on downloading the video, or better yet, sign up as a member and get a high quality feed.

To make it worth your while I've set up a HUGE DISCOUNT SALE. If you watch the video all the way through you'll be rewarded with a coupon code for the BIGGEST DISCOUNT available. But act fast, because the discount won't last forever and once the code has expired... well... you know the rest.

So get on over there and watch this one.
Oh, and make sure to digg it too.

There's three new pieces of screencasting news that have converged to make for some great viewing right now, very soon, and in the future too.

Right Now
Sceencasts Online has published a new RapidWeaver tutorial. It covers all the new RW 3.5 stuff so you should definitely go check it out.

Soon
Where there's smoke there's fire. And with this RapidWeaver tutorial I smell smoke. Here's hoping Don McAllister over at SceenCasts Online wants to do a YourHead screencast too. A little bird told me that there's a pretty good chance.

Off in the Distance
Ambrosia has finally released a new version of Snapz Pro. The ONLY solution for high quality screencast recording. What's new in this version? Probably a lot of stuff, but all I really care about is that it supports Intel processors. And that means the end of yellow cursors in my own screencasts.

There's more cool stuff brewing over there at Elixir. They've produced two new Accordion Extras packs. They're about as cool as cool gets and in tons of colors. Go check it out!

I've uploaded another screencast. This one shows you how to build a very simple page with content that's really quite complex. You add an Accordion FAQ and then a download area built from a File Sharing page. All wrapped up in a super simple package that's easy to use and most importantly for this type of content -- easy to maintain. This one is over TEN MINUTES LONG! But I'm not moving too slowly. You man need to use your pause button a bit as you follow along.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Beta update: I'm getting tons of downloads, but only a few bug reports are trickling in. That means that we're probably closer to a final release than I thought. Yeah!

I've updated the Blocks 2.0 screencast, added some explanations, simplified, and done a much better job at the compression and capture so that you can actually see what's going on instead of just watching MPEG noise. And amazingly, even though I added a ton of new titles, made the transitions smoother, and improved the quality by about 100%, I managed to compress it to about one third the original size. I love H.264, it's so cool.

Have a look.

We're still beta testing. See the post below to get in on the action. It's quick and easy

I guess I must have run out of features... so that's it then... time to release Blocks 2.0 public beta.

Look for a post tomorrow.

Just like the Accordion beta I'll be asking you to post about YourHead on your blog (or digg or whatever) before you can join in on the beta fun. I'll post more details tomorrow.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #9
As promised, I'm going to explain that image I posted yesterday. Here's the big fact: In Blocks 2.0 there will be a Page Block. A page block allows you to absorb other page from your site into your Blocks layout. This allows you to use the full power of other page types while maintaining the simple layout of Blocks.

Screencast
It's always tough to explain these sorts of features so I thought I'd let you have a look at a complete page build using some of the new features.
Edit: This screencast has been removed because Blocks 2.0 has moved forward. Checkout my screencast area for new Blocks 2.0 demos.

Myth #9
Although it's probably not a big surprise, not every page type can be embedded into a Page Block. Obviously you can't use the "offset page" which just forwards your browser to another page, it's just not really useful. And HTML pages -- because they are actually a bit different internally are also not included -- but there are already HTML blocks, so it's probably no big deal. And of course you cannot put a Blocks page into a Page Block -- mostly because it just makes my head hurt.

