RapidWeaver FAQ

When I try to preview my site with RapidWeaver it doesn't display correctly. How do I fix this?

2009-03-19T11:42:45.077-04:00

It has been reported and confirmed that there is an issue between RapidWeaver and Safari 4 Beta. The issue that arises prevents users not being able to properly view RapidWeaver themes in the Theme Drawer or when previewing their site within RapidWeaver.

To resolve this issue users will need to uninstall Safari 4 Beta and re-install Safari 3.2.1. Follow the instructions below in order to remove Safari 4 Beta and then install Safari 3.2.1.

1). Download the Safari 4 Beta installer from here.

2). Double click on the Safari4.0BetaUninstall.pkg and follow the instructions.

Re-install Safari 3.2.1

1). Download Safari 3.2.1 from here. Select the appropriate version for the Mac OS you are running Leopard or Tiger.

2). Double click on the installer and follow instructions.

How do I add a video file?

2008-11-26T09:50:46.311-05:00

To add a video file to your portfolio:

1). Select the page you wish to add your video to in the page listing column to the left.

2). Open your portfolio folder and navigate to the folder where your movie is stored and select it.

NOTE: You will need to make sure that your movie has been saved as a .mov file before adding it to your RapidWeaver portfolio.

3). Drag the movie file to where you would like it to be located on the page.

A warning box will appear asking to make a choice about how to deal with the video file. If your video file is located in your portfolio project folder, then select "Alias." If not select "Copy."

NOTE: The difference between Alias and Copy is that Alias will create a link to your video file in your portfolio folder and add the video when you publish your portfolio. The Copy option will copy your file and place it in the RapidWeaver project file. Because you have created and placed your video in your portfolio, using Alias would be recommended to keep your project file size small.

4). Click preview to test your video.

How do I add an audio file?

2008-11-26T09:50:35.313-05:00

There are a couple of ways of adding audio files to your portfolio.

1). Drag and drop the audio file directly on to the page editing area from your portfolio folder or from the iMedia window.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that you place your audio file in your portable portfolio folder in the off chance that you move your portfolio files.

2). Creating a link using the Page Inspector assets window and creating a link to the audio file.

Drag and Drop Method

1). Select the page you wish to add the audio file to in the Pages column.

2). Place the insertion bar (blinking bar) where you wish to insert the file.

3). Locate your audio file in your Portfolio folder and drag it to your page.

4). Select the Preview tab to test and see your audio file. Using this method RapidWeaver will automatically play your audio file in the current browser window.

Creating link to audio file

1). Select the page you wish to add the audio file to in the Pages column.

2). Click on the Page Inspector "i" icon in the lower left.

3). Select the 3rd tab in the Page Inspector window.

4). Click on the Assets option.

5). Click Add Files and locate the audio file with in your portfolio folder and click open.

NOTE: If you wish to use this audio file in other pages you will need to apply this Asset to all pages. Step 6 thru will explain how to do this. If you only want this audio file linked on one page skip to Step

6). At the top of the Page Inspector window click on the first tab, General Settings.

7). Click on Apply To All Pages and then click on the All On/Off button in the lower left.

8). Make sure to check the box Page Assets and then click the Apply button to the lower right.

9). Highlight the text you wish to associate with the audio file link and click the Add Link button at the bottom of the window.

10). To link to the Asset you just added click on the URL drop down window and select Assets, then your newly added audio file.

11). To have your audio file open in a new window make sure to select "New Window" from the "Open In:" drop down menu.

How do I wrap text around an image?

2008-11-26T09:50:13.190-05:00

1). To Wrap text around the image, click on the image select Format --> HTML --> Align Image Left/Right. You will not see a change on the Edit page, but if you select Preview, you will see that your image is now aligned left/right.

2). If the text wrap isn't as you would like it to appear you may have to make the image smaller and/or place it else where in the line of text to get a more acceptable result.

Before

After

NOTE: You can use this technique with Text Block using the Blocks page to wrap text around an image.

