Freeway Pro
Developer(s) | Softpress Systems |
---|---|
Stable release | 7.1.3 / May 5, 2016 |
Operating system | Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher, Intel only, Yosemite compatible |
Type | Internet publishing |
License | Proprietary |
Website | www.softpress.com |
An overview of Freeway Pro 6. Adding text, adding graphics, previewing, and uploading you site.For more information on Freeway or technical support, please v. Again, Freeway 5 Pro is a bit dated. (By the way the somewhat crippled 'non-pro' version is free. Check out the freebie, then buy the pro version. Note: This app generates clean HTML (choice of verbose and efficient) during the build phase. It is not ideally suited for importing existing sites. There are no completed north–south freeways in the twelve-mile area between Interstate 5 (Golden State Freeway) and Interstate 605 (San Gabriel River Freeway). Pro- and anti-710 lobbies have debated whether finishing I-710 would alleviate any of the San Gabriel Valley's traffic congestion, or merely displace it from surface streets to the.
Freeway (originally Uniqorn) is a WYSIWYGweb design application for Mac OS X (older versions also run under Mac OS 9), developed by the English company Softpress Systems.[1]
Freeway is based on a pre-Mac OS X print publishing application called Uniqorn, also developed by Softpress, but discontinued when Apple stopped supporting QuickDraw GX in Mac OS 8.
The philosophy behind Freeway is that an average user is able to design websites without having to deal with any code, using an interface very similar to that of Desktop publishing applications like QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign. Advanced procedures (like connecting to a MySQL database using a scripting language like PHP) are done through plug-ins called 'Actions'. Several Actions can be downloaded for free on several websites, but there are also commercial 3rd Party Actions, like the 'Auction Seller Suite' from FreewayActions.com, which allows the creation of eBay-friendly HTML within the Freeway design interface. Many useful Actions are bundled with Freeway, the latest set from Softpress being a suite of Actions that lets the user create a shopping cart through the popular Mals e-commerce system.
Unlike most other WYSIWYG web design applications, Freeway produces syntactically valid HTML code and Cascading Style Sheets, making it usable in situations where valid HTML code is obligatory. For example, valid code is required by law on the majority of federal and state institutions' web sites in Germany. Versions of Freeway from 4.4 onwards also create HTML and CSS that correct many rendering problems with Internet Explorer 6 on Windows.
On July 4, 2016, Softpress announced the end of development on Freeway and other software products via a post on the homepage stating, 'The end of Softpress Systems Ltd. has come. It has become clear that our prospects, both in terms of current revenue and new product development, are insufficient to sustain the company as a viable entity going forward.'
Freeway Pro
At the start of 2017 the author of Freeway announced the resumption of Softpress' business but, due to limited staff, without in-house tech support, referring to a thriving on-line user groups for support. It currently offers five products: Freeway, Freeway Express (a basic version of Freeway), Chroma (for selecting color palettes), Exhibio (photo gallery creation), and Fretspace (for creating chord diagrams). They also offer a range of Freeway templates under the name, Marketplace. As stated by Softpress:
'We’ve returned from the netherworld to make our award-winning applications available again, and to begin work on great new software for the future.:[2]
References[edit]
- ^https://vintageapple.org/macworld/pdf/Macworld_9704_April_1997.pdf#page=62
- ^https://www.softpress.com
External links[edit]
Freeway Propane Phone Number
Developer: Softpress
Price: $249 (Pro); $79 (Express); education/senior discounts available
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4. Universal.
Recommended: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.
Trial: Fully-featured (30 days).
When the Internet tubes were still somewhat recently installed, I dabbled a bitin Web programming. (I still have a quick-reference version of HTML 2.0 forDummies somewhere at the house.) I even figured out how to split a photo intomultiple pieces, superimpose text over the top, and re-assemble the photo on aWeb site with each piece as a button for a different page. I thought I waspretty smooth.
As programming for the Web matured, however, I quickly lost track of thestandards, and while I know enough about what the different coded elements do,these days I have only the most basic idea of how these elements are coded andassembled into the Web sites of 2009. This isn’t a problem, though. Even thoughI used to build Web sites using high-tech applications like TextEdit andWordPad, these days there are tools like Softpress’s Freeway to help a guy builda Web site that utilizes all of the current standards and code, even if Icouldn’t tease out more than about 10% of what it means.
Freeway Web Site Basics
Freeway works like many Web site authoring applications: you create a new sitefile, and it creates a package of content that contains each page within thesite, images and media files, CSS files, and other supporting files. Whereasother applications (like Apple’s iWeb or Realmac’s RapidWeaver) bundle thesepackages together into a single proprietary file, Freeway automatically createsa new folder to house these files, with a single document within that folderthat is the Freeway proprietary file. This is messier when it comes to Spotlightindexing and file management, but it is a more transparent and open system forstoring the contents.
