Single Group Mode

Right click on a heading in the settings inspector to change how the inspector behaves.

• Expand All - Will expand all settings.

• Collapse All - Will collapse all open settings.

• Single Group Mode - Switching to the single group mode only allows one setting area to be open at a time.

When in Single Group mode the only option available in the right-click menu is switch back to default mode.

• Single Group Mode (ticked) - Untick to switch back to the default mode, this will then allow you to view multiple setting at the same time again.

RapidWeaver Elements comes equipped with a powerful built-in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that allows you to create and refine your website visually, in real time. Whether you’re a seasoned web designer with years of experience or someone just starting out, you’ll feel right at home with its intuitive interface.

The WYSIWYG editor in Elements is designed to be both versatile and accessible. For professionals, it provides the flexibility and precision needed to bring detailed designs to life quickly. You’ll find that you can tweak your layout, typography, and styling on the fly, with results that reflect exactly how your site will appear when published.

If you’re a newcomer, Elements ensures you’re never overwhelmed. Its streamlined editing experience allows you to build and customize your website with ease, using familiar tools and controls. You can see changes as you make them, eliminating the guesswork and making the process enjoyable and straightforward.

With this editor, you can focus more on creativity and less on code. But when you do need to dive into the code, Elements has you covered with seamless integration between the WYSIWYG interface and custom HTML or CSS edits.

In short, RapidWeaver Elements’ WYSIWYG editor strikes the perfect balance between simplicity and power, making it an essential tool for anyone looking to create beautiful, functional websites efficiently.

Welcome to Elements

Elements is a no-code static website builder for macOS. It's designed to cater to all skill levels, whether you’re a beginner looking for simplicity or an experienced web developer needing advanced customization, Elements offers the perfect balance. With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, you can create fast, efficient, and beautiful websites with ease.

Elements has everything you need built-in to build a beautiful modern website, and it's getting better all the time thanks to our passionate user base.

Whether you’re coming from Stacks, Blocs, or WordPress, you’ll feel right at home in Elements. We’ve designed it to be both powerful and intuitive, combining the flexibility of code with the simplicity of visual editing. Migrating your projects might feel like a big step, but don’t worry: this guide will walk you through what to expect, how to recreate common setups, and where Elements improves your existing workflow.

From familiar layout patterns to modern web standards, you’ll find smarter, cleaner ways to build. No plugins. No clutter. Just pure performance, freedom, and creative control.

Let’s get started.

Easily manage the structure of your website. Create pages and folders and drag to re-arrange them just like you would in the Finder.

Pages

To create a new page, press Command-N or use the "+" symbol to the right of the Pages title.

File (html, css, js, etc)

To create a new file inside of your project, right click inside of the Page Manager and choose "New File".

Link

Add links to your site structure. To Create a link page, right-click in the Pages area and select "New Link" from the menu.

Markdown Files

To create a new Markdown File with option front matter, right click inside of the Page Manager and choose "New Markdown File".

Folders

Folders are a great way to organize site content when you don't need a top level page. Folders can contain any number of pages or additional folders.

To Create a folder, right-click in the Pages area and select "New Folder" from the menu.

A digital garden is a personal online space where individuals cultivate and organize their thoughts, ideas, and knowledge over time. Unlike a traditional blog, a digital garden is more dynamic and non-linear, allowing for continuous growth and evolution of content. It's a space where you can explore interlinked topics, make connections, and develop ideas organically, free from the constraints of typical social media platforms.

is the perfect tool to build your own Digital Garden.

Articles on Digital Gardening

A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden

Gardening is about claiming a small patch of the web for yourself, one you fully own and control.

This patch should not live on the servers of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram (aka. also Facebook), or Medium. None of these platforms are designed to help you slowly build and weave personal knowledge. Most of them actively fight against it.

If any of those services go under, your writing and creations sink with it (crazier things have happened in the span of humanity). None of them have an easy export button. And they certainly won't hand you your data in a transferable format.

