Rapidblog for Rapidweaver - Half a Thumb up!
12/06/09 06:36
I recently purchaed Rapidblog for Rapidweaver. Let me say right from the start is that the only reason you would want this plugin is if you needed to blog via email or from a remote computer. It would also come in handy if you are collaborating with other people and you need them to be able to post to the blog as well. The basic idea behind this plugin is to mirror your blog on a blogger page so that you can add the functionality of the blogger page to your own hosted web site. You can redirect people who navigate to the blogger version of your blog so that they end up hitting your regular rapidweaver blog. Sound confusing? IT IS!
The folks at logohound have found an extremely convoluted way to give you less features. Here’s what you give up when you use Rapidblog:
1. RapidBlog has no podcasting module
2. RapidBlog handles date formatting differently
3. RapidBlog doesn't support smilies (tragic, I know)
4. RapidBlog doesn't allow custom permalinks
5. RapidBlog only supports 'categories'. The built in blog supports both 'categories' and 'tags'.
Not only that the direct links to individual blog posts look like this:
http://www.ntopix.com/index.php?id=7164719949441523464
That’s a big bowl of wrong! it’s the text equivalent of visitor repellent!
However there were some nice features that I did like. One of them was the interblog option which allows you to insert text, pictures or ads between your posts. This is something the regular Rapidweaver blog doesn’t do. The import feature was nice as well. The truth of the matter is that this had the potential to be a good product, it’s just not finished yet. I don’t know if Logohound is still developing Rapidblog but if they are I would hope they address these issues. One would think the idea would be to produce a plugin that does everything the stock plugin does and then adds some features. There are certainly easier ways to collaborate on a blog, you could use a password protected php form to allow others to blog for instance.
Unless you’re very tech savvy and can add code to right the wrongs it is my opinion that you should steer clear of this plugin. The really sad thing is that other would be Rapidweaver plugin creators might not be doing a blog plugin because they feel that between the stock plug and Rapidblog that base has been covered. For the time being at least it most certainly has not.
The folks at logohound have found an extremely convoluted way to give you less features. Here’s what you give up when you use Rapidblog:
1. RapidBlog has no podcasting module
2. RapidBlog handles date formatting differently
3. RapidBlog doesn't support smilies (tragic, I know)
4. RapidBlog doesn't allow custom permalinks
5. RapidBlog only supports 'categories'. The built in blog supports both 'categories' and 'tags'.
Not only that the direct links to individual blog posts look like this:
http://www.ntopix.com/index.php?id=7164719949441523464
That’s a big bowl of wrong! it’s the text equivalent of visitor repellent!
However there were some nice features that I did like. One of them was the interblog option which allows you to insert text, pictures or ads between your posts. This is something the regular Rapidweaver blog doesn’t do. The import feature was nice as well. The truth of the matter is that this had the potential to be a good product, it’s just not finished yet. I don’t know if Logohound is still developing Rapidblog but if they are I would hope they address these issues. One would think the idea would be to produce a plugin that does everything the stock plugin does and then adds some features. There are certainly easier ways to collaborate on a blog, you could use a password protected php form to allow others to blog for instance.
Unless you’re very tech savvy and can add code to right the wrongs it is my opinion that you should steer clear of this plugin. The really sad thing is that other would be Rapidweaver plugin creators might not be doing a blog plugin because they feel that between the stock plug and Rapidblog that base has been covered. For the time being at least it most certainly has not.
Rapidcal for Rapidweaver - Two Thumbs Down
12/06/09 06:27
I recently shelled out the 15 bucks to buy Rapidcal a Rapidweaver plugin that is supposed to allow you to add a calendar to your Rapidweaver site in the same style as your chosen theme. I followed their instructions but could not get the trial version of the product to work when published. This led me to believe that this was a limitation of the trial software and that a purchase was required to see the calendar on the actual internet. So I paid my money and followed the instructions and nothing. I contacted Rapidcal, they sent me to the same instructions page that I had used to set up the program in the first place. I contacted them again and they were like a broken record. This apparently is their idea of customer service, I was not impressed.
My next step was to ask for a refund, they refused.
This is basically a scam in my opinion. They give you an extra long evaluation period which leads you to believe that the software is legit. At the same time they make the demo look like you need to pay for it to be fully functional. Of course once you pay you’re screwed.
On a positive note I found a free calendar php script that will work directly with your Mac iCal application. It has many more features, looks better and is easier to read! You can get it for FREE here:
http://phpicalendar.net/
It’s quite customizable and allows you to merge many calendars together. It even has the capability to display multiple calendars one at a time. The user simply selects from a menu which calendar they wish to view. It’s very well thought out and well executed.
This script comes with instructions which are easy to understand. You have to edit a php file and copy a few files to your server but its a piece of cake with any basic ftp program.
Who needs to throw away money when this awesome calendar script does an amazing job for free! It’s even RSS capable so your visitors can subscribe to your calendar!
My next step was to ask for a refund, they refused.
This is basically a scam in my opinion. They give you an extra long evaluation period which leads you to believe that the software is legit. At the same time they make the demo look like you need to pay for it to be fully functional. Of course once you pay you’re screwed.
On a positive note I found a free calendar php script that will work directly with your Mac iCal application. It has many more features, looks better and is easier to read! You can get it for FREE here:
http://phpicalendar.net/
It’s quite customizable and allows you to merge many calendars together. It even has the capability to display multiple calendars one at a time. The user simply selects from a menu which calendar they wish to view. It’s very well thought out and well executed.
This script comes with instructions which are easy to understand. You have to edit a php file and copy a few files to your server but its a piece of cake with any basic ftp program.
Who needs to throw away money when this awesome calendar script does an amazing job for free! It’s even RSS capable so your visitors can subscribe to your calendar!