It may take me a while sometimes, but there is one simple truth about my workflow, I always strive to have the most efficient way of getting things done. This is especially true in RapidWeaver theme development. Developing themes for RapidWeaver is not like standard web design. You have no way of knowing how each user will structure their site, what plugins they'll use, what they'll add to their pages... All of these uncertanties leave us as developers scratching our heads sometimes, trying to sort out ways of dynamically including things and stuff without the end user being able to break it.

PHP would be the obvious choice here, but we don't have the luxury of knowing what the end users hosting environment will be and whether they could, or even would be willing to support a host of PHP functions. So the next best thing is javascript; yes it's a little slower and it does depending on the end user having javascript enabled, but the ubiquity of javascript has never been as great as it is today.

One thing that has plagued RapidWeaver developers for some time is how to utilize RapidWeaver's %pathto()% syntax, the bit of code that allows RapidWeaver to imprint the end users chosen common file path, in any other file other than the index.html template file. For any javascript file that has required the inclusion of another file, we've previously had to fill our html with scripted variables for each file, each using the %pathto()% syntax and so forth until we have built a separate path to each file from outside our javascript that actually requires it. Since RapidWeaver will only write the path to files it can actually find, you need to do this for each and every file.

Today I had an AH-HA moment while in need of multiple paths to be defined for use in various javascript files. I decide to write a small bit of code that grabs RapidWeaver's %pathto()% syntax while it chases a real file. Then I strip out the actual file name, and KABLOW! you have a common file path in the the form of a javascript variable, ready to be used in any javascript file you like.

Download the bit'o code here.

Realmac Software has just made LittleSnapper official, bringing this very powerful screen and web snapping app out of beta and into the general public. I've been fortunate to be playing with this app for a week or so, putting it and it's integrated web service, QuickSnapper through their paces. This isn't just you normal screen snapping app. It's a lot more than Skitch (which has never left it's apparent state of perpetual beta) and has many advantages over it (with one or two slight disadvantages). And the web service, not unlike ScrnShots is a robust and attractive place to be and get inspiration.

LittleSnapper allows you to treat a collection of screen and web snaps more like a library, and iPhoto Library if you will, allowing you to tag them, rate them, make notes and annotations, view the source code for web snaps. This gives you not just a library of images, but a tool box of thumbnails complete with source code for studying, origins, ways to note what you liked about it, etc... There really isn't many things to compare it to. It is one of those trend setting apps that has more or less made it's own niche. Certainly a web designers must-have app.

And then there is QuickSnapper... While at first glance, it's not all together different from what other similar scree/web shot sites are doing and on it's own it wouldn't be particularly exciting (except that it looks damn sexy). What set's it apart though is that it was built to support the LittleSnapper app, and not built the other way around. That's where these other screen/web snap sharing site have gone wrong in my books. They've built the site and now in order for you to get your stuff up there, they've made a half baked "utility" that will, if you are lucky, let you upload something... sometimes.

QuickSnapper, on the other hand was built with LittleSnapper integration in mind... exclusively. With the click of a button, LittleSnapper loads up a snap to your account. In turn, with the click of a button on QuickSnapper, you can pull down a shared snap into your own LittleSnapper library... click... that's it! A complete, happy snapping, bio circle of screen and web snapping goodness. Does it get any better than this? Me thinks not!

Oh, and BTW, the screen grab of LittleSnapper? Yeah that was taken with LittleSnapper and is hosted on QuickSnapper...

There is no greater flattery than to be made an example of so when we were asked some time ago if we would consent to being published in DesignMeltdown's, The Web Designer's Idea Book, I was truly honored.

Today, I received my copy in the mail and was thrilled to find these kind words on page 102 along side a screen shot on page 103:

"A great example of a unified design is the seyDesign site. It has an office theme, and everything flows together perfectly. The corkboard background creates a terrific foundation to tie the site together. It essentially gives the office supplies a place to exist."

Of course this isn't how the site looks today, but for this 2007 iteration of seyDesign.com to be forever immortalized in print is a true sense of accomplishment. All in all, RapidWeaver developers as a whole had a good showing in this book with various sites. Adam from Elixir Graphics has already written about his contributions. and I've heard there are more, I just haven't had time to look through each page yet.

To get yourself a copy of this most excellent web design resource, go to Amazon.com.