Digital Homeownership

You deserve a home on the World Wide Web that’s built to keep you safe; a magical place for virtual living that‘s yours for life, existing in a sociable web. .

What is a Digital Garden?

A Digital Garden is lowercase b blogging. It's writing without worrying about what people will think.

We’re thrilled to share that Elements now supports Apple Intelligence in its Text based Components, giving you a powerful, seamless way to enhance your writing workflow. Whether you’re crafting headings, paragraphs, or rich text blocks, these AI-powered tools are designed to make writing faster, smarter, and more intuitive.

You can now effortlessly generate, refine, and polish your content right within Elements. Need a quick draft to kickstart your creativity? Want to rephrase a sentence or simplify a technical explanation? The Apple Intelligence writing tools are here to help with just a click or tap.

With these new capabilities, you’ll spend less time worrying about wording and more time bringing your creative vision to life. We’re excited to see how these tools help you express yourself more clearly and efficiently.

Give them a try and let us know what you think!

Website resources include anything from image files to PDFs and folders. All of your resources can be managed right inside RapidWeaver Elements.

Adding Resources

Open the resources list in the left-hand sidebar, and drag and drop in files (and folders), from the Finder. The structure and naming of your files will be the same in-app and when it's exported to the finder.

The resources you add will be copied and stored inside your project.

Supported File Types

Elements supports adding all files types (including Folders) to the resources browser. However, some file types have extra support.

• Images - png, svg, jpg, etc.

• Fonts - WOFF, WOFF2, TTF

• YouTube URL - Single video's and playlists

• Vimeo URL - Single video's and playlists

Adding YouTube and Vimeo Videos

You can add YouTube or Vimeo videos by dragging and dropping the URL from your web browser to the Resources area in RapidWeaver Elements. A playlist URL can also be dropped into the resources area.

YouTube and Vimeo videos are not downloaded and store in Elements, the URL to video(s) is stored and saved.

Adding Custom Fonts

Add your font files to the resources area in Elements, and use the media inspector to define a weight (and width if required) for each of the font files. These fonts work in conjunction with .

Editing Metadata

To inspect a file, the Resource Info panel needs to be visible. This panel (or window) can be left open while you browse through files in the Resources area.

• Filename (All file types)

• Caption (images)

• Author (images)

Creating Folders

Right Click in the Resources area and select the "New Folder" option from the contextual menu.

Adding Remote Resources

The responsive breakpoint system in Elements allows you to change component properties at different user defined breakpoints (i.e. Mobile, Table, Desktop, etc).

Breakpoints for a project be defined in the area of the .

How do Breakpoints work?

If you pay attention, on the first “mobile” screensize you do not have any blue dots. As you move up to the next size (SM) you'll see grey dots beside the controls in the Component inspector. If you click on a grey dot (to turn it blue) you can override the setting for that control. Once you add a blue dot you will have that setting for everything above. It’s always left to right.

Watch the video below to see how this works in practice.

Elements is moving from Beta to Early Access! While it’s still in development, it’s now ready for real-world use, and we’re releasing new builds every week based on your feedback.

You can purchase Elements via our website.

Why Early Access?

The Elements Beta helped us refine the foundation, and now we’re confident Elements is ready for real-world projects. Early Access lets more people use it while we continue fine-tuning features and adding improvements.

• You get access to Elements now – no waiting for a full release!

• Frequent updates – we’ll keep refining and adding features based on your input.

• Your feedback matters – Early Access is a collaboration, and your insights help shape Elements.

• Not quite “final” yet – some features are still in progress, and you may run into a few quirks along the way.

How to Join Early Access

If you're comfortable using in-development software, you can get Early Access today by visiting elementsapp.io and purchasing a copy. Once you do, you’ll be able to start building with Elements right away!

Right now, Early Access is only available to paying users. This allows us to focus on providing the best experience and support for those actively using Elements.

This approach ensures that our paying customers get taken care of first, with frequent updates and improvements based on real-world use. Your support helps shape the future of Elements, and we truly appreciate it! 🙌✨

How long will Elements be in Early Access

As long as needed, but our goal is to ship a 1.0 version later this year!

