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After my pessimistic post about Microsoft's dumping Webmatrix few days ago, I needed some positive vibes. And what happens? Mobirise releases v3!
I admit. I am a fan of this thing from day 1. If you want to impress customers with a stunning - mobile first - web design, use Mobirise. Get a grip on it. It's not even that complicated. As a matter of fact, it's ridiculously simple.
Slides, galleries, background videos, sticky header, mobile menus, numerous predefined text blocks and image/video positions, social media integration... You name it, you got it. And it's all free.
It's still possible to use QuickerSite in combination with Mobirise. But in all honesty, the added value of QS is being reduced with every new version they release. The things I would typically keep on using QS for is the intranet (multi-user), the forms, the web based approach (rather than using a PC tool). But ... to be very honest, I am no longer convinced that web based content management is the only way to go. Many of the QuickerSites I host can easily be managed with a tool like Mobirise. Many of my customers do not change their site very often anyway. Why not use Mobirise for these sites? On top of that, Mobirise exports html files only. They do not require any resources on the server.
I shoot myself in the foot again. I know. But that is because if I don't, somebody will shoot me in the back anyway. As sad as I was because of Microsoft dumping Webmatrix, as excited I am now about Mobirise. Give this tool a try. It's groundbreaking.
Webmatrix is dead. Development of Webmatrix, the all-in-one web development IDE has stopped. That is after the Visual Studio Express editions got buried as well. MS now suggests to use "VS Code" instead. I downloaded it. Gave it a try. I don't get it. Notepad++ is a much better code editor. And it is Open Source as well. Microsoft has lost the war on web development many years ago. Nobody cares about what MS is developing or suggesting anymore. That is painfully clear, except to the Microsoft developers themselves.
6 years ago I was very excited about Webmatrix though. It was available for a wide variety of Windows versions, including all Vista and 7 edtions (I think it was even available for all XP editions, up to Webmatrix v2).
Webmatrix is a very elegant solution to make non-coders and non-techies familiar with the basics of web-technology (cut-down local web server serving a wide variety of popular extensions). I never used it that way, but in theory it could be used as a standalone local app-server for all sorts of things like CRM, Invoicing systems, document management tools, etc, QuickerSite always ran perfectly well on Webmatrix. It has helped me to locally test-drive and develop things without the need for the heavier IIS Management Console (not available in many Windows versions anyway).
Microsoft has - in the past 15 years - changed strategy a little to often in my opinion. Look at PHP. PHP has not really changed over the past 15 years. There has been a lot of new libraries for PHP, yes, but the core PHP code syntax did not change much. Because of that, PHP gained in popularity year after year. PHP never lost users, only won new ones.
MS should have done the exact same with classic ASP (their answer to PHP in the mid 90's), rather than develop their ASP.NET 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 monsters. Similar to PHP, ASP could have gradually been upgraded with new functions, like dealing with zip-, pdf- and image-files.
Just my 2 cents.
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (19/07/2016 07:33:55)If you look carefully at the bottom ofthe page (just above the footer), there is a link to download Webmatrix.
- Pieter says: (19/07/2016 07:47:37)Yeah Nick, I know. But it's cumbersome. Why does MS change tools (and coding philosophy) every other year? Webmatrix was a very easy all-in-one solution to locally run QuickerSite, amongst many other popular apps I have successfully installed my first WP, Drupal, Joomla and Umbraco with it. I had never been able to before Webmatrix.
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (19/07/2016 22:16:14)I realized that as soon as I posted it... ( that I misunderstood the real reason of your post).
Microsoft never cared, never cares, and will never care about their customers and users. Anything they do is out of pure greed, maximizing their profits and illegally gaining monopoly status, as they were punished for those actions in the past. Who knows why they are pushing this new technology... but I guarantee you that the reason is money driven somehow, if not now, down the line.
