RapidWeaver is a Mac app
I am a Mac user since 1989 (but i loved my Amiga) and because of my history i do not like Windows based stuff. The fact that RapidWeaver is a Mac app makes it just feeling a little more warmer.
Flexible
You can do websites in different ways in RapidWeaver. Start with a theme to build your complete homepage. You can add custom CSS to the whole site or just for a page. You can focus on your content while building a site which will look great, almost automatically.
Stacks
If you want more complex layout work, you can purchase the great Stacks plugin from Yourhead. I would say this is the real reason why RapidWeaver is so successful. Personally I can not imagine doing RapidWeaver work without this plugin. It is a essential tool. Stacks lets you build more complex layouts with drag and drop. Adding columns to a page is one example. And because you don't have to code this part, it is easily doable for everyone.
The second part of Stacks: Stacks.
Yes, there is more. Stacks has an API and this makes it possible to create own Stacks for the Stacks plugin. And this is a huge advantage, because there are many cool people out there creating Stacks for Stacks. If you do your web work, Stacks are a great time saver. Drag a Stack into your page and some complex things will be possible. The Stacks can be configured for your taste in a palette with sliders, checkboxes, etc.
You need a slider with images for your header? Get a Stack and it is only a matter of seconds. Some stacks are free (i think of all the great Stacks from BigWhiteDuck. They are donationware and i can only say: Get your hands on them and make a donation for this awesome work), some stacks do cost something. But all of them are great to enhance your website.
Frameworks
You know what i will say: There are stacks out there, based on frameworks. Some popular solutions for RapidWeaver are Foundation, UIKit and Foundry. Each one with great capabilities to build your website from scratch. Personally I started with Foundation from Joe Workman and am quite happy with it.
There are some Frameworks out there to make your life as a web coder or designer easier. Foundation and Bootstrap are only two of them.
Every Stacks set has its own advantages and it is up to you what you like. But what i can say is, if you dive into this way to build a website, you never want go get back. You can build almost everything what you want to do. Often only your imagination is the limit. Foundation has changed my way doing my work. And it makes it possible to create project files for RapidWeaver, as you can see in my little web store Premium Foundation Projects
I can only speak for myself, but the future of RapidWeaver seems to be great with all this tools to help you building wonderful websites. I enjoy this every day.
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