how to Build a website with Rapid Weaver
Start your project
When you open RapidWeaver, you’ll be asked to choose a theme from the list on the right–hand side. Don’t worry too much about which one you go for: you can change it at any time. Let’s choose the Allegro theme for now.
Explore the interface
You’ll be presented with a new project with pages already in it. The left sidebar lists the pages in your project, and links to key settings. The project opens in Edit mode, so you can quickly start adding your own content to pages.
See the site
RapidWeaver isn’t a “What You See Is What You Get” editor, so it’s handy to be able to switch between Edit and Preview modes to see exactly how your site will look when it goes live. Let’s start making some changes to the pages.
Change the pages
You can rename a page by double–clicking it in the sidebar and typing a new name. To add new pages, click the + at the far left of the toolbar, then choose a page type. In Preview mode, it updates after a few seconds.
Get a gallery
Our template automatically includes an image gallery. To remove the example pics, go to Edit mode and select one, press Cmd+A, then click the – (minus) button. Use the + button, or drag and drop from Finder, to add to the gallery.
Add your images
Click the + button and browse to your pics’ location. Hold the Up–arrow key to select contiguous files, or Cmd for discontiguous files. Click Open. Drag pics up or down the list to reorder them, then go to Preview mode to see your gallery.
Make global changes
To change common info that’s used throughout your site — your contact email address, a copyright statement, the “favicon” shown on tabs, etc — click General under Settings in the sidebar, and enter (or hide) the relevant details.
Edit sidebars
RapidWeaver’s themes often include extra sections such as sidebars. Instead of editing them on the page, you use the Inspector: click one of its buttons (top right). The left one opens a sidebar, the right one opens a movable window.
Add a blog
Many themes include a blog with several example posts. With your blog selected on the left, a list of posts and an editor are shown to the right. Select a post and then compare how its contents are shown in Edit and Preview modes.
Add new entries
Select and delete the posts, then add and fill out a new post. Note the formatting controls (bottom). In the right panel, set a title, categories and tags. A “permalink” is a memorable name for the post, appended to your site’s address.
Preview your page
Check your blog in Preview mode. Posts are listed one after the other, from newest to oldest. If you enter text for a post in the Summary tab, it’s shown in the list of posts, and visitors have to click through to read the post’s full body text.
Publish it
RapidWeaver can publish directly to your hosting space. Click Publishing Setup (top right). You’ll need the server details from your service’s control panel. Once connected, you only need to click Publish to send your pages to the web.