HTML5 and CSS3

HTML5 and CSS3 headline the extensive list of features. Freeway Pro sites now have the option to output HTML5 (in HTML or XHTML syntax) and Freeway Express sites are now always created using HTML5.

We’ve added support for HTML5 video and audio to both Pro and Express, with the option to add multiple sources and Flash fallback (video only) for maximum browser compatibility. Watch the HTML5 Video video.

Freeway Pro users will enjoy improved form items, including search fields, email fields, and placeholder text; and named (semantic) section elements, such as article, nav, header, and footer.

Both Pro and Express users will benefit from the new CSS3 additions, text shadow and item shadow, while Pro users have the added ability to set item opacity. We’ll be adding more CSS3 features (rounded corners for example) to future updates of 6 as browser support improves.

Modernized code and external stylesheets

Styling is now separated from content in Freeway’s output, modernizing the code, and making it more maintainable if your work is being handed-over to clients or non-Freeway users. Freeway Pro users can also set all styling to be output in external stylesheets, which has the added advantage of making pages even faster to load!

Stylable and improved form items

Form items have had a complete overhaul in both Pro and Express. They can be made to look as exactly as you want by easily adding background colors, borders, and shadows.

Pro users also benefit from being able to set text-fields as specific types (like numbers, emails, and search fields), mark them as required so the browser automatically prevents them from being submitted, and creating groups of checkboxes for greater control over the data that’s collected.

Automatic form handling

We’ve added a new automatic way to handle form submissions in Pro and Express. The Send Form Action will take a form (that’s been beautifully styled using the new features mentioned above) and send the contents to a specified email address – or allow the visitor to select from a list of available addresses.

Take a look at the Send Form video.

Visitor comments

Both Pro and Express users can now easily provide a way for visitors to leave comments on their sites. Whether you’re creating a blog, an online shop, or a community site, allowing visitors to leave comments is important. This feature uses the popular Disqus service that allows you to add multiple comment blocks to sites, and even display the same comment blocks over multiple pages.

Have a look at the Visitor Comments video.

Enhancements galore

Freeway’s also had a number of improvements and enhancements that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Master pages and items have had a complete overhaul with more options available, like adding back master items and Actions, automatically relinking content that’s identical to its master, inflow items as master items, and a completely reworked reapply master feature.

Inflow CSS layouts have been drastically improved. Many more layouts are possible in Freeway Pro using new positioning and sizing options. Exploit the full benefits and power of master pages like never before!

Google Maps have been reworked to use the latest code from Google with faster load times, mobile support, and no API key! We’ve also added the ability for Pro users to add multiple markers to their maps…

Freeway 6 gives you all the tools you need to build great websites. No other design tool empowers you like Freeway. Go forth and create!

Requirements

Freeway 6 requires 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and above. This means that Freeway 6 is now Intel only.

Pricing & availability

Freeway 6 Pro is $149.99
Upgrading from 5.5 Pro to 6 Pro is just $59.99
Upgrading from 5.5 Express to 6 Pro is $119.99

Freeway 6 Express is $49.99
Upgrading from 5.5 Express to 6 Express is $29.99

More information

More information can be found on our Pro and Express product pages, including a comparison table for each version (which lists all the new and enhanced features).

Download the New in Freeway 6 Documentation.

Read the full release notes for Freeway 6.

We’ll continue to provide first-class email support in both British and American time-zones – spanning 16 hours a day – and strive to answer all questions within one business day (though we often get an answer out within a couple of hours). You can also ask us questions on FreewayTalk, our Facebook pages (Softpress, Freeway or Exhibeo), or on Twitter.

AACTT, the company that provided our US telephone support, will continue to offer Freeway training in Chicago, IL.

A lot’s happened this year. We’ve seen various minor updates to the Freeway line, a few members of the Softpress team moved on, another came onboard, and, of course, we released Exhibeo. And now it’s holiday time, a time for celebrations and, possibly more importantly, bargains!

This year we’re doing a special on Exhibeo and Freeway Express, both of which we’re selling at half price. If you buy both together then you’ll get a price better than half off!

Buy Exhibeo.

Buy Express.

Buy them both.

Happy Holidays!

This small, but immensely useful, tool allows you to add your images and select from several fully-customizable gallery or slideshow themes to perfectly match your site needs. You can even crop and scale images directly in Exhibeo without having to constantly switch between applications.

Then, all you need to do is copy and paste the code into your project! Or if you’re lucky enough to be using Freeway, select your output file using the supplied Action and have that do the work for you.

Let’s have a look at some of the features.

iOS friendly

Exhibeo themes that have user interaction all react responsively to changes in the browser size, making your pictures look as good as possible on all devices. They also support touchscreen navigation, meaning your visitors can view them in a way that feels completely natural to them.

Multiple filetype support

Exhibeo supports a number of different image filetypes. Regular web graphics are of course supported, along with Photoshop files, all the RAW files supported by your system (including those that you may have added support for), and many more.