[To be fair: both iWeb and RapidWeaver packages can easily be “opened” in Finderto reveal the same contents so this isn’t an inherent advantage for Freeway, butsimply a difference in the manner of storage.]
Once you’ve asked Freeway to create a new file, it invites you to choose atemplate or customize your own page. Even if you plan to change it a good bit,the templates offer a useful starting point; I can see most users never usingthe “custom” option.
Making It Your Own
Having chosen a template, then you’re off. You’ll be presented with the templateand sample content, but everything—and I mean everything—is up for grabs.
Text, images, media, background elements—all are easily added, changed,adjusted, removed. Freeway includes a number of ways to customize text, and willexport text as a GIF if necessary, to preserve font and style changes. Imagesare highly editable within Freeway, allowing rotation, scaling, cropping, andeven skew adjustments; further edits can be applied directly (without reloadingthe image), even if done in an external editor.
What is more, any part of the CSS can be altered simply, with an entirelygraphical menu and dialog system. Honestly, this is reason enough for moreserious users to go with Freeway; it’s plain and easy to make substantialchanges to CSS styles, then save them for future use.
There’s a lot to Freeway, and that brings a somewhat steep learning curve.Fortunately, Softpress has provided a comprehensive user manual, as well as agood bit of tutorial online.
Interface Mac-ness
Freeway felt familiar when I first opened it, but I couldn’t place it—until Ihappened onto an old image I created back in college (back before the Internettubes were open to the public) in Aldus Freehand. That’s right—Freeway remindsme of a System 6 graphics application.
But I mean that in the best way: there’s a harmony of simplicity and functionthat Freeway exudes, much like those early graphics tools. It is based on alayout/graphical concept, rather than the text-based structure that most Webdevelopment tools employ—you get grids, rulers, and alignment marks.
In many other ways, it also feels like a contemporary Mac program. It utilizes atwo-pane view, with the files for the different pages of your site in a sidebarpane, while the main content is in the large primary pane. The toolbar across thetop of the window—customizable, of course—is, again, like many Mac applications;easily identifiable buttons (for adding objects and other tools) pop down intomenus, replicating the most common menu commands for quick access from the mainwindow. And it utilizes an inspector for editing the properties of the documentsand objects.
iPhone Love
A recent update brought some love for iPhones—and those who want to develop Websites that are friendly to them. It’s a breeze to make your site totallyiPhone-friendly, with scaling, telephone number detection, and redirection ofsurfers to the iPhone-specific pages on your site.
Also, if your site employs Flash video—which isn’t supported by the iPhone—Freewaynow offers a work-around: host both a Flash and a QuickTime version of the samevideo on the same page, so that iPhone users will be able to view the QuickTimeversion instead.
Code Generation
In most Web development applications, bits of HTML, CSS, and other types of codeare used as building blocks for Web sites. The genius of the application is, asmuch as anything, the ability to connect all of these pieces together andfilling in the blanks, producing a usable and reliable Web site.
Not so with Freeway. Here, the code is generated after the fact—in multiplevarieties of HTML and XHTML. With Freeway Pro, a pure CSS Web site is an option.All of the code is very clean and tidy, and highly standards-compliant; ituploads easily through an FTP client—or use the FTP option built into Freeway,accessing your site’s server directly.
Two Versions
Freeway comes in two versions that are quite distinct—if nothing else, by theprice difference between them. Freeway Express is something of an entry-levelversion, while Freeway Pro is the full version.
You might think of the two as comparable in the same way that Adobe PhotoshopElements is comparable to Photoshop. You don’t lose the ability to create andedit Web sites with Freeway Express, but you don’t get the full array of toolsand functions offered by the more elaborate and extensive Freeway Pro.
Freeway Pro offers more tools than Express: color and style management, text andimage manipulation, graphics import and editing, more layout options, and agreater choice of actions (as well as the capacity to build and edit your ownactions). It offers more function: evaluating accessibility, choosing output andcoding options, and editing CSS styles and layouts more capably. If you want orneed to have total control over the outcome of your Web site development,Freeway Pro is a must-have option for you.
Still, Freeway Express will turn out nice, customized Web sites that will meetmany people’s satisfaction. The question for many, I suspect, will be a matterof balancing need with price: do I need the extra features that the (muchgreater) price of Pro affords me? If the answer isn’t immediately apparent, itwouldn’t hurt to start with Freeway Express, as an upgrade path is offered fromExpress to Pro for $169.