They have become a very pathetic and unethical company, especially with their windows 10 tactics. - JohnW says: (27/12/2016 12:47:01)Re Visual Studio Express editions, I think it's worth pointing that MS Visual Studio Community edition is now available free. Community edition offers what the Express editions offered but unlike the express editions it allows you install support for non Microsoft languages, (so if you want to try your hand with Django you now have a realistic free alternative to Eclipse)
Community uses IIS Express rather than Cassini as its built in dev server, which is good news as Cassini doesn't support Classic ASP, and like the Express editions, Community has intellisense for Classic ASP. (One thing which always baffles me is that intellisense for ADODB objects doesn't work in any VS version on Win 7 but it does on Win 8).
Obviously it's not exactly a lightweight programme - the install took about two and a half hours on my laptop, but once you've been through that it's nice. I agree that Webmatrix offers a better user experience than VSCode.
I don't think MS was wrong to develop ASP.net, but I don't see why they couldn't have continued with Classic ASP in parallel, rather than actively trying to kill it off. They could also have given it a completely different name. Loads of people on Stack Overflow seem to think that "Classic ASP" means webforms rather than MVC. I got into Classic ASP coding in the late 90s when I had a Win 97 machine, which came with Personal Web Server, and it was easy to get up and running. When XP superseded it there was no dev server in the Home edition, one needed Pro, which included IIS. I think this the biggest reasons why Classic ASP lost a lot of users.
Yesterday I released QuickerSite v43. QuickerSite v42 was the longest living version of QuickerSite ever. And actually, QuickerSite v43 is mainly a service release - fixing some small issues (most of them were never reported). There is no reason to upgrade a site to v43.... except...
...if you are into Bootstrap!
QuickerSite v43 ships with a new menu-variable: [QS_BOOTSTRAPMENU_3] This variable flushes out the QuickerSite menu in a Bootstrap 3 compatible syntax. You can see it in action over here: http://pingendo.quickersite.com. I used Pingendo - http://pingendo.com/ for this QuickerSite. Pingendo is an excellent app used for rapid Bootstrap prototyping.
At this very moment however, I am upgrading some websites with the help of Mobirise. Check out some examples:
I also put up a video explaining the basics on how to convert a Mobirise website to a QuickerSite template. Check it out! This is not gonna be as easy as uploading an Artisteer template. Despite the fact that Bootstrap templates look like they keep it "small and simple", .... they're not. The possibilities are endless and at this point, I still have to learn a lot before making up my mind how to further automate things in QuickerSite. And also... Bootstrap 4 is around the corner, so there as well I expect some important changes.
That's it for now!
- Bob says: (15/03/2016 13:31:02)It would have been easier to start getting my head around Mobirise if the included project file was the template you used.
Looks interesting though. - Pieter says: (15/03/2016 13:36:11)Bob, I think only the main image is different... apart from that, it's the exact same template... Thanks for reporting this... I will have to update that in the download file.
- David says: (15/03/2016 13:47:14)Hi Pieter, while your in the code base can you update the version constant, the copy I downloaded last night is showing 4.2 - Cheers
- Pieter says: (15/03/2016 13:49:20)I will David. Thanks!
- David says: (15/03/2016 13:52:26)Forgot to mention, thanks so much for the updates and the work you've done adding Mobirise support. It's good that you're keeping the old dog alive
- Pieter says: (15/03/2016 14:02:22)@David & Bob, both issues are fixed in the current downloads.
Well... we have already had more buzz, more bugs and more animo than we had in the past 18 months with v42.
ok, i'm my cynical self again - forgive me
- Karl says: (28/03/2016 21:10:54)Mobirise. I have been struggling with Mobrise functionalities. To me it is not intuitive. Your video for converting to QS was helpful. I am now going through a youtube series (27 videos by Brian Haferkamp) explaining Mobirise. Here is first video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_pO6xTRZVA&ebc=ANyPxKqMpgWRbTphFc-l0OzA21vOxW9glzQ8BK23pVmvB06Lk-Q7QPagfyuhvGzYJe1FOTm5BEt_j7ua3TlIlHJoKSIBpDESVQ.
