Hello William,

Let me say from the onset that it was well worth the effort to make a section of our very large website responsive using RSD. The learning curve is steep, stepping from FrontPage to RSD.

This answer is not specific to your question, but it might be of help in getting a sound baseline for a very large website.

RSD has a page limit of 75 pages which requires a work-around. Large number of pages in RSD slows the program down. I opted for the one main RSD project “parent” that has all the templates and main navigation structures. Using save as, I created several “children” RSD projects and deleted all the files, other than the templates, to create space for more files. My reasoning was to have all files under the root directory (short SEO friendly URL)

My main project has all the CSS regulating the website. Careful consideration was given to naming the Type & Class for the styling of the entire website. The “children” projects never have any changes made to Type or Class. I only use ID for that.

It is imperative to save your projects giving descriptive names all the time and keep separate backups. I use Save As to be able to step back if an error creeps in with overwriting CSS.

Page changes and updates to pages can only be done in your RSD projects. A system is needed to find pages easily. Plan this in advance.

With uploads, a sequence of worked projects has to be kept and lastly the main parent project must be uploaded because it has the CSS structure.

Organizing the files within a project is difficult. You have to manually drag a file into some sort of arrangement to help find them later, especially when you've got 75 files per project. I opted for the FrontPage alphabetical system.

This is how I dealt with some of the issues of building a large website in RSD. Other might have a different methodology.

Kind regards,

Anne

Anne,

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I was hoping to keep my existing website structure with all my same folders and subfolders (containing images and Docs) and change (replace) one page at a time keeping the same name to avoid 'file not found' errors.

I had no idea of the limitations you mention. It's disappointing...

Bill

I picked up RSD to replace Dreamweaver; I'm sure if I learned to use that bear, I'll learn to use RSD. However, it is frustrating not to have an outline to guide my learning. (FYI, I do instructional systems design.)

I agree with others that the help articles are too chatty and not sufficiently focused on instruction. They could with some effort be turned into a semblance of a quick start manual. In the meantime (or in preparation for a quick start manual) it might be more useful for people new to RSD to have a map or decision tree showing the RSD topics from basic to sophisticated instead of help articles that can be sorted by title, newest, most views, and highest rated. (Example: I see a folder in my RSD for wireframes, but a search for wireframes doesn't return a result. Telling people how to use the program folders is pretty basic stuff.)

I went through all three or four of the starter resources multiple times and dipped into other resources. I found the 8-video starter (the Visions one) impossible to follow. I had to stop the video many times to identify the part of the control panel the instructor was using. In a couple of the videos, the elements being manipulated are obscured by the Vimeo display. (Voice commentary saying things like "I am right-clicking here" would have been much better than music. A visible cursor trail would make it easier for people new to the control panel to follow the action.)

I had better luck printing out help articles and trying to recreate the images myself. I know, however, that reproducing someone else's work is a sub-optimal learning method for me. I need to do things with my own content.

I've paid my money and I'll press on, but it's a tough slog.

Oooops just bought the package and NOW finf out about the maximum of 75 pages :-( That is a problem. I did not know that before I bought it,

Secondly I must admit that I am also struggling. Building websites in HTML since 1998 already I can get exactly what I want and where I want it.

I get the idea of the old scool 'tables' and consider the grid as table, row and column etc. I also understand the subgrids etc. But I struggle with getting everything WHERE I want it.

Don't know why :-(

But why is the max of 75 pages mentioned nowhere? I can stop now and the package is useless for the website I wanted to change.

It is listed on our website in the feature table. See http://www.coffeecup.com/designer/#feature_table

Actually the website is a bit out of date. It says "Unlimited website projects with up to 50 (for now) pages each" but you really get 75 pages. So that is a 25 page BONUS!

Hi Scott. Thanks for your reply. There is simply too much information on the page for the software. If it is completely new, it is all abacadabra :-) I see what you mean but it did not mean a thing. I guess I can work my way around it somehow :-)

First of all I have to get the hang of it. I have trouble changing existing themes and wonder I it would be better to start a new one or something.

I really feel stupid hahaha