A Strong Community
Both versions of Freeway make use of templates and actions heavily, so it isimperative that designers have access to a good collection of both in order tobuild the Web sites they want. Freeway comes stocked with a good start of both,but most Web sites will eventually require more variety than these.
Fortunately, there is a strong community of Freeway users and developers whohave provided many templates and actions. While some of the templatesmake me chuckle or wonder, “What would that look be appropriate for?” it is easyto find a template that is versatile and useful for a variety of Web sites.Likewise, some of the actions evoked a comment of, “Wow—that’s esoteric”; still,you should be able to find an action for just about any function you can imagineoccurring on your Web site.
Who’s It For?
It’s easy to come out comparing Freeway to iWeb—it is a point of reference thatevery contemporary Mac user has access to. The target audience for iWeb is theuser who wants a no-fuss, quick-start Web site that makes up in ease of use andpublishing what it lacks in features and customization.
Freeway can compete there, but I doubt that is who they are targeting—at leastwith Freeway Pro, and even with Express. Freeway is much more of a designer’stool, and as that it excels. Few designers are also deep coders, so offeringsomething for a designer to put alongside Photoshop and InDesign—indeed, thateven shares the feel of these applications modestly—is a great market to pursue,allowing the designer to single-handedly see his Web site into live status,without having to outsource the coding and configuration.
As such, I see Freeway much more as an alternative to GoLive or DreamWeaver, andmarketed to smaller shops, individual designers, and consultants who want tooffer Web development as a small part of their services, but not their exclusivefocus. (Reference Softpress’s Intaglio, a powerful but consumer-priced vectorgraphics editor, as a similar offering that affirms my hunches here.)
Comparing Freeway to its competitors furthers this inclination. One popular“iWeb alternative” is Realmac’s RapidWeaver, which is similar to Freeway in someways: template-based sites, built with pages that are user-configurable, andallowing a certain degree of flexibility and customization across the board. Butwhereas RapidWeaver wants to mimic iWeb in that it hides a lot of the layout andcustomizable code from the user, Freeway doesn’t “hide” it—though it hasn’tcreated the code yet. With Freeway, you get a lot more direct access to editinglayout, (what will eventually be) code, and features. This requires a little bitmore “under the hood” knowledge, but it also allows a lot more when it comes totailoring a Web site to your needs and wants.
Problems and Complaints
Freeway Protester Violence Video
Freeway’s interface is straightforward, and it isn’t difficult to navigate—ifyou’ve built a Web site before, or have some savvy about how they work, you’llbe able to find your way around in Freeway. Still, it isn’t quite what I wouldcall “intuitive” to use, which separates it from a lot of Mac softwareregardless of some similarities. I mentioned the likeness to Aldus Freehand, andit mirrors Freehand in this way as well—not difficult to use, but notself-explanatory either, and a bit of intimidation strikes you if you aren’t athome in this type of application. Users looking for something that isessentially iWeb with more power will be frustrated with the learning curve ofFreeway over something like RapidWeaver. (In their defense, I will say againthat I don’t think the iWeb upgrader is the best market for Freeway, anyway.)
Freeway, like nearly all Web development applications, uses a proprietary formatto store its files—and you have to use one of these to make changes to anexisting site. No big deal, except that Freeway cannot import existing Websites. There is no easy way to take a Web site that wasn’t developed withFreeway and begin to edit and maintain it via Freeway. Now, this is true of allmodern Web site editors, and I’m not sure why; I do know that, should Softpressadd this capability to Freeway, they would guarantee an expansion of their userbase.
On a similar note, if you happen to be someone who is skilled with coding, thefact that Freeway generates code on output might be a problem for you. There’sno option of making subtle changes or adjustments while developing. This isn’t aproblem if you don’t want to bother with code—but if you’re looking to tweak theCSS, for example, you must do it through the menus and dialog boxes, not throughdirect coding.
Wrap-up
Freeway is an impressive package. I was pleasantly surprised at how powerful itwas for producing highly-functional and complex Web sites, and at how theinterface deployed like a design tool instead of a programming tool. I recommendit, especially considering the relatively low cost of entry (with FreewayExpress at $79) and the ease of upgrading, if necessary. If you’re a designeror consultant who needs to offer customized Web sites to clients, Freeway willfit right into your context. Likewise, businesses or organizations that want tokeep such work “in-house” will find that it gets the job done well. If you likeiWeb but want more power, Freeway might be a bit of a jump up for you, but thatshouldn’t keep you from considering it.
Freeway Project Database
Copyright © 2009 Ed Eubanks Jr. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. Ifyou’re interested, write to us at reviews@atpm.com.