Mobirise is clearly not as sophisticated as Artisteer. - Pieter says: (05/04/2016 21:24:05)Mobirise is not as sophisticated as Artisteer indeed. You're absolutely right about that Karl. The main difference with Artisteer is that Mobirise is not focussing on content management. Most Mobirise websites I have seen so far do not have much content (up to 5 pages mostly filled with pictures).
But there is a need for an app like Mobirise. Their (new) forums are very busy: http://forums.mobirise.com/
I'm not pushing anyone towards Mobirise, don't get me wrong. What I'm saying is: we - as QS users - can look at Mobirise as yet another resource for creating modern templates. That is how I use it anyway. I have used Mobirise for about 6 QuickerSite so far. And customers really like it. But it requires some planning on how to deal with the navigation, the one-page design, the various sections, etc. - Mik says: (26/05/2016 18:24:41)The examples you have made Pieter, are the made with v4.3? I mean the scrolling effect. Also the "Accordeon effect". I have marked the "Accordeon effect", but it seems not to Work.
- Pieter says: (26/05/2016 22:11:21)Mik, make sure you add the JAVASCRIPT variable at the bottom of the template. Also check if you do not face jQuery issues (use F12 in your browser)
I do not often share personal and family things, but for the image below I am happy to make an exception. Few weeks ago, my wife took this picture of our 5 year old daughter. She looks like she really is: a real PITA! But one that you cannot refuse anything to :)
- doc says: (07/01/2015 07:30:16)what's mean "PITA" ?
- Pieter says: (08/01/2015 20:03:03)
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (09/01/2015 00:22:51)I saved this post. When she grows up, and actually when you grow old, and she has to make a decision to take you in, or put you in a home (more like a mental hospital), I will show her this post.
Her decision will only take about 3 seconds then... even though looking at her face, she looks like a real PITA !!! (I guess after this, we will be roommates in the mental hospital now). - Karl says: (16/03/2015 18:05:22)You think you have problems? Wait until she has a boy friend. The poor guy won't know what hit him :)
For the first time in my entire career, I am asked to build a mobile website for a long time customer. And I am already stuck, before I got even started.
The question that keeps me busy for the moment is: shall we create a new responsive design for the existing website, or shall we setup a separate mobile site, under a new (sub) domain (e.g. http://m.mysite.com)?
My customer is a car-dealer. Their guidelines for dealer-websites push towards creating a separate website for mobile devices. As a webdesigner, I think this is an outdated approach. I would rather use a responsive design. But who am I?
I did some research. Most car-sites I visit are not responsive. Same for many other sites, like news-sites, newspapers, etc. The vast majority of (bigger) sites are simply not responsive. They have seperate websites for mobile devices.
Artisteer choose to add responsive behaviour to their webdesigner tool as from v4.x. So does www.jstemplates.com. But was that the best approach? We could have created a seperate tool to create mobile websites instead. Given the actual situation, this might have made more sense. I believe it has kept Artisteer from growing as a designer software. At some point, it got stuck in the mud with this responsive thing.
A final thought: How can you design a web template that shows "more or less" the same content, images (and other media) on both 800px and 2560px screens? Simple: you can't. The "more or less" is important though. If your website has a lot of content, you will most likely be better off using a seperate design for mobile devices. If your website is relatively small, and it does not contain too much media, you can try a responsive design. Well, that's how I see it - for now...
Any suggestion?
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (17/09/2014 10:52:36)My thoughts on your final thought (by now you all know where I stand on responsive design) -
Quote: "How can you design a web template that shows "more or less" the same content, images (and other media) on both a 800px and 2560px screens? Simple: you can't."
I totally disagree, because you simply can !
You can designate the content for each device with media queries.
Create divs for your content, and add the appropriate classes to reflect for each device, of course you don't have to worry about the desktop view, since all the content will always be visible there. For the smaller screens, you can decide which text to be shown on tablets and/or phones, and you can do the same with all elements, from sidebars, to images, to videos, and even footer or header if you wanted to.
So you can configure any page to have all the content shown for desktops, less content for tablets, and even less content for phones.
I'll have a demo tomorrow.