Beta Testers
We have more than enough beta testers now. But get your blogs warmed up, the public beta may be coming soon. Just like the Accordion release, I may require a little bit of Blogging as the entrance fee for the download link.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #7
Seven means that I've been at it a week. I can't go much longer, I guess I'll have to release something soon.
The first major feature I told everyone about was, of course, Guides. The other two major additions to Blocks will be additions to the Blocks toolbar. I hinted at these in the RapidWeaver forum. So for those paying close attention: Fact #7 == Hint #10.
In Blocks 2.0 you'll have a new block type: Image Text.
Image Text blocks are a lot like regular Text blocks... until they're published. When they're published all their content is rendered to an image and published to your page. Why is this useful? Well, if you need to use some interesting fonts, want to insure the exact positioning of a title, or want to let PC users experience how nicely a Mac can render text, then an Image Block is exactly what you need.
You can see an example of an image block right on my homepage. The text that says "Say Hello to Accordion" is an Image Text block. Notice the fonts? You can't get fonts like those without some rendering. My screenshot here is right from the Blocks 2.0 edit mode. It's pretty darn close to WYSIWYG.
As a bonus the rendered images can also be 24-bit transparent background PNG -- and of course Blocks adds the Internet Explorer behaviors to your PNG images so that Windows users get to experience your cool design without any degradation.

Myth #7
Although Image Text blocks are very cool, they do have some limitations. Namely, you can't have links. "But why?!" I hear you shout. It's because I have yet to design any sort of image map feature -- which is what you would need to put a small link inside an image. I think that feature will have to wait for Blocks 2.5.

Beta Testers
We have more than enough beta testers now. But get your blogs warmed up, the public beta may be coming soon. Just like the Accordion release, I may require a little bit of Blogging as the entrance fee for the download link.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #6
As some of you know, software is not actually my full time job. I'm really actually a chip designer and that's what pays the bills. So when work calls I have to answer. Tonight I worked late at the real job so todays fact has to be cut a bit short, but I think you'll appreciate it: In Blocks 2.0 the Edit menu will finally behave like a Mac app -- Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, and Select All will work as they should -- even between pages -- even between documents.

Myth #6
Although you'll be able to cut and paste between blocks there still won't be a way to save a block on it's own or as part of a template. Believe it or not, I did almost a complete version where this was a the main feature -- but in the end it had many interface issues and seemed like a lot more trouble than it was worth. I may continue to work on this sort of thing, but most likely I think I'll leave templates, page copying, and the like up to the main app -- it kind of seems better suited to the issue.

Beta Testers
We have more than enough beta testers now. But get your blogs warmed up, the public beta may be coming soon. Just like the Accordion release, I may require a little bit of Blogging as the entrance fee for the download link. And it had better be soon, I'm running out of new features.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #5
After doing a screencast and giving away one of the big new features, today's fact will be a little less exciting. Instead I'll delve into some of the decisions that go into designing the interface.
Todays fact is: The Margin settings will be more flexible and more accurate. I know, I know, that's probably pretty obvious. Let me demonstrate a little, though, because I think it's actually quite a worthwhile update.
In Blocks 2.0 the margin, border, and size of blocks will much more accurately match their HTML output. This is actually quite a significant shift from Blocks 1.x and some of the other applications that also do Web layout. In most programs, including Blocks 1.x, changing the borders and margins changes the area of the content. So, for example, if you added a 100px image to Blocks 1.2, then added a 10px border, the resulting image would be smaller by 20 pixels.
That's interface is fine -- for everything except the Web. Why? Because in CSS, that is not the case. In Cascading Style Sheets increasing the borders and margins does not change the size of the content -- instead it grows the total size of the block.
In Blocks 1.x, like many layout-esqe Web programs I tried to mimic layout tools and then adjust for the differences "behind the curtain" of the software -- eventually outputting something very close to what you what you saw in edit mode. I'm sure that with enough time, this could yield some pretty descent results, but their is one casualty of the process. It's just not very transparent. Although a A-OK. People were VERY surprised to see that the code did not precisely follow their settings.
So in Blocks 2.0 I'm following the "CSS Box Model" -- well at least mostly. I am keeping one change. Changing the "Margin" setting will actually adjust the CSS property called "padding." I think it's just more friendly to novice users. But everything else is about as precise as it can get. If you put a 10px border with 10px margin around an image, then those are exactly the numbers you'll find in the CSS.
The image I've included here shows the begining image, then with a 10px border, and finally with a 10 pixel margin that lest the background color show through. As you can see, the image stays exactly the same size, but the CSS properties "border" and "padding" are adjusted.