Your Feedback Matters!

By using Elements, sharing your experiences, and letting us know what works (and what could be better), you’re playing a huge role in shaping its future. We love hearing from you, so keep that feedback coming!

Thanks for being part of this journey—we can’t wait to see what you create with Elements!

Learn more about why RapidWeaver Elements for macOS is the perfect choice for building your next website.

Elements is Community Driven

We listen to our amazing community of passionate users and build the features they want.

1. Weekly builds along with a video dev diary to keep the community in the loop.

2. Be part of the Independent Web, don;t rely on social media companies.

3. Static Sites are just better (although we do support php if you need it).

4. Super active and supportive Community

5. Fast, friendly, top-tier support!

Join the Independent Web

Be part of the independent web. Own your content.

Realmac Software has always been an indie company and has never taken on outside investment. We've remained an independent and private company for over 20 years. We are and always have been 100% customer funded and focused.

Just like our company, we believe the web should stay open and independent. When you post something on the web, it should belong to you, not a corporation. By joining the indie web movement, and using RapidWeaver Elements, your content stays yours and in your control.

You can post anything you want, in any format you want. In addition, you share simple readable links such as example.com/ideas. These links are permanent and will always work.

Take back control and build your next website with Elements on macOS.

Further Reading

• Seven Reasons for having a Personal Website Maintaining my own personal website has been one of the most amazing, challenging, rewarding, growth-promoting, time-consuming, and adventurous experiences of my life.

• For The Love of God, Make Your Own Website The internet sucks now--but it doesn't have to.

• You should have a website You already have a social media account. But you should also have a personal website.

• Autonomy Online: A Case For The IndieWeb One of the principles of the IndieWeb is that you own your content

• This Page is Under Construction. A love letter to the personal website.

Migrating from RapidWeaver Classic to RapidWeaver Elements is a fantastic move if you’re looking to modernize your web design workflow and unlock new creative possibilities.

Elements introduces a fresh approach, offering unmatched flexibility and precision for designing responsive, professional-grade websites.

RapidWeaver Alternative

Unlike RapidWeaver Classic, Elements eliminates the need for outdated themes and stacks, streamlining your process while giving you greater control over your projects. The switch might feel like a big step, but the improved performance, future-proof tools, and enhanced creative freedom make it well worth the journey. Plus, the supportive Elements community is here to help you every step of the way!

Testimonials from RapidWeaver Classic users upgrading to Elements

"'After many years of building websites using Rapidweaver Classic, I eagerly anticipated the release of Elements, the next-generation website builder. The two-way engagement has been a refreshing experience. The support provided by the Realmac team has been exceptional, exemplifying how to effectively interact with customers." — Steve Woodgate

"Elements is a huge leap up from Rapid Weaver Classic. It’s so cool to design a website where all the basic design stuff is right there in the App, without having to use third-party add-ons. The ability to quickly make custom components is a huge plus. The beta has been a a refreshing experience because the development team has been super open, flexible, and very responsive to our feedback." — Jon

"I discovered RapidWeaver through a monthly Dutch Mac magazine, and it has since become my most-used app. In my spare time, I volunteer to build websites for smaller organizations.

Inspired by the weekly developer videos and forum discussions, I started experimenting on my own in Elements. With the help of AI, I’ve been able to achieve solutions that, as someone with no programming background, I never thought possible. I’m now creating my own components for Elements that previously required me to purchase Stacks in RapidWeaver Classic. — Bart Vosters

RapidWeaver Classic FAQ

Q: Will my existing RapidWeaver Classic themes be compatible?

A: Elements does not support Classic legacy themes. It’s been a tough decision to make, but ultimately we think Elements is a much better product as we built it for the future of web design.

Q: Can I import my RapidWeaver Classic projects into RapidWeaver Elements?

A: Not at this time, Element based websites are built completely differently so there's no easy way to open those older Classic documents.However, you could see this as a great opportunity to refresh your website and bring it up-to-date with modern web technologies and standards.