The other alternative is to have a second mobile web site, and your workload will be doubled. I am not going to even mention how google could shred you to pieces, since now you have duplicate content. As I said, hello 2009. - Pieter says: (17/09/2014 11:12:14)Thanks Nick. Yes I know where you stand for :)
The point is: if you have a dozen of areas in your design, and you have to decide on their position and visibility for 3 mainstream resolutions (<640,<1024), you end up with a VERY complex setup, for both the designer and the end-user.
And it does not solve another important issue: some images will easily download on a laptop connected to wifi, but not with a phone's GPRS signal. So you might need at least 2 versions of each and every image, a hi-res and a low-res. That is how many sites do it!
2009? Yeah right! You know... quite a few things were much better in 2009 (and before). It isn't always changing for the good you know... - doc says: (19/09/2014 12:20:38)I am in agreement with pieter. is already difficult for a user to understand simple concepts such as the proportions of the images, think what he can ay about prepare different versions of the same image!
I personally prefer the responsive design, it is certainly not the ideal solution but doing her job, especially with the customer. or better with low-medium customers type
the idea of having a specific site for mobile, terrifies me. Customers (or their staff) being crazy to the idea of having to manage the news 2 times a week.
if they then think of having to manage even a separate version, perhaps with different texts (for google) in a multilingual site .... i can't thinking about.... - dynamic says: (13/10/2014 16:45:33)Hi, both works for me. You dont need 2 sites. Responsive design works for small and medium sites, but if you want a big site is better a mobile site. Why?. Because with responsive design you can hide areas o divs using css, but when you have a lot of content loading css could be a nightmare, your css file will be big and the final user will feel the slowness of the website.
With a mobile site, using constants you can load what you need, you can use the same database.
I added a Facebook "like box" to this website. It took me a while to figure out the bits and bytes. See video below for some tips & tricks.
Yahoo has adopted a new security policy. Search Google for "yahoo dmarc changes".
This has an important consequence in case you use a Yahoo-email as the sending address for email messages. It simply does no longer work (in most cases). It depends on the SMTP server settings though.
The workaround would be to use custom SMTP server settings in your QuickerSite admin panel (available from QuickerSite 4.0).
Today - 26/3/2014 - President Obama visits Belgium. It's the first time he visits our small country. And he'll be gone by 19pm tonight, off to Italy.
National media are reporting the whole visit, every little detail about it.
The one thing that jumps out are the insane security measurements. People cannot leave houses, have to close doors and windows. Obama travels in the "Beast", an insanely secured Caddillac, that is unable to take a little ramp :)
It's a pity that he will not see the "real" Belgium. He'll only see what his security staff wants him to see. Both Zac Brown Band and Brad Paisley are currently touring in Europe as well. God Bless America, euuuhh.... Europe!
- l.leone says: (28/03/2014 07:39:39)Obama visits Rome!!!!
He brings the food from America ... I do not understand, you come in ITALY, and you bring the food from America?
You go to visit the COLOSSEO and the only thing you say is that the COLOSSEO is larger than a baseball field?
In Rome we say "ma chi te vole?" that is: "we do not like you to come here!" - Karl says: (09/04/2014 16:47:50)I wish you had kept him in Europe. He is destroying the US and by extension the (what used to be) free world.
- David says: (09/04/2014 17:13:57)From what I see from our wee nation in pacific, life and the pursuit of happiness certainly seems to be getting harder for you guys in the US Karl. One wonders where it will all end, in tears I suspect.
- eileen says: (15/08/2014 23:02:34)awesome!
Better than Bush visiting...that dumbass.
Still repairing our foreign relations and recovering billions spent on a useless war that made no sense -- I only wish we could get the lives back. - Karl says: (07/03/2015 11:35:56)Obama is a self-absorbed fool who thinks world should revolve around him. He has totally ignored our laws and acts as a king. The country is more divided now than it has been in 60 years. Don't be surprised if you see some states break off and form a new country in your lifetime
I found a nice (and free) Google service to generate QR-codes.
The service is extremely easy to use. All it takes, is use an image (<img>) tag and pass the url of your website as a parameter:
<img src="http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=150x150&choe=UTF-8&chld=H&chl=http://www.quickersite.com" />
results in:
You can change its size by playing with the chs-parameter!