Myth #5
I have not created a magic spell that will make all web browsers display fonts the same. Text in Blocks 2.0 will continue to look quite disimilar just about everywhere you view it. It will look different in edit mode than in preview (mostly because Themes are not displayed in edit mode); it will look different in Preview than in Firefox; Firefox will not look like Safari; Opera will be different still; and one thing is definitely certain -- Internet Explorer on a PC will still make the whole web look ugly. That's just the way it is.
I swear by the simple truth: Unexpected behavior = Bug. I don't like the doublespeak of calling things "issues" or "behaviors." If it doesn't do what you think it should, then well, it should -- so fix it already, it's a bug.
But as with all things, even computers, the world is not quite so binary as bug/no-bug. In the case of heterogeneous browsers, there is another expectation that overrides the expectation of uniformity. The expectation that the web should be usable, no matter what kind of device/OS/browser you're viewing it with. It should work on your cell phone, your TV, your Intel or PPC, everything. Homogeneity would require that we set a lowest common denominator for the web and that everybody saw the web through that filter. We all know how that would end -- we'd all have to use Web TV -- because that is surely the worst browser on the planet.
So what does all this web-philosophy mean? It means that we have to prioritize our expectations and especially as web designers, be flexible to the heterogeneous nature of the web.
1. Design your pages with some extra white space, it will help when someone with poorer eyes increases the font size.
2. Don't expect perfection in every browser when elegant degradation to lesser browsers will suffice.
3. Test your pages on a few browsers, get to know BrowserShots.

Beta Testers
I think I have enough beta testers for the private portion now. Thanks.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #4
Blocks 2.0 will have a lot of minor bug fixes, some great little enhancements, some cool new little features, but that's not why you're reading this blog, is it? Let's get right to the heart of the story, there will be three major new features to Blocks 2.0. Today I'll tell you about one of those new features: Guides. Guides are not life changing (like one of the features will be), and they will not add something slick (like the other major feature will), instead they're more of a, "What the heck took you so long!?" kind of a feature. The answer to that question is, "Because I wanted to do it right." Guides in Blocks work like you expect they should. They appear only when dragging, and dynamically appear and disappear depending on the other item that you're close to. Blocks "snap" to the guides when they get close and if you have a group of blocks selected the guides align to the selection as a whole. And of course you can turn them off, too.

Screencast
I did a quick and dirty screencast showing how easy it is to build a perfectly aligned group of blocks. This screencast is just slapped together. No audio, no titles, no nothin. Zen and the art of the screencast!
Anyway, things to look out for (other than the cool blue guides).
1. Check out how I edit the size of multiple blocks all at once.
2. You can't see my keyboard, but I'm "nudging" with the arrow keys to get that 1px gap just right.
3. Notice the snap-to effect.
4. Opt-Drag to duplicate blocks.
5. Check out how close edit mode vs. preview is. 1px gap is still just 1px.

Here's the screencast.
Edit: This screencast has been removed because Blocks 2.0 has moved forward. Checkout my screencast area for new Blocks 2.0 demos.


Myth #4
Although the guides are nice it would have been nice to have a "distribute" command that would evenly distribute blocks. Not yet. That will be the, "What the heck took you so long!?" feature of Blocks 2.5.

Beta Testers
I think I have enough beta testers for the private portion now. Thanks.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #3
Today's post has to be something simple. We lost power this evening (the ghost of Key Lay is haunting California) so I didn't get a chance to make the cool movie that I had hoped to -- I'll shoot for tomorrow.
So fact #3 is something pretty simple. In Blocks 2.0 you'll be able to specify a specific filename and alt tag for all the image blocks on your page. It's a simple addition but one that's necessary to get the XHTML strict tag. Something I seem to be eternally shooting for.