Q: Is it possible to use RapidWeaver Classic and RapidWeaver Elements side-by-side?

A: Yes, you can install and run both applications simultaneously on your Mac. We anticipate this scenario to be quite popular as it allows users to manage older projects in Classic while simultaneously migrating and developing newer projects in Elements.

Q: Will RapidWeaver Classic be phased out and replaced by RapidWeaver Elements?

A: No, both versions of RapidWeaver will coexist as they cater to slightly different customer needs.

RapidWeaver Classic continues to serve thousands of customers who maintain and build existing websites using a variety of legacy plugins and addons. We will continue to develop and update RapidWeaver Classic to support this "classic" workflow. RapidWeaver Classic requires macOS 10.14 (Mojave) or a newer version.

RapidWeaver Elements represents our vision for reimagining web design on the Mac, it's easier and more powerful than ever before to build no-code websites.

With dark mode now a prominent feature in many operating systems, it’s increasingly common to create a dark version of your website alongside the default design.

Elements supports automatic switching between light and dark mode. This approach enables automatic theme switching based on the user’s system (or browser) settings, ensuring websites adapt seamlessly to both light and dark modes.

Choosing Background and Text Colours

For Light and Dark mode to work seamlessly we recommend basing your websites on the following three colours, Brand, Surface, and Text.

• For Elements like Buttons, Colour Fill on Icons, Dividers, we recommend using Brand Colour from the Theme Studio.

• For Background Colours we recommend using the Surface colour from the Theme Studio.

• For Text Colours we recommend using the Text colour from the Theme Studio.

Changing Colours based on Mode

Every colour in Elements supports Dark and Light Mode, this means you can change the colour of text, backgrounds, buttons, borders, and more, all based on the users system settings.

By default when you set a colour it's set for Light Mode. To set an alternative colour for Dark mode, you need to press the Dark/Light Mode toggle button at the top of the editor.

Turning Off Dark Mode

If you don't want dark mode on your website, you can switch this off in the Project Settings. Please note, this will hide the UI option to toggle between dark and light mode, and only preveiw and export the light mode versuion of you website.

Dev Diary Videos for Dark Mode

The following video will show you how to set Colours for Dark and Light mode in Elements. The video was recorded with a development version of Elements so the feature(s) available now may differ slightly to those in the video.

The Node Browser allows you to see and manage the entire structure of your page, this is esecially useful for intricate designs, and larger more complex pages.

Search/Filter Components

To filter down to specific Components you can use the search field, located at the bottom of the Node Browser.

Right-Click Options

The Node Browser has the following options when right-clicking on a Component in the Node Browser.

While the WYSIWYG editor allows you to view your design, you'll sometimes want to check how it looks in a browser.

To preview your website in your default browser, you can click the Safari Browser icon in the toolbar (Command-P). You can also press Command-Option-P to choose a different browser.

If you're just starting out with Elements it's important to take the time to learn the difference between Components and Global Components.

It's also worth noting that Elements is a Mobile first design system, you can learn more about all of this and more below. If you have more questions, please .

Components

The core components inside elements represent the basic building blocks of a webpage; they are at the foundation of your page design. They include things like containers, grids, headings, text, and buttons. They are singular items, like Lego bricks.

Some of the more advanced components go beyond the basics; these include things like menus and galleries.

Global Templates

(or Globals as they are often called) are user created groups of components. Globals can help maintain a consistent design language across your entire site.

You can reuse global blocks across your site so you only need to update the content in one place and have it automagically mirrored to all other instances of that global. For example, this can be very useful for header and footer sections.

You can take Globals even further by overriding content and design aspects on an individual instance. For example, you might have a banner that you want to use on every page of your site, and you'd like the design to be consistent. You can use the override feature to customise the text and background image on each instance. You can even override the design settings on individual instances.

You can .

Mobile First Design

Elements takes a mobile-first design approach. Mobile has now surpassed desktop in global internet usage. Google has switched to mobile-first indexing. That’s why Elements takes a mobile-first approach to website design to ensure your sites work better and rank higher in search results.

