What's the difference between responsive site designer vs foundation framer? I have responsive site designer and wonder what the benefit of getting foundation framer would be. Thanks!

Foundation Framer (FF) works a lot like Responsive Site Designer (RSD) as they both generate modern, responsive websites. However, they both use different back-end frameworks to get the job done.

They look alike too, both offering the same design interface. RSD uses our in-house framework called Coffeegrider. While Foundation Framer is specifically targeted for people who want to make sites using Zurb’s Foundation Framework. It gives you all the power and flexibility of the Foundation 6 at your fingertips through intuitive visual controls.

People really dig Foundation Framer because it is powered-up with custom breakpoints, pre-built components, and symbols for global content updates. Plus, it has built-in JavaScript plugins so you can add interactive components for navigation, slideshows, toggles, and much more without the hassle of external libraries.

Another big difference between these apps is FF uses a mobile-first workflow. This means you will start your projects for smaller screens first and work your way towards the largest screen size. Designing with this technique really helps you examine your content and focus on what is most important. Alternatively, RSD lets you choose to work desktop-down.

Learn more details about Foundation Framer's abilities at http://www.coffeecup.com/help/articles/1483

Determining which one is better for you comes down to how you want to build your site as there are many frameworks out there like our Coffeegrinder (what RSD uses), Bootstrap (what RLM uses) and Foundation (what Foundation Framer uses) each with their own strengths.

I'm not a coder and that's why I like CoffeeCup products. They allow me to do snazzy things without coding. I have VSD, RLM, RSD and RFF and now I see that Bootstrap is on offer. I manage several websites and I have a free hand to develop these however I like. I'm still a long way from mastering the fancy features of these Responsive products. I'm in the process of making these sites respnsive, I orginally created them using VSD. So the question I'd like to ask is; if I want to focus on using just one and try to master it as best I can, which one should I choose?
My customers are not demanding, I'm pretty much a beginner (still), I have no preconceptions or preferences. Examples of sites I have created using CoffeeCup are:
http://jpguru.org/
http://rajsa.com.au/
http://acja.org.au/
http://jpto.org.au/

See Adams explanation,, it sums it up fairly clearly.

I love foundation framer because it is in my opinion more flexible for the designer,,,, all of them will take some getting used to and is a very time consuming learning curve if you haven't done responsive before,,, but it does get easier the more you do .

this forum and coffee cup support is very good for any problems you might need clearing up.

What happened to the previous poster,, I answered and by the time I posted it BOOOM gone, dissapeared vanished

I have explained to Coffeecup that I have bought every piece of software they currently publish. But I have found in the past that if I am in any way critical of something they either "disappear" the post or just refuse to acknowledge me.

That doesn't mean I will go away. I bought the software and intend using it. Despite any problems I may find. I think it's still good software.

That must have happened completely by accident. We sometimes see critical posts, sometimes also in a very abusive tone, and they get replied to in a mannerly way, either by forum helpers or by the staff. Quite often the problems are solved that way, or we sugget they open a support ticket in order to deal directly with the staff. And sometimes it has even resulted in a new version of the programme complained about, to do away with the problem in question.

Well then it's happened twice on just this thread.

But thank you for the reply Inger.

BAnd if that's the case, I'm fine with that. I'm not here to argue with anyone. One of the posts that was deleted by accident was a reply to Tezza's post asking for guidance on the reasons why he should invest time learning any one of 3 products. RSD, FF or BS. ANd I opined that they are 3 so similar products that I'm not sure why all 3 are being sold by the one company. Actually I think I referred to it as "The shotgun approach" to selling software.

I AM a coder. I wrote my first program in COBAL back in the early 70's. I worked as an assembly language programmer. But I use whatever tools are right for the job at hand. Sometimes, a batch file is all you need. All three of these programs provide drag and drop rapid production of usable code.

I bought all three. I need to evaluate each one and work out which one is best for me. Like Tezza I was jsut hoping for guidance from people who have used these 3 products before and can make an informed judgement on which one might best suit me. So far, my investigations seem to point to none of them having sufficient points in their favor to make a difference. It;s certainly nothing like choosing between Microsoft's C compiler and Faircoms C-Tree suite when you need to build a database. It's more like choosing between different versions of Borlands offerings.

And for me the cheapest part of any software tool is the initial purchase price. That pales into insignificance if I start to use that seriously when compared to my time invested in learning to use that tool.

I haven't heard about any 'shotgun approach', the expression is new to me. I don't know how long you have been following Coffeecup, but their fist responsive approach was a menu maker that could collapse into a so-called 'hamburger' menu for small screens. It quickly became very popular, and it was shortly followed by a Responsive layout maker, with which you could create a responsive grid, or skeleton' for a site, but you had to export it and add the actual contents in some html editor.
From before CC had this Visual Site designer, which was quite ready for retirement because it used absolute positioning. But it had a lot of users, mainly non-coders. And RSD was created to replace it. RSD has (nearly) all the bells and whistles that are necessary for responsive site building, and it requires very little coding skills but still there were people who thought the transitions from VSD to RSD was a bit complicated.
Parallel to all this, the grid systems Foundation and Bootstrap sailed up and became very popular, so my guess is that RFF and RBB were created to keep the users of those two grid systems in-house, so to speak.

I'm also a coder, using the CC HTML Editor for some 12 years. As for responsive sites I used my own system based on media queries before I ran into bootstrap. But I made friends with the Layout maker (RLMP) and often use it to speed up things. After RBB beta was launched, I have been playing with it and like it, but I'll probably remain a coder. As to RSD and RFF I have just got myself aquainted with them to the extent that I understand how the work and am able to answer questions here in the forums.

Coffeecup is relatively new to me. I am not really a web site developer nor is HTML my native tongue. I am more at home with C and ASM.
Web sites are just a fun thing for me -I would rather learn something new rather than watch television.
It seems obvious to me that responsive is the way to go. As more and more people use phones instead of PC's it just makes sense. But there are still a lot of people (loke me) ho need a big screen to see anything.

So, it's just a matter of picking the right tool for me. I did a quick and dirty test when I first bought RSD (http://www.technotrix.com.au/) and I have to say the basics are pretty easy. That site is not responsive as I stopped development after a couple of days. Tweaking everything to get a good look is not as easy for me. I have poor graphics skills. Probably as my brain is too logical to be free form enough. I draw squares.
I am considering the phone up design should probably be useful. And I will try that next.

Thanks fo ryour input.