Myth #3
Blocks will still not have a fluid height. I think I spent maybe two whole weeks researching ways to have absolutely positioned elements (a.k.a blocks) and make the bottom of the page move down by the necessary amount. Unfortunately, just about every method for avoiding this obvious failing of CSS 2.0 boils down to about two tricks: The first is knowing the length of some piece of content (the lowest content on your page) and positioning that content relative or floating. Unfortunately since I don't know what blocks you might place, that trick really doesn't help me. The second is a javascript that adjusts things on the fly. This one has promise, but I just haven't found anything that's nearly bulletproof enough to be plugin-worthy. So if anyone knows a way...

Beta Testers
Before the public beta is released I'll be needing a few private beta testers. Now before you warm up your fingers and fire off an email salvo I'd like put a few criteria on the beta program:
1) You have to have a publicly accessible Blocks page for me to see. This shows that you've used Blocks before and have a website for feeding back any bugs you find.
2) You're using RW3.5 on OS 10.4. For the short term I'd like to keep the testing targeted at the primary audience.
3) You have some sort of chat and aren't afraid to use it. Sometimes it just helps to talk in real time. That's what chat is good for.
So if you're still with me... drop me a line or ping me on iChat.

Each day until I release a beta I'll release a little more info about Blocks 2.0. In each post I'll let you in on one new feature and dispel one myth. When I run out of new features to tell you about, I'll release a beta. This way I'll either have to release something soon or add a lot of new features -- either way you win.

Fact #2
Yesterday's fact was probably a bit of a letdown. Not much meat there. Today I wanted to show you something that I worked really hard on. But... it's not a new feature. It's really more of a bug fix.
Here it is: In Blocks 2.0 the positioning of new blocks will be much more exact in every way that it can be.
Blocks 1.x wasn't too bad, but there are a few gotchas. For example, changing the margin can change the size of the content -- this can be a little disturbing if you want to keep your images pristine and in their original size. So although it "worked" before, it behaved in unexpected ways.

In my book Unexpected = Bug no matter what.

What You See is What You Get
As you can see from the images (scaled to 75% for your viewing pleasure), even various kinds of blocks positioned with only a 1 pixel gap look exactly the same in both Edit and Preview. This works no matter what the borders/margins/backgrounds are set to and works exactly the same on all block types.


Edit Mode = Content = Code
Although fonts can change from one browser to the next and will look different on different platforms, the same should not be the case for Images and Divs. So my goal was to make sure that if you set some width/height in Edit mode then you should expect that the content will end up exactly that size in the browser and you should find those exact numbers in the HTML code as well. This is trickier than it sounds. It means that I can't use any hidden OS features, it means that I'm not allowed to make things look almost the same, they have to be the same. From the same example above notice that the green download arrow is a scaled image. It started out as image 64x64. I scaled it up to 100x100 to match the other blocks which are also set to exactly 100x100 pixels. You can see from the screenshots: the values from the Block Info window, the CSS from the Code window, and the dimensions of the generated image -- all the same.



Myth #2
Text will not be able to flow from one block to another. Although it's been asked for quite a bit, I'm still unsure that I'll ever work on this feature. I think it would be very difficult to implement and would always be, at best, very strange. The problem is that browsers just don't support flowing text from one column block to another, so the best we could do would be to fake it. Given all the work I've done above to make sure that I'm NOT faking it, it's pretty easy to see how distasteful that is to me. So for now (and probably for a long time) there will be no flowing.

Beta Testers
Before the public beta is released I'll be needing a few private beta testers. Now before you warm up your fingers and fire off an email salvo I'd like put a few criteria on the beta program:
1) You have to have a publicly accessible Blocks page for me to see. This shows that you've used Blocks before and have a website for feeding back any bugs you find.
2) You're using RW3.5 on OS 10.4. For the short term I'd like to keep the testing targeted at the primary audience.
3) You have some sort of chat and aren't afraid to use it. Sometimes it just helps to talk in real time. That's what chat is good for.
So if you're still with me... drop me a line or ping me on iChat.