In-application image editing

We’ve added the ability to edit your images right in Exhibeo. This is great if you need to make small edits to your images, but don’t want to change the originals, or want to make your thumbnails slightly different to your main images.

Edit multiple images

By selecting all your images in the Thumb View, you can make mass changes to them such as setting all their aspect ratios to be the same, or resetting them back to their original state.

See your edits, live

See your theme customizations and image edits live in the application. Just make the change and the live preview will update to reflect them.

Add anywhere

The code generated can be used in any website. Just copy and paste the code into your project and upload the resources. Or if you’re using Freeway, take advantage of the one-click insertion by using the Freeway Action bundled with Exhibeo.

Exhibeo in the wild

We’ve already been sent some sites using Exhibeo in the wild. This is a great example of multiple Bloxx themes being used on the same page. And here’s the Slide theme in action.

Buy Exhibeo and save on Freeway

Head over to the Exhibeo page for more information, working examples, and to try Exhibeo out. Note that we’ve disabled export in demo mode.There are no time restrictions. If you don’t already own Freeway, you can get a great deal by purchasing it along with a copy of Exhibeo. Just hit the “Buy it now” button and you’ll see the discounted applications on the checkout page.

We’ve also set up an Exhibeo Facebook page where we’ll post examples, tips and have general discussions about Exhibeo. Head on over and join in!

This update is small but very significant. We are now happy to officially declare Freeway Mountain Lion compatible. In reality Freeway was running fine on Mountain Lion with the exception of one small cosmetic issue, which has now been addressed.

Freeway was also suffering from a saving problem that was hard to track down until now. The problem would cause Freeway to display a permissions error message while saving. Documents were actually being saved but would end up in a very odd state that would require a reboot or, at the very least, some fiddling in the Terminal to fix… Not fun. That has also been addressed.

Special thanks to Martin, a user whos diligence and patience helped us track down that particular problem.

The full details of this release can be found in the release notes.

Enjoy!

Already know about cookies? Skip to the bit that concerns you as a Freeway user…

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files created by webpages that get stored on the computer or device of the person visiting the webpage. They’re generally used to hold bits of information to be used on other pages of the same site, though they will occasionally be used across sites. They can’t run code so aren’t a security issue for your computer, but some badly written cookies leave themselves open to spoofing (where someone uses a poorly written cookie to log into a website as you).

The data stored in cookies can be used in many different ways depending on the website that created it. Typically they might be used to store products added to shopping baskets, collect anonymous analytical information to help site owners see how their sites are being used, to keep you logged into a social networking site, or to provide targeted advertising – the source of the controversy over cookies.

Cookies come in different varieties, some considered less bad than others. There are session cookies that will disappear when the visitor leaves the website; persistent cookies that can remain on visitors’ sites for as long as the cookie author specifies (they can set a date), or until it gets removed by the visitor; first-party cookies, which are created by the website being viewed; and third-party cookies, which are created by a website other than the one being viewed.

The regulations also apply to other methods of obtaining or storing information. These include local storage (such as new features in HTML5), and web beacons or bugs, which include transparent or clear GIFs that can be used to record basic information about visitors (typically used in email newsletters).

More detailed information on cookies…

Why the new law?

While most cookies are mostly harmless, generally being used to make the visitors’ experience better, some are considered less friendly. Advertising networks will use cookies to track visitors’ internet usage and use that data to send them targeted advertising. The data they store is anonymous – the cookies just store random letters and numbers – but it raises concerns about general privacy for a lot of people.

The new law has been introduced to raise general awareness about cookies and how they’re used, and to make it possible for people to opt-out of using them. The ICO (information commissioner’s office), the government department in the UK responsible for upholding the new law, have recently released some guidelines for web developers. There are essentially two requirements of the law, they are as follows.

Requirement to provide information: You must provide clear and comprehensive information about any cookies you are using

Requirement to provide choice: You must obtain consent to store a cookie on a user or subscribers device

What do I need to do as a Freeway user?

Not everyone building Freeway sites need worry about the new law. Firstly, there are only a handful of Freeway features that generate cookies (listed below). If you’re not using any of them, and are sure that any third-party Actions or other services you’re using don’t use them, you don’t need to do anything. Secondly, the law only applies to the European Union. If you’re not based in the EU then you also don’t need to do anything. Keeping visitors or consumers as informed as possible is always a good idea though, right?

Provide information

If you are using any of the features listed in the tables below, the first thing that you’ll need to do is put together a page with a simple explanation of cookies and how they are being used in your site. We recommend creating a link to your new page on every page in your site, or your home page at the very least. Set the text of this link to something obvious, like “Privacy and cookies”. If you already have a privacy policy, you may want to consider adding your cookie information to that. Just make sure that it’s clear enough for visitors to be able to read it, and to satisfy the requirements of the law.

We’ve provided some sample text for this below. You may want to change this to suit your target audience, or you may prefer to write your own.

This website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that can be placed on your computer or device.

The information stored in our cookies is anonymous and doesn’t hold any sensitive or personal information. It is only used to improve the experience of using this site.

To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

We’ve listed each Freeway feature that uses cookies below. Each section has some sample text explaining what the cookies for each feature are used for. Again, you are free to use this on your sites though you may wish to change it to suit your target audience, or you may prefer to write your own. You don’t need to include the name of the feature but we do recommend including the detailed cookie information.

AddThis

We use the AddThis service to connect this site to the social media networks. Cookies are used to anonymously track details of what’s being shared. We use this data to improve the content on this site and make the overall experience better.

AddThis makes use of the information to build up an idea of the kind of information that’s being shared on the internet as a whole. This data is sold to advertising networks to help fund the free service provided by AddThis. To opt-out of this anonymous profiling, visit http://www.addthis.com/privacy/privacy-policy.

Amazon Associates: Enhanced Link (UK Store)

As Amazon Associates, we provide links to products on Amazon on this site. Amazon uses cookies to anonymously track the traffic into their site from these links. This information is then used to provide us with statistical information about the links. We then use the information stored to improve our content and to make sure the links that we provide are relevant.

Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to deliver advertising on this site. The cookies generated by this service are used to deliver relevant, interest-based adverts. They are also used to track advertising conversions (clicks and sales), where advertisers have requested Google to do so.

For more information or to opt-out of Google’s internet advertising, visit http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to collect statistical and analytical information about how people use this site. The cookies that are generated by this service anonymously track things such as general geographic location, popular pages, and time spent on pages. We use this information to improve our site and its content.

For more information, visit http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads

Tweet Button

The Twitter Tweet buttons we use on our website generate cookies. The information stored in the cookies is used to help keep you logged into the Twitter service.

Twitter Follow Button

The Twitter Follow buttons we use on our website generate cookies. The information stored in the cookies is used to help keep you logged into the Twitter service.

Provide choice

The law states that visitors must consent to the use of cookies on your site. In the ICOs guidelines it states that implied consent is adequate. This means that letting people know that your site uses cookies and providing them with information about the cookies being used is enough to comply with the law (in the UK, at least). We’ve seen a number of different implementations of this, ranging from a brief announcements like the one below (source: guardian.co.uk), to more involved explanations that provide a way to continue browsing without cookies.

“This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.”

Another form of consent you could request is prior consent. This would mean preventing cookies from being set till the visitor had agreed to them being used. Currently, there’s no way to control the setting of cookies in a Freeway site (without hand coding the features listed in the tables above). Until there is, we recommend using the brief implied consent method to at least make visitors aware that your site uses cookies, along with a link to your cookies page. This should be in addition to the permanent link to your cookies page.

If you’re using Freeway Pro, you could use the Transition FX Action on an item containing the consent statement and link to make it fade out after a minute or so once the page has loaded.

Disclaimer: This is just a guide. While the steps provided should be enough to keep the rozzers happy, we cannot guarantee compliance with the law.

To take advantage of the offer, head over to the Express or Pro pages of our site and hit the Buy button. A coupon code will automatically be added to the shopping cart. If it doesn’t for any reason, enter the code JUBILEE at the check-out.

Alternatively, we’ve also reduced the price of Express and Pro on the App Store.

In addition, we’re also going to be holding some giveaways on Facebook and Twitter, so come along and join us on there for the chance to win.

Enjoy the celebrations!

Note: The sale will run until Wednesday, June 6. The discount is only valid on full price purchases, in some cases this will be cheaper than the original upgrade discount.

MobileMe is going to be taken offline at the end of June (RIP). To commemorate this occasion, we’ve partnered with MacHighway to offer Freeway 5.5 users free hosting for six months. If you don’t own Freeway 5.5 (which is a paid-for upgrade from Freeway 5), head over to the Express or Pro pages and buy it now.

Once you’ve joined the Freeway family, taking advantage of the offer is simple:

1. Open your copy of Freeway Express or Freeway Pro.
2. Click the link to MacHighway’s website in the bottom right of the Welcome Screen and make a note of the Promotion Code. You can open your Welcome Screen from Freeway’s Help menu if it doesn’t open automatically. The offer will not be available unless you click on the link on Freeway’s Welcome screen.
3. Select the hosting package you need. Make sure you select a hosting package on the first page you land on. If you select it from a different page, the offer will not work.
4.  Enter the Promotion Code when prompted.
5. Sit back and enjoy six months free hosting!

Note: This promotion is available on new hosting packages only, is limited to one per customer, and can be canceled after six months by contacting MacHighway. It’s only available if Freeway is running in English. If you would like to take advantage of the offer, you’ll need to run Freeway in English. This KnowledgeBase article explains how: http://www.softpress.com/kb/questions/239

After years of thinking we didn’t need one, we’ve finally come round to the idea that a blog is a great place for the odd bit of news. We’ll be using this space for making announcements, telling you about offers, and any other information we think might be useful.

So, without wasting any more time, welcome to the Softpress blog!