We recommend designing at the mobile breakpoint first, and working your way up through the breakpoints to support larger screens.

Built on Tailwind, AlpineJS, and the GSAP Animation Library

Elements is built upon the popular , along with . and the , which makes it a piece of cake to build modern responsive websites.

By standardising on the framework used inside Elements, we ensure third-party components work great with every website you build.

Real-time CSS Generation

Elements builds a custom version of Tailwind CSS in real-time.

As you add, remove, or modify any components and content in your project, Elements generates the required CSS, and only the required CSS. Elements does not load Tailwind from a CDN. Doing so would have severely limited what we are able to do from a design and theming perspective.

To reiterate, all CSS generation happens in real-time as you edit your project. It’s truly amazing once you start working with it.

This setup ensures that Elements produces the smallest amount of CSS possible, as it only generates the CSS you are actually using in your project.

The way Elements generates CSS for you means there is no need for each developer to write and ship the same CSS over and over again. Elements offers you a modern, reliable, flexible design system that both developers and end users can utilize.

The design system in Elements allows the app, third-party developers, and end users to all create code, components, and content separately but still maintain consistency from a design/theming perspective.

Learn More About Tailwind

How to use Tailwind Utility Classes in Elements

RapidWeaver Elements is a powerful static website builder (local CMS system) that perfectly balances simplicity with professional-grade capabilities. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface eliminates the need for coding knowledge, while still providing users with complete control over their design choices. With a rich selection of professionally designed templates and a streamlined publishing process, RapidWeaver Elements makes it possible for anyone to create stunning websites.

What truly sets RapidWeaver Elements apart is its commitment to generating optimized, clean HTML code that ensures fast loading times and excellent search engine rankings.

By using Elements, you maintain full ownership of your content and hosting choices, free from platform lock-in. This combination of user-friendly features, professional output, and creative freedom makes Elements an excellent choice for anyone looking to build a modern, efficient static website.

Contine reading to learn more about why is a better choice than using an .

Static Site Generator (SSG) vs Data-Driven Websites

Static websites are pre-built HTML files that remain unchanged until manually updated. They're like a perfectly printed book - the content is fixed, polished, and ready to be viewed instantly.

Data-driven websites, on the other hand, generate pages dynamically by pulling content from databases when visitors request them. This is like having to assemble a book every time someone wants to read it.

Disadvantages of an online CMS/ Data-driven Website:

• Complexity: Data-driven websites require complex setup including configuring database servers, implementing server-side programming languages, setting up API endpoints, managing database connections, and coordinating between front-end and back-end systems.

• Slower Performance: Each page must be generated on-demand, requiring database queries and server processing.

• Higher Costs: Database servers and more powerful hosting are required to handle dynamic content generation.

• Security Vulnerabilities: Databases and server-side code create additional attack vectors for hackers.

• Maintenance Headaches: Regular database maintenance, backups, and security updates are necessary.

Static websites eliminate these drawbacks by serving pre-built content, resulting in faster, more secure, and more reliable websites that are significantly easier to maintain.

Advantages of building a static website:

1. Speed and Performance Static websites load incredibly fast since they don't require server-side processing or database queries. Pages are pre-rendered and served directly to visitors, resulting in lightning-quick load times.

2. SEO Benefits

   Search engines can easily crawl and index static content, potentially leading to better search rankings. The fast load times also contribute to improved SEO performance.

3. Enhanced Security

   With no database or server-side applications to exploit, static sites are inherently more secure. There are fewer vulnerabilities and attack vectors for malicious actors to target.

4. Cost-Effective Hosting static websites is significantly cheaper since they require minimal server resources. Many platforms offer free hosting for static sites, and scaling costs remain low even with high traffic.

5. Reliability Static sites are more reliable because they have fewer points of failure. Without databases or complex server configurations, there's less that can go wrong.

6. Portability Static sites can be hosted anywhere and easily moved between hosting providers, giving you maximum flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in.