How do I add image to a Blocks Page?

2008-11-26T09:49:47.223-05:00

How to add image using the Blocks page.

1). Select or add a Blocks Page Style.

2). Go to your portfolio folder and locate the image you want to place in the Blocks page.

3). Now that your image is in the Blocks page you can now move the image any where on the page or resize the image.

To resize the image grab one of the image handles and move them in or out to resize the image smaller or larger. Blocks will automatically maintain the proper scaling.

To add image using the RapidWeaver iMedia Browser is very similar to the drag and drop method.

1). Under the RapidWeaver View menu select Show iMedia Browser.

2). When the iMedia Browser window opens select the iPhoto tab then select iPhoto and click on the triangle to the left to see your iPhoto libraries and albums. Select the album that you created to hold your images that are associated with your portfolio.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that if you are going to use iPhoto to store your images you should create an album to organize and hold your images that is associated and used with your portfolio. You'll want to do this before you start adding images to your portfolio.

3). From the iMedia Browser select the image you want to use and drag it to the editing window.

4). To resize the image grab/click on the corner image handle and drag to resize the image.

How do I add images to a Styled Text page?

2008-11-26T09:49:29.314-05:00

Adding images to styled pages

There are three different ways of adding a photo to styled pages: drag and drop, assets, and iMedia. This tutorial will demonstrate how to do all three as well as how to text wrap and resize photos.

1). Using the drag and drop method, we will pull a photo of Charlie Cardinal from the desktop to the page in RapidWeaver.

2). You can see the photo of Charlie Cardinal on the desktop, so click on Charlie and pull him over onto the page until there is a green "+"sign next to your mouse and the photo you are dragging onto the page. Let go of your mouse whenever the "+" sign appears and your image will drop.

3). After adding the photo you may want to resize the photo.

4). If you double click on the image, the Media Inspector window will appear. Look for scale and change from 100% to the size you desire. You can also use the arrows to adjust the size. Once you have adjusted to the size you desire, you can close the window.

5). If you would like to align your photo to the left, right, or center you can do so by selecting the image, then go to Format --> Align Left/Center/Right.

Using iMedia to insert photos

1). Go to View --> Show iMedia Browser. A box will appear.

2). Select iPhoto and find your portfolio album, and find the image you wish to use. Drag and drop the photo from the iMedia Browser.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that if you are going to use iPhoto to store your images you should create an album to organize and hold your images that is associated and used with your portfolio. You'll want to do this before you start adding images to your portfolio.

3). The photo will appear just as your photos did with the drag and drop method. You may need to resize the image (double click on the image) to fit it into the window.

Inserting photos using Assets

Assets is a way of linking a file to a word or sentence on your page.

1. Open Page Info (lower left hand corner) to access Assets. Select Header and at the bottom of the box, you will see Assets. You can add files by selecting "Add Files".

2. Find the photo you would like use, select it and click Open.

3. This is what the box should look like after you have loaded the file into Assets.

4. Type or highlight the word you'd like to set as link to your image. Make sure the word is selected and go to the bottom of the window and click the arrow with the plus sign to create a link to your Asset.

5. Once the dialog box appears to create a link, click the URL and select "Asset" then the photo you uploaded into Assets. You can also select "Current Window" or "New Window." Click "Set Link" when you have the desired settings.

6. When you have finished creating the link, you can test the link in Preview mode. If you click the link, it will lead you to a page where your image appears. If you set your Asset to open in a "New Window" and wish to see the action, you will need to publish your site first.

How should I structure my portfolio pages in RapidWeaver?

2008-11-26T09:41:58.715-05:00

The structucture is composed of Pages and Nested Pages. So the organization looks like this:

How to begin your digital portfolio:

Launch your RapidWeaver application. If you haven't downloaded or installed your copy of RapidWeaver then go here to get instructions on how to do so.

