BDKENNEDY1  I've been using FW Pro for 6 months and there is plenty, PLENTY of room for improvement.

While it's the best WYSIWYG web building software for the Mac (haven't tried Goldfish yet) the interface is clunky and unintuitive. Many user interface elements don't make sense such as how menu items are grouped, populating lists in a drop down box, including PHP files and I've spent hours upon hours trying to figure things out such as adding a form or editing the header.

Placing objects that must be aligned perfectly is difficult between the Master page and individual pages and sometimes FW doesn't update the changes between the two, causing me to just give up on what the problem was instead or wasting anymore time and start the whole site over again.

My biggest problem is how it handles your graphic files. Under certain situations when you have a graphic on your Master page, FW will import the same graphic for as many individual pages you have. That means when you build your site it will include the same file several times into the build, causing your FW file to balloon in size and then it takes 10 times longer to build.

The GUI is clunky and looks and feels like it was ported over from the OS 9 days even though it wasn't. It suffers from redraw problems and overall the program should probably be rewritten from scratch.

I got my site finished and doing what I want it do do eventually, but I still keep a lookout for something better. This program has been around long enough where it should be trim, tight and intuitive.  
(Version 5.3.1)

M-RICK  Just can't import HTML correctly ! While simple softwares like Coda or Flux can open and render the HTML pages corectly ! How come if I have to redraw all the sites every time if I want to switch to Freeway ???

So I will not use, I don't have hundred hours to be loosen to redraw everything just to make them compatible with a web designing software that even can't open correctly an HTML file ...  
(Version 5.2.1)

CROBERTS  After several months of using this program, I decided to ditch in favor of RapidWeaver 4 and CSSEdit.

While these programs are probably not as powerful or professional as FW Pro, the program simply doesn't work for me, particularly its interface. I really had to struggle through the poorly-written tutorials for FW, and it was a long time before I felt confident trying much of anything. I also really hated the awful resolution in editing mode.

With RapidWeaver, it's much easier to get started (like in a day), and the far-superior tutorials for their Theme SDK make it much easier to develop custom style sheets - at least for me.

I have some but not a huge amount of DTP experience, but found that the scattered interface of FW didn't really help me much when it came to finding a logical workflow for getting things done.

Overall, I think the DTP paradigm for web design may have seen better days, and I'm actually enjoying web page design rather than dreading it now that I've switched to RapidWeaver.

Perhaps some day when I'm more a power designer I may come back to Freeway, but even then it's overall layout paradigm seems a thing of the past.  
(Version 5.1.3)

ESPIRIDION  I finally got around to building my website, and I'm very pleased with the process as well as the results.

I had done the tutorials, but maybe a year ago so this was like starting from scratch.

In a matter of minutes I had the foundation for my website. In a matter of a few hours -spread across 2 days- my website was completed. I guess actual work in Freeway took less than 5 or 6 hours.

My website has:

-Perfectly aligned images and text.

-Rollover menus.

-CSS Menus.

-Contact form with anti-spam measures.

-PayPal button.

-YouTube video.

-Around 100 pages of content.

I may buy Forms To Go in the future, but everything I did was without any additional expenses.

Negatives:

-There is an Undo function, but as MEMPHISBIRD mentioned there's no multiple Undo. I simply made a copy of my work before making any drastic changes. If anything went wrong, I could use my copy. Nothing went wrong, though.

-Using the Sleek theme, when moving a menu item in the Master Page and returning it to the same position, 2 of the items would appear in wrong places. To edit those menus I had to use the Bring to Front/Send to back options, to avoid any movement.

-Freeway crashed once.