Check it out with your smartphone!
For some reason I am obsessed by file upload limitations. Not only because I am hosting 100's of sites that I need to monitor, but also because I'm planning some sort of mega upload facility (for musicians), and I'm gonna need HUGE uploads. For some time I assumed that it would not be possible to allow for 100MB file uploads in classic ASP. But I was wrong all this time. It can be done. Pure scripting, pure classic ASP!
Check out the video below. Hope it helps classic ASP developers to fight some limitations in IIS.
There are many background-pattern generators out there. There are also many websites offering all sorts of ugly background patterns :)
But there are very few, I didn’t find any actually, that generate or offer transparent background patterns or textures (transparent png files).
Transparent background patterns can be combined with background-colors (CSS). That is real fun.
Check out the video below! I try to explain how to create transparent background images using Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net). Paint.NET is a free image editor for Windows. It rocks! Never let me down in the past 7 years!
- Karl says: (30/09/2013 15:59:50)I finally got this tutorial to run. Its was stopping after about 14-15 seconds.
Do you recommend a site that has back ground images?
Karl - Pieter says: (30/09/2013 16:09:27)Karl, there are many, too many even.
This article discusses some of the better ones:
http://singlefunction.com/15-online-background-generators/
I may be wrong, but I think none of those generate transparent bg-images, which is why I needed the trick in the video... - Karl says: (08/10/2013 00:34:39)Thanks Pieter
- Karl says: (08/10/2013 00:59:10)Pieter, I think you are correct. The ones I looked at use color palettes.
Question at Dynamic Drive they have a css 3d action button generator. To use this in QS, do I have to include the css code in the template? I tried just putting it in a constant, but that did not work.
Karl
Ever since the release of QuickerSite 4, QS customers can use www.jstemplates.com to create good looking and responsive web templates for QuickerSite. One of the major concerns when using JSTemplates, was the inability to re-upload a previously generated design (zip file).
This problem has been solved. You can now upload a previously downloaded zip file by clicking the “Load Sample” button, as shown in the video below.
One tiny thing to keep in mind: You can only re-upload zip files that were exported today 28/08/2013 (and from now on). If you need to upload older templates, you’ll have to redo them manually, export them, and from then on, you can upload them for further fine-tuning.
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (28/08/2013 18:10:26)This is great. With this new development hopefully more people will use this awesome tool.
- Karl says: (29/08/2013 02:08:13)Excellent. I have a new site that I can try it out on.
Just curious, but is there any way to use some Artisteer texture images? - Pieter says: (29/08/2013 09:01:49)Karl, Artisteer texture images are copyrighted (and encrypted) transparent png files.
Some months ago, when I was developing Jstemplates, I also found out how to create such transparent textures. Once I knew how to, it was fairly simple. I used the free program Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/ - to get the job done.
I don't remember exactly what I did, but I think I converted existing patterns to grayscale, and added transparency at some point. Anyways, attached you can download the 50 textures I use on http://JStemplates.com - Pieter says: (29/08/2013 12:52:37)Karl, check out my other post:
http://www.quickersite.com/r/default.asp?iID=HFJJLH&iPostID=EJIIGHG
It may help you to create some textures yourself... - David says: (29/08/2013 15:36:02)Well done Pieter, I think this feature is what many have been waiting for before committing to use JS Templates site for real world sites. With that expectation in mind do you think it might be worth having a link to jstemplates.com on the backsite templates page in the next QS version?
- Pieter says: (29/08/2013 17:28:30)Good idea David. Thx! Completely forgot about that...
- nick6352683@yahoo.com says: (29/08/2013 20:51:55)You don't have to wait for the next version. The backsite uses an Artisteer template. You can very easily add your links and text in the header and footer.
- David says: (30/08/2013 06:02:20)That's a great thought Nick but for promotional purposes it's probably better to have it as a permanent feature. Perhaps not so much for us established users but a new user could be totally oblivious that they have a QS friendly template generator available.