Once you've launched RapidWeaver your will need to add a page, to add a page click on the "+" sign at the lower right of the window. Decide whether your going to use a Styled Text or Blocks page. For more information on the difference between a Styled Text and Blocks page go here.
After adding the page you will need to rename it from "Untitled" to Homepage.
By default RapidWeaver will assign the Alpha theme for your site. To view what your page looks like click on the "Preview" tab at the top of the window. If you wish to select a different them click on the Theme View button to view all themes that you can use. Move the blue slider button to the right to reveal more themes.
Add another page and label it INTASC Principles.
Add 10 more pages and begin naming them INTASC 1through 10. To nest these pages under the main INTASC Principles page, just drag them over the main INTASC Principles page until you see a rectangle appear around INTASC Principles. See example below.

The last page you will ad is Artifacts and Rationales.
When you finished your Page View window should look the image below.

How do I create an asset (artifact) to use on multiple pages?

2008-07-24T14:21:43.801-04:00

To apply artifacts (assets):

1. Go to page inspector by clicking on the "i" button at the lower left hand corner of the RapidWeaver screen.

2. Click on the third tab with the blue header.

3. Click the assets button.

4. Click the "Add Files…" button below to add an asset,

5. Select the file you wish to add and press "open."

This asset is only available now to the specific page that you added it to. To make it available to all of your pages in your site:

1. Click on the first button on the page inspector window indicated by the "i".

2. At the bottom of this screen, click the "Apply To All Pages…" button.

3. To deselect all of the items, press "All On/Off" button. You most likely to not want to apply all of these to every page.

4. Select the "Page Assets" box only, and press "Apply". This asset should be available to use in all the pages within this site.

How do I embed a video from an external site?

2008-07-24T14:21:32.193-04:00

1. Log into Youtube and open the video you want to embed. Copy the HTML code from the window on the right hand of the video.

2. Go back to the page you want to embed the video into. Paste the HTML code into the edit area.

3. Switch to Preview mode. You should be able to see the video embedded in the page.

4.If you are comfortable with HTML coding, you can embed video from other external sources by following the same procedure. Below is a sample code that you can copy and paste into your web page. Just replace the blue text with the URL for the source of your video.

How do I add a PowerPoint presentation to my portfolio?

2008-07-24T14:20:18.211-04:00

There are 2 choices when adding a PowerPoint presentation to your portfolio:

1). Add PowerPoint as a file and user will need to download and view in PowerPoint.
2). Export PowerPoint as a "webpage" and presentation will a saved as a set of files that are webpages.

Consult with your instructor as to how they want you to upload your PowerPoint presentation.

To add your PowerPoint presentation as a download.

1). Select the page you wish to add your PowerPoint file to.

2). Drag your PowerPoint file and place in the editing area where you wish the file to be located.

3). Select the Preview tab to see how your PowerPoint file is now a link to the downloadable file.

The second alternative to adding PowerPoint presentations to your portfolio is to save your PowerPoint as a webpage. This option allows for your visitors to view and control the presentation with no need to run PowerPoint or download files.

1). First thing you need to do is save your PowerPoint as a webpage. In PowerPoint you do this under File > Save as Webpage. You will end up with a .html file and a folder of supporting files. It is important that you keep these files together as both will be needed.

2). In RapidWeaver select the page you wish to place your PowerPoint.

3). Click on the "i" Page Inspector icon and select the 3rd tab.

4). Click the "Add Files" button and find the files that you will need to upload. Again, you will both the .html and folder that you created.

5). Your Assets window should now have to entries, a .html file and folder with the supporting elements. After you've added the files your ready to create a link to them.

6). To link to your PowePoint file select the page you want to place the link in. Highlight words that you want to be the link and then click the "Add Link" button at the bottom of the window.

7). Click on the drop down menu that is marked "URL" scroll down and select Asset then select the .htm file that was created when you saved your PowerPoint file.

8). In the "Open in:" select new window from the drop down menu. Then click on "Set Link" button. Your link is now finished and ready to use.

How do I create a URL link to an external site or internal page?

2008-07-24T14:20:09.560-04:00

How to create external links

1. Highlight the text you to be your link.

2. Click "add link" at the bottom of the window.

3. Type in the fully qualified URL address for the site/page you wish to link to. HINT: You can copy and past the URL from your browser.

4. You can choose to have the link open in the current page (replacing the page your viewers are at) or to spawn in a new window that will appear above the current window.

5. Click on "Set" to finish.

How to create a link to internal page

1. Highlight the text you to be your link.

2. Click "add link" at the bottom of the window.

3. Click on the drop down menu to the left of the area where you would type in the URL to a site and select Page. Once you select Page you will see all of the pages and nested pages that you have created in RapidWeaver that you can link to.

4. Click Set.

How do I add or change the Sidebar items?

2008-07-24T14:20:01.761-04:00

To add or change the sidebar:

1. Open page inspector by clicking on the "i" button at the lower left hand corner of the screen.

2. Select the 4th tab, which is the Theme Styles tab.

3. Click the arrow down next to Sidebar.

4. Choose the location of your sidebar, either right or left.

5. Open the 2nd tab, which is the Sidebar tab.

6. Simply type text in the boxes provided.

7. Add a link by clicking on the + button and typing in the URL or choose what page to link it to.

How do I publish my web site?

2008-07-24T14:19:52.455-04:00

To publish your website you will need to:

1. If you are connecting via the BSU wireless network use Safari or Firefox to authenticate on the BSU network.

2. Once you have connected, open the VPN client. Choose "On-campus connection", and press the "connect" button at the top left hand corner of the screen. At the bottom right hand corner, you should see a timer indicating that you are connected. This step is for wireless connections only.

3. In RapidWeaver, press the "publish" button at the bottom right hand corner. If you have not saved your work, it will prompt you to do so. Select "OK".

4. In the pop-up window, for "Server" name, enter: "username.iweb.bsu.edu" where username = YOUR BSU username.

5. Enter your BSU username and password in the boxes indicated.

6. If you do not want it to publish the site at the root level of your iWeb account, in the site path box, type the folder that you want it to create. Your website will be placed in this folder on the server. For example, if you enter "website" into this box, to view your site you would need to go to http://username.iweb.bsu.edu/website.

How do I preview my site?

2008-07-24T14:19:45.721-04:00

How do I preview my site?

1. There are two ways to preview the webpage you created. The easiest way is to click the Preview button on the top of the edit window. That will show how the page exactly looks like when published.

2. Another way to preview the page is to click on the cog-shape button on the lower left side of the edit window.

3. Choose Preview/Safari (or any other web browser)

4. The page will be exported to a temporary folder and open in a Safari window

How do I change the font style, format or color?

2008-07-24T14:19:38.645-04:00

How do I change the font style, format or color?

1. Highlight the relevant text that you wish to format.

2. Go to Format, choose the appropriate font, color, size, and alignment for your text. Web Safe Fonts are highly recommended.

For more font options you can "Control + Click" (or use the right mouse button) in the window to show the "Font" option. To display the Fonts window select "Font" then "Show Fonts".

CAUTION: Using a font that is not Web Safe or Browser safe my make your text unreadable for viewers.

How do add content to a page?

2008-07-24T14:19:31.436-04:00

How do I add content to a page?

1. Open your RapidWeaver project by double clicking the project file icon

2. Click on the page you want to add content to, make sure it is under Edit mode

3. One way to add files is to drag and drop them directly into the edit window.

4. Switch to the Preview mode, you will see the picture file looks the same as in the edit mode. However, a link is automatically created for the word document we just added (see the red circle below). It has the same name as your original file.

5. Other ways to add content include to "add from asset", "add links", and "embed a video", which are covered in different tutorials.

How do I create/change the slogan on my site?

2008-07-24T14:19:22.567-04:00

To change the slogan for the entire site:

1. Click Site, then Show Site Setup or click the Apple key and 1 simultaneously.

2. If you want to display a slogan make sure the box is checked.

3. To change text, highlight and type new text in the box.

This changes the slogan for the entire site, but you might not want all the pages to have the exact same slogan. If this is the case, you can change the slogan for the individual pages. To do this:

1. Go the page that you want to change the slogan.

2. Open the page inspector by clicking on the "i" button at the lower left hand corner of the screen.

3. Under the heading "Override Default Site Settings" check the box next to "Slogan"

4. To change the slogan, simply type new text in the box.

How do I create/change the title (header) on my site?

2008-07-24T14:19:08.807-04:00

To change the title (header) for the entire site:

1. Click Site, then Show Site Setup or click the Apple key and 1 simultaneously.

2. If you want to display a title (header) make sure the box is checked. By default the Title, or header, for your site is "My Website" and if left unchanged will appear on every page of your website.

3. To change text, highlight and type new text in the box. This changes the title (header) for the entire site, but you might not want all the pages to have the exact same title (header). If this is the case, you can change the title (header) for the individual pages. To do this:

1. Select the page that you want to change the title (header) of from the Page List column on the left.

2. Open the page inspector by clicking on the "i" button at the lower left hand corner of the screen.

3. Under the heading “Override Default Site Settings,” check the box next to “Title”

4. To change the title (header), simply type a new title (header) name in the box.

How can I use different themes for each page?

2008-07-24T14:18:57.980-04:00

With RapidWeaver you can make pages standout from one another by using a different Page Theme for an individual page.

1. Select the page you wish to apply the Page Theme change in the pages window on the left.

2. Click on the page inspector ( "i" ) icon in the lower left corner. HINT: You can access the Page Inspector with the keyboard short cut while pressing the following keys SHIFT + COMMAND + I (letter I) or you can right click with the mouse on a page to access the Page Inspector.

3. In the Page Inspector window select the 4th tap, the one with the multi colored circle.

4. Under Page-Specific Theme click on the rectangular bar to select a theme and change it for the specific page you have chosen.

5. To see the change click on the Preview tab.

How do I change the theme of my site?

2008-07-24T14:18:48.481-04:00

1). To change the theme of your site click on the "Theme Views" button on the lower right of your window next to "Publish".

2). Select the theme you wish to use from one of the choices by moving the blue slider to the left.

3). To see the changes click on the "Preview" tab.

How do I use the Block plug in?

2008-07-24T14:18:36.663-04:00

1). Open RapidWeaver and add a new page by clicking the + button. Blocks is a page style plugin that is accessed by adding a new page to your Web site. The + button is located in the lower left corner, below the list of pages on your site.

2). Choose Blocks from the list and click the Add button. You now have a Blocks page in your RapidWeaver Web site. The Blocks edit window appears and shows an empty content area for you to fill with blocks.

3). Click the Text button. The Text button is the left-most button in the toolbar at the bottom of the window. This adds a new empty Styled Text Block to the content area.

4). Move the block to where you like in the content area. Using your mouse you can resize the Text block by dragging one of the handles.

5). Add some text. To add text, click once more on the block. The first click on a block selects it. The second click puts the the block in editing mode. Click anywhere outside the block to stop editing the text.

6). Style your text. Use your mouse to select the text. Use the options in the Format menu to choose a new style for your text. Make it bigger and add some color.

7). Add an image. Drag an image from the Finder and drop it into the content area next to the text block.

8). Click the Preview button at the top of the RapidWeaver window. Preview your site to see how it looks.

9). Click the Publish button at the top of the RapidWeaver window. Publish your site and you're done!

How do I get the Blocks plugin?

2008-07-24T14:18:30.680-04:00

1. Navigate to this link on the BSU Beat Place software page. You will be required to enter in your BSU credentials in order to access the Blocks Plug-in and serial number. Click on the download link near the top of the page to begin downloading. The serial number for Blocks is near the bottom of the page, make sure you have this before you launch or use Blocks. On this page there are instructions on assist with installing and finding support for Blocks.

2. This window will appear, click save to Disk and click OK.

3. Click open on the Downloads window.

4. Double click the Blocks.rwplugin icon to install.

5. After the Blocks plugin installed window pops up, click OK.

6. The next time you start RapidWeaver, Blocks will appear as a page type.

7. However, when you use it for the first time it will need to be registered with the BSU serial number. Go to the beatplace website for the serial number. (Note: You will need your BSU username and password to gain access to the activation key website.) Type in or cut and paste the serial number and click OK.

8. If the registration was successful, you’ll notice a small blocks logo in front of Untitled Page 1.

How do I organize my portfolio (folder)?

2008-07-24T14:18:04.813-04:00

When beginning the creation of your digital portfolio it's a good idea to create a central location that will store all of your files and artifacts in one location. Here is an example to better illustrate this concept.

1. Start by creating a folder and labeling it with a descriptor to identify it.

It is a good idea to put this folder in a location that you can easily access and will be safe. One major advantage for this folder is that you can store this on your BSU iLocker or even flash drive and work on your portfolio on any Macintosh with Rapidweaver. By using the BSU iLocker storage you have the piece of mind that should your computer hard drive become unreadable your portfolio and it’s contents are safe and accessible.

2. Inside of your portfolio folder your need to create subfolders to store and organize your files.

The “Documents” folder will be used to save any MS Word or PDF’s in. The “Images” folder will be used to save any photo’s or graphics you use. The “MultiMedia” folder will be used to save video, audio, or PowerPoint Slides in. Your RapidWeaver project file will be save in this folder as well.

In the event that you need to create multiple web sites you may want to create folders for each web site mimicking the folder structure we just created. For example, I have a course titled TC101 and TC250, I would create folders for each of these courses, then I would create the Documents, Images, and Multimedia folders with in them.

What does the Blocks plugin do and do I already have it?

2008-07-24T14:17:54.676-04:00

What does the Blocks plugin do and do I already have it?

1. Blocks is a page style plugin for RapidWeaver that lets you design freeform layouts for your website. (In other words, it adds the drag and drop feature to Rapidweaver)

2. If you have Blocks already it will appear in your page type window after you click on the plus sign (in the bottom left hand corner) to add a page.

How do I add a page?

2008-07-24T14:16:56.423-04:00

To add a page to your website:

1. At the bottom right hand corner, click on the plus sign button.

2. In the pop-up box, select the page type that you would like to add. Styled text is a good selection if you just have images and text. Blocks is another good choice.

3. Press the "Add" button.

4. Rename the page by double clicking the "Untitled 1" and entering the new name.

How do I install RapidWeaver?

2008-07-24T11:14:22.303-04:00

1. Open the RapidWeaver.dmg file in your downloads folder when complete.

2. Click on the rapidweaver_367.dmg image on your desktop, this will open:

3. Drag the RapidWeaver icon into the Application folder on your Mac. Once RapidWeaver has finished copying to your Mac, eject the drive (drag it to the trash) and throw the disk image away.

4. Open the Applications folder, find RapidWeaver and double click the application icon to launch the software.

5. Unlock the software by entering the activation key provided at betaPlace https://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/betaplacedownload/rapidweaver.asp (Note: You will need your BSU username and password to gain access to the activation key website.)

6. Click Activate in the Activation Needed window.

7. You should see a Window saying the activation was successful. Click Ok. If you don't see this window check the activation key and try reentering it.

8. The Check for Updates box will appear. Click Yes if you would like to check for updates on startup, or click No if you would like to initiate the check manually from the application menu.

9. The RapidWeaver window will appea. Congratulations your done!

How do I get RapidWeaver?

2008-07-24T11:13:50.510-04:00

Teachers College has purchased a site license for RapidWeaver and as such anyone with BSU credentials can download and install RapidWeaver.

1. You can download RapidWeaver and the activiation from here. This link will automatically download RapidWeaver to your computer.

2. To obtain the activation code you need to login to the BSU Beta Place web page here. You will find the activation code at the bottom of the page. Copy and past this code when prompted after you install and launch RapidWeaver.