Types of Websites Ideal for Static Site Generation

The variety of websites you can build with RapidWeaver Elements is completely open, and we like to think you can build pretty much anything with it. However, there are some types of websites that lend themselves to being static:

• Company Websites: Small to medium-sized business websites.

• Documentation Sites: Technical documentation, API references.

• Portfolio Websites: Personal or professional portfolios.

• Landing Pages: Marketing landing pages.

• Event Websites: Conference or event sites.

• Personal Websites: Hobbies, niche interests.

• Digital Garden: Your very own corner of the internet.

The backend CMS components will allow you to edit and create new Markdown files via any web browser.

The Container Element serves as a wrapper or holder for other elements. It is commonly used to group and organise related content. The Container Element can be used to apply spacing or create space around elements.

Layout Group

Margin

The Margin allows you to set the margin on all sides of the container. You can adjust the left and right margins to set the spacing as follows:

• Align Center, set the let and right margin to "Auto"

• Align Left, set the left and right margin to "0"

• Align Right, set the left margin to "0" and the right margin to "auto"

Padding

Apply padding independently to each side of the element.

Advanced Group

Visible

Visually show and hide the element. Please note the element will still be visible in the html, but not visible on the page.

CSS Classes

Add custom (and Tailwind) classes directly to this element. For example, we can apply a blur to everything within the container by writing blur-sm into the CSS Classes field. See the Tailwind blur docs for available classes.

You can browse all the available Tailwind classes over in the Tailwind CSS documentation.

Clip Content

Clip content that overflows this Element.

The Divider component in Elements is a simple yet effective way to create visual separation between sections of your website. It helps to organize content, enhance readability, and improve the overall flow of your design.

The Flex Element is based on the Flexbox CSS module that provides a flexible way to distribute space among items within a container. It is designed for one-dimensional layouts, such as arranging elements in a single row or column. With Flexbox, you can easily create responsive and dynamic layouts that adapt to different screen sizes and orientations.

To add a collection of images to your gallery, drag an drop a folder of images from the resources area into the drop-zone.

Supported File Types

Galleries can contain a mixture of file types, including:

• JPG

• PNG

• YouTube

• Vimeo

• .mp4

What is best size to make Gallery images?

Elements is designed to be flexible with image sizes, but for best results in galleries, we recommend using images that are at least 1200px wide for modern displays. This ensures your gallery looks sharp on all devices.

For batch resizing and compressing images we recommend Squash for macOS.

The Image Slider component lets you showcase multiple images in a sleek, swipeable carousel. It’s perfect for galleries, product shots, logos, or any images that benefits from a visual slideshow.

It works beautifully on all screen sizes, with touch and swipe support built in. Choose from simple controls like arrows and dots, or let it autoplay for a hands-off experience.

Whether you’re highlighting your work or telling a visual story, the Image Slider makes it look great.

Content coming soon.

cms()

You can include the cms.php file for access to a cms() method.

// Important: you must ensure the cms() function hasn't 
// already been declared before including the file.
if (!function_exists('cms')) {
    require_once __DIR__ . '/{{cmsPath}}/cms.php';
}

$cms = cms("base_path");

// Collection of Items
$currentPage = 1;
$itemsPerPage = 10;
$articles = $cms->collection('articles')
    ->orderBy('date_published', 'asc')
    ->paginate($currentPage, $itemsPerPage);

// Single Items
$collectionPath = 'articles';
$itemSlug = 'hello-world';
$detailPage = '/articles/';
$item = $cms->item($collectionPath, $itemSlug, ['detailPage' => $detailPage]);

Frontmatter is a common authoring convention, originally popularized by Jekyll that lets you add metadata to a page. It consists of a block of key-value pairs placed at the top of a Markdown file.

Elements supports the following frontmatter

• title

• date

• image

• tags

Title

Generally used for a post or page title.

title: "Hello World"

Date

In the following format, year-month-day.

date: "2025-03-17"

The Grid Element is a powerful layout system based on CSS Grid that allows you to create complex two-dimensional grid-based layouts for web pages. It provides a precise way to position and align elements within a grid container, making it easier to design responsive and flexible layouts.

