Download it now!

Carousel Beta 1
As some have noticed Carousel and Accordion have been stuck in Mootools 1.0 for a bit too long. This has caused some problems when these plugins are combined with other plugins that use newer versions on a Blocks page. Specifically Kwix and Payloom (as well as some plugins from other vendors) were not compatible.
This release brings Carousel up to date, corrects a few outstanding bugs, and adds one new low-level feature. Read on for more info...

What's Mootools?
At YourHead we sure like Mootools. It's a super lightweight Javascript base library that adds a lot of basic functionality to Javascript as well as some easy-to-use additions for building smooth animation and triggering all sorts of events. We like Mootools because it's fast, complete, and small. Three things that don't often come together.
The current (at least for a little while) version of Mootools is v1.1. It's not compatible with older 1.0 versions (or the new 1.2 beta). That means we try to update everything together. Accordion is next on our list.

Other Bug Fixes
Safari 3 introduced an odd incompatibility with certain Mootools style accessors. In particular the "overflow" style was no longer accessible as it's own function (as in el.style.overflow), even though this worked in previous versions of Safari and continues to work in Firefox. Fortunately Mootools often provides many ways to do things (just like on a Mac). So the same property is also accessible via a parameter to the getStyle function, as in: el.getStyle('overflow'). Code changed, everyone is happy.

A New Feature
You may not notice, but the background image loading Javascript has changed a bit. For those viewing large Carousel images or viewing over a slow link this will probably make life quite a bit easier. And for everyone else it shouldn't make any difference at all. The script will now only load a few images at a time, and only load the rest if the user browses to them. More specifically it loads the content images for all of the visible thumbnails plus the thumbnails on the next "page." Any other pages will only be loaded as they're needed.

Tags: Carousel, Beta

Blocks 3.0.7 beta 7

Short and sweet
More bugs fixed. More fixes for page blocks of various sorts and more fixes for sidebar content.

The Beta
Download it here: Blocks v3.0.7 beta 7

Tags: Blocks, Beta

Kwix Public Beta 6
Kwix is still in beta but we've made some significant fixes. All around Kwix is behaving much better and is much more compatible with all sorts of browsers and themes. You'll notice smoother animation, better compatibility with the latest Blocks releases, and behavior in Internet Explorer that is consistent with the other browsers.

A Note About Themes
Kwix, like all my newer plugins, requires RapidWeaver 3.6 themes. Really, all that means is that your theme needs to have the tag somewhere inside and that you're using RapidWeaver 3.5 or 3.6. If your theme doesn't support these features your pages will look pretty dull, but don't worry, it's a simple change that either your theme developer or YourHead can help you with.

What's new?
An all new javascript engine is now driving Kwix, with a new, simplified layout. This means that some problems with Firefox are now gone, you can now set the edge overlap all the way down to zero pixels, and lots and lots of problems with Internet Explorer have been corrected.

Get it Now!
Jump over to our Kwix pages to see a sample and download the beta: Kwix beta 6

Tags: Kwix, Beta

Blocks 3.0.7 beta 4

This time for sure Rocky
OK, so I usually don't get all the way to a beta 4. I know, I know. But the Page Block code is not exactly straightforward. So with much less fanfare I'll just say that I've taken a week to redesign a bit of the code in hopes of minimizing that in the future. Hopefully the benefits will pay off quickly.


Sidebar content
Beta 3 did indeed fix the majority of page block, their links, and all manners of other issues, but it as a side effect it functionally disabled the "Use Sidebar" feature. I've, of course, brought this back and hopefully without hurting too much else.


Fixbox script
The fixbox javascript has, once again, been modified. Not in the way it's written, but in the way it's called from your site. In my tests it's substantially faster. For most people this will probably just be something that happens in the background of their site, but for those who have a deep understanding of how Blocks works its magic, it'll probably be much appreciated. Give it a whirl.


The Beta
Download it here: Blocks v3.0.7 beta 4

Tags: Blocks, Beta

Blocks 3.0.7 beta 3

Another Change?
I had hoped to catch all the remaining issues that modifications to Page Blocks created, but it looks like I missed one. Not half an hour after posting beta 2 I read a post and knew almost immediately what the problem was. So I've corrected that problem now too and I think, with a bit of luck, this could become the final version.

The Beta
Download it here: Blocks v3.0.7 beta 3

Tags: Blocks, Beta

Blocks 3.0.7 beta 2

One More Time
After the last beta we introduced a couple bugs. Page blocks worked wonderfully for Kwix, but not so well for some other plugins. Hopefully we've got that taken care of now.


A Little Change
With this release Blocks now uses the rw_common directory to store its scripts. That way if you have more than one Blocks page on your site people viewing your site will only need to load those scripts once. The scripts should be cached by the browser after that. It's not much, but it should make your page load a tiny bit faster.

The Beta
Download it here: Blocks v3.0.7 beta 2

Tags: Blocks, Beta

Kwix Public Beta
We're finally ready to show off Kwix to the whole world. It's still in beta, and we're still working on it, but it's really starting to look nice. And now that it works well with Blocks and is compatible with all the major browsers (all our plugins work with IE6&7, Opera, Firefox, Camino, and of course Safari), there's no reason to hold back. Come visit our special beta pages, download, and help us hunt for the last few bugs.

What is Kwix?
Kwix is a great way to build a simple, stylish menu in your site. I'm afraid much more description than that might be useless, though. You should jump over to the Kwix page and take a look for yourself.

I Want More
Of course you do. I'm sure you want to put a few Kwix on a page, add some text, a slideshow, and ...
Well, you're in luck. With the latest version of Blocks you can add a bunch of Kwix to your page and just about anything else, too. For now, you'll need the latest Blocks beta, though -- don't forget.

Tags: Kwix, Beta

Blocks 3.0.7 beta 1

What Changed
We've corrected a number of smaller bugs, added one feature for a very determined customer, and support for some upcoming plugins, but mostly this fix is to try to solve a long standing bug.


The Bug
More than just a few people have noticed that when you import content into your Blocks layout via the Page Block feature things usually go well -- but occasionally links to other pages on your site in the imported content might not work. The workaround is simple enough -- place the imported page into the same folder (or folder hierarchy) as the Blocks page that's importing it, and voila! everything works. Since many websites fall into the workaround just because it's the most convienient -- it hasn't been a limitation for many folks. Mostly it's just confusing and a bit frustrating when you bump into it.


The Fix
I've corrected all but a small subset of the possible variations of this bug. Or at least I sure hope I have. You will still need to use the workaround when importing Blogs and Photo Albums -- their internal links are still elusive.
But the fix is less than ideal. It involves tricking the RapidWeaver export engine into generating the links appropriate for the Blocks page location instead of the imported page location. In some situations (like Assets) this can get pretty tricky. If you do import content from other pages AND that content is located elsewhere in your site then I'd really appreciate any feedback you have. I'd like to collect a bit of this feedback before blessing this one with final release status. And you never know, I might get Blog entry links to work before the beta-test is done.


The Beta
Download it here: Blocks v3.0.7 beta 1

Tags: Beta, Blocks

Beta 3 is here: Go get your download.

If you haven't been keeping tabs on the RapidWeaver forum you've been missing all the action. The PayLoom beta testing has been turning up some challenging bugs and Mike and I have been squashing them as fast as we can.

Yesterday a bug in Internet Explorer rendering turned up so we brewed a pot of coffee booted up the PC for testing and started squashing some bugs.

Internet Explorer is a pain. No one wants to support all it's quirks and bugs. BUT WE HAVE TO! Why? It's because about 70% of the world still uses that awful thing. And if you intend to sell things on the web, then there's no way to avoid it.

The end result? Internet Explorer 6 is happy with PayLoom and even supports all those snazzy image effects like reflections and drop-shadows. Now you can breath easier and get to work building your web store... for everyone.

Tags: PayLoom, Beta

PayLoom is here: Go get your download.

YourHead and YabDab have teamed up to build a great new plugin for RapidWeaver.  It builds PayPal web stores with just a few clicks.  See a screenshot. Just grab something to sell, drop in a picture, type in a price and click publish.  It's really easy and all you need is RapidWeaver and a PayPal account.  Nothing else! PayLoom has built-in image processing to give your products a consitant visual style so that you store has a polished, professional feel. But PayLoom isn't just for the novice, PayLoom gives you access to detailed PayPal options, international currencies, and even lets you choose the layout of your store. Go grab a copy right now and try it out.  The demo is fully functional for two products, so you can try out all the fun features.

Tags: PayLoom, Beta

We're hunting for a really elusive bug that has popped its head up a few times now in Blocks 3.0. Unfortunately we cannot duplicate the bug here on our computers. It seems to happen only with Master Pages. We're looking for a few brave souls that use Master Pages on a regular basis. You don't have to be a technical whiz or even have experienced any problems -- we'd just like to hear from you and perhaps invite you to a little bit of Blocks beta testing.
If that sounds like you, send us an email and let us know.

Tags: Blocks, Master Pages, Beta