It has been far too long since I've posted an update, and there is a lot to share. I've spent these first weeks of 2014 buried under a load of development work with RapidWeaver. Last Fall, the member areas of RapidWeaver Classroom were completely overhauled with a responsive design and new organization of content. This same design has been in progress for the public side of RapidWeaver Classroom, and it will finally be unveiled late next week.

This hasn't stopped the production of new training, though. I have been producing a completely new series of tutorials covering the Stacks 2 plugin. Today I am releasing a tutorial that covers the latest changes with the new Stacks 2.5 update that was released last week. This release presents a great opportunity to refresh all of the Stacks 2 training, which is currently over 2 years old. It goes without saying that I have learned a ton about Stacks 2 over the past 2 years, and I am excited to share so much more detail than the current tutorials offer.

On top of all this, RapidWeaver 6 is in active development and Realmac Software has been very public with details about the newest version. Continue reading below for more details on Stacks 2 and RapidWeaver 6, but I want to conclude this part of the blog update with a commitment to all of you.

Over the next several weeks you will be receiving updates from me about a lot of new tutorials. I will be releasing a large amount of content over a short period of time, and then you will continue to see new updates posted every week. Barring any sickness that might prevent it, you will not see another week of 2014 pass without new content being added to RapidWeaver Classroom. If a holiday or family trip interferes with the schedule, then I will post two weeks of content the week before. I am committed to all of you who entrust me with providing this resource, and I am very excited about the changes and additions that are on the way.

Stacks 2.5 Brings Major New Features

Stacks 2.5 was released last week and includes a number of excellent new features. There are some behind-the-scenes changes that will mean great things for the kinds of stacks that the 3rd-party developers can produce, so it will be fun to see the new kinds of stacks that get released. Of course there are also new features that we can take advantage of right away.

These new features include the ability to show and hide stacks content in the Edit view, lock stacks from being edited, create global content throughout your entire website, and create your own personal User Stacks that contain any kind of stacks layout. There is also a clean, updated interface and more fluid interaction when dragging stacks around on a page.

I have created a new video tutorial that takes you through all of the new Stacks 2.5 features. This video is free and can be viewed without an active RapidWeaver Classroom subscription.

View the Stacks 2.5 Features Overview Tutorial

RapidWeaver 6 News

The next major version of RapidWeaver is currently under development, and Realmac Software has stated that it will be released sometime in the 2nd Quarter of 2014. A lot of details about this new version have already been disclosed, and there are some great new features that will vastly improve the experience of website design with RapidWeaver. If you are interested in learning more about these new features right now, then you can read through this discussion on the Realmac Forums and even add your own thoughts to the conversation. If you'd prefer not to read through 11+ pages of discussion, then I will be posting an article soon that gathers all of the available information in one place, and you'll be able to find that here.

2014 is already shaping-up to be an exciting year for the RapidWeaver community. RapidWeaver Classroom is approaching its 6-year anniversary this May, and it is a privilege that I can continue to use my passion for teaching in this way. I greatly appreciate your support and I hope that I can continue to provide a valuable resource for you all.

Thanks for your support!