With the Grid Element, you can define rows and columns, control their sizes, and place items anywhere within the grid. You can also set the grid-gap for adding spacing between grid cells, you can even create nested grids.

Getting Started with Grids

When you first drag a Grid onto your page, you might notice that the columns aren’t immediately visible. That’s because the grid requires content to define its layout. To get started, drag and drop a Container into the grid. The container will occupy the number of columns you’ve set for the grid. As you add more containers, an insertion point will appear to the left or right of the existing container, guiding you on where the new content will fit. Drop the container, and you’ll see the grid automatically split into two columns. Repeat this process to populate the grid with as many columns as you’ve set up.

Once your containers are in the grid, you can adjust their behavior by changing their type to Grid Item. This setting allows you to control each item’s width. For example:

• If you’ve set your grid to 4 columns, you might set each grid item’s width to 1, which will evenly distribute the space across 4 columns.

• Alternatively, you can define the grid as having 12 columns and assign each grid item a width of 3. This approach is functionally identical but provides more granular control. While both methods work, many find the simpler “4 columns, 1 width per item” method easier to manage.

Grids can feel a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, they’re incredibly flexible and powerful.

The Modal Close component is used to close an open modal, simple as that!

It can be added anywhere inside your modal content, and is most commonly used as a button or icon in the top-right corner. You can fully style it to match your design, and even add multiple close buttons if needed (handy for “Cancel” actions at the bottom of a form, for example).

When clicked, it seamlessly hides the modal and returns the user to the main content, no extra setup required.

RapidWeaver Elements gives you the power to customise every part of your website. You have complete freedom for you or your clients. Easily change colors, fonts and text styles, borders, shadows and so much more.

Related Dev Diary Videos

The following videso were recorded as part of the ongoing Elements Dev Diary series and give a good overview of the customizable user interface.

The Dropdown component lets you reveal a list of links, actions, or custom content when a user clicks or hovers on a trigger — perfect for navigation menus, or simple tool menus.

It’s fully flexible and works great on both desktop and mobile. You choose what goes inside: text links, buttons, even other components. The dropdown opens smoothly and stays neatly tucked away when not in use, keeping your layout clean and uncluttered.

Use it anywhere you need compact, contextual access to more options.

Modals are a great way to display additional content without taking visitors away from the current page. They’re perfect for things like forms, galleries, announcements, or anything that needs a little more focus.

In Elements, modals are easy to set up and fully customisable, you can trigger them from buttons, links, or other interactive components. When opened, the modal appears above your content with a subtle background overlay, helping draw attention to what matters.

Whether you’re collecting signups or showcasing a product feature, the Modal component gives you a clean, accessible way to do it.

The Page settings allow you to set a default Page background colour for your website. By default, the Theme background colour will be used, but you can override this with the controls provided.

Dev Diary Videos for Themes

The following video will show you how themes work in Elements. The video was recorded with a development version of Elements so the feature(s) available now may differ slightly to those in the video.

Elements has a host of available keyboard shortcuts.

Editor: General

Editor: Selecting and Moving Components

Editor: Screens

Preview

Elements is a fantastic alternative to Blocs because it offers an incredibly flexible and intuitive design experience, especially for users who want to harness the power of Tailwind CSS.

With its modular approach and extensive customization options, Elements allows you to craft stunning, responsive websites with ease, while giving you precise control over every design detail. Plus, the supportive community and frequent updates ensure you’re always equipped with the latest web design features and trends.

Testimonials from Blocs users switching to Elements

I could’ve stayed with Classic, but being forced into the terrible UI/UX from Stacks to create a website… no way. And even more so if you switch back from Elements (or blocs, where I now come from) to RW classic and stacks. I can’t imagine that for the life of it.

Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed, and the forums and especially the developers offer a ton of help if you get stuck. — .

Tips from Ex-Blocