I was a tremendous fan of Freeway Pro. I began with Adobe PageMill back in the 90s (and I really liked that app, despite the bulky code it generated. I then moved to and then on to Adobe GoLive (which I didn’t much care for), then to DW (which I hate) when Adobe acquired Macromedia.
I’m a right-brained creative who prefers a more intuitive UI and I am totally inundated with the full spectrum of work, basically running a full service corporate creative and marketing department on my own (largest manufacturer of American hardwood custom designed/ built to order window shutters). I don’t have time to spare on anything.
I have a lot of sites up for corporate, local websites for our dealers, etc., plus an extensive HTML-based help system with videos, etc., that I’ve incorporated into our product design and ordering system.
The thing that I loved about Freeway was that it was intuitive plus it had tons of headroom. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it’s basically a high-end HTML code generator that uses various underlying technologies to create sites. It supports JS / JQ, etc., plus all sorts of other stuff.
The thing that killed FW was responsive. Unlike an HTML5 app like Tumult Hype, the responsive design tools were an absolute headache and were buggy. In the end, what I ended up doing was doing everything inline and interspersing text and images created in Freeway with interactive content created with Hype. Hype, by the way, is very good for what it does, but it does not have the resource management and loading tools required for serious web design.
As a Freeway refugee, I need something that is intuitive and powerful. I checked out Blocs but it’s way too limited. PG seems like a good solution, but I go cross-eyed with the UI. As I suggested elsewhere, Freeway’s CSS UI is something I’d like to see in PG - select what attributes you want form popup lists so you only see what is relevant, add more attributes whenever needed, and you can tweak all the settings by selecting the desired breakpoint and tweaking various items as you go. If all the options in the left panel of PG allowed me to see only what I need to see and add whatever else I need as I go, that would work for me.
PG is designed for left-brained coders, not for right-brained types like myself. I’ve spent a good number of hours over a couple of dozen sessions trying to figure things out, but I keep hitting the wall with things as simple as resizing an image, so I set it aside and focus on immediate needs, but the need for a web solution is serious - one that does not require me to spend thousands on third-party help.
I had contacted Jonathan Deutsch - the president of Tumult - when I heard that Freeway was on the rocks and suggested that he consider buying it. I contacted the Freeway guy (Joe Billings, if I remember correctly) and suggested he contact Jonathan but he did not respond. Instead, he put up a free download link for Freeway for a week or two and that was the end of it.
There is a screaming need for an intuitive but very powerful web design solution. What is out there at present is okay, but there is nothing that really kicks tail. It is my hope that PG will rise to the task. There is a bucketload of money to be made for a web design app that has the power of PG but the ease of use and reasonable learning curve of Freeway. It doesn’t have to be an either / solution. It’s all about having a flexible UI that works for both right-braned and left-brained types .(Our numbers are evenly divided. No reason to exclude half of everyone.)