I also have RapidWeaver 4.3, but prefer Freeway. I may use Sandvox in the future just to try the most recent version, but so far I'm very pleased with Freeway Pro.  
(Version 5.4.2)

DANA SUTTON  There is room in the Mac world for a wysiwyg Web page creation program that is cheaper than Dreamweaver, has an easier learning curve, and is a LOT less buggy. Such a program would stand in about the same relation to Dreamweaver as Pages does to MS Word. But l you can get the entire iWorks suite for approx. a hundred bucks, which places it in reach of "the rest of us." But look at the high price of Freeway Pro. Surely this is a case of developer's self-foot-shoot. A lot of potential customers probably conclude "ah heck, I might as well put another hundred bucks on top of this and go for Dreamweaver." How clear are the developers about what market they're aiming their product at? Greedy, greedy.  
(Version 5.0.2)

ESPIRIDION  A few questions for Ian (SOFTPRESS SYSTEMS).

Is the upgrade from Freeway 4 Pro to Freeway 5 Pro $99? Am I reading this correctly? And this is the same upgrade price for 3.5 users?

http://www.softpress.com/store/pricelist.php

I just want to understand this upgrade policy. Maybe it will be better for me to use 4 Pro which I recently purchased, and wait for an eventual version 6 or 7 release. And then decide whether to stay with Freeway or look elsewhere.

If I'm understanding this correctly, then for me it was a mistake to purchase Freeway 4 Pro, and maybe it was a bigger mistake to recommend it so much.

Of course, at the time of my purchase there was not even a hint that version 5 was coming out.

So, am I understanding this upgrade correctly? Is this the way "Softpress does takes care of its users"?

Thanks in advance for your reply.  
(Version 5.0p2)

SOFTPRESS SYSTEMS  Softpress is a company that develops, markets and sells the Freeway family of products. We aim to provide excellent technical support and customer service. We also listen to our users.

Softpress is not, and has never been, a company known for “gouging” our users. Our prices for new software are well below what would be expected for the quality of our products and services. We do not regularly demand money for upgrades (like many in the industry). We do however maintain our software and offer free upgrades to sustain older versions of Freeway for extended life spans, as early adopters of both Freeway 3 and Freeway 4 can attest.

Last week, to coincide with Macworld and to get feedback from our users, we launched a Beta version of Freeway 5. In conjunction, we are now offering a free upgrade to 5 for all users that purchase after January 1st, 2008. WeÂ’re very excited about the new features, and weÂ’re sure you will be too.

Some users who purchased Freeway in the last few months of 2007, including those who have commented here, have expressed their view that we had somehow tricked them into buying when we knew a new version was on the way. People that purchased here at macZOT! got Freeway at 60% off the retail price, which is even lower than our regular upgrade pricing from 3 to 4.

Freeway 5 will not be released until at least March, and that would backdate the free upgrades on release to a minimum of two months, which we believe is fair. Those who have complained, seek to penalize us for offering our existing and potential users a “sneak peek” at our new software, which makes it difficult to receive and apply the feedback we need.

Freeway 5 is not yet ready and not for sale. When it is, it will be a wonderful tool for home users and professionals alike. It will empower users and save their precious time. It will be solid and fully-featured, in part because of the usersÂ’ opportunity to test it and offer feedback.

There will be an announcement about upgrades from version 4 to 5, probably around the release of the second beta. Again, you will see that Softpress does takes care of its users. Until then, please feel encouraged to use the Freeway 5 Beta, enjoy it and let us know what you think.

Ian Schray

US Marketing Manager

Softpress Systems Ltd

http://www.softpress.com  
(Version 5.0p1)

JOHN MALIS  Thank you for making such a great web tool. This is much better then any other I previously used.

Worth the price !!  
(Version 5.4.2)

PRLAB  I've used Freeway for at least four years. Always updated, always responsive. But why is there always a full install for each upgrade? The one thing that would make this (for me) a great tool would be automatic blogging setup, so I don't have to use Rapid Weaver. I've suggested it to them, and they're looking at it.  
(Version 5.2.1)

ABNORMAL  I have to agree with FOCUSSTUDIO. I have tried DreamWeaver and I have written my own code. Nothing comes close to Freeway when it comes to publishing professional, original sites painlessly. I use RapidWeaver for my blog, but I can't imagine using it for a website - especially one that I expect to get paid for designing.   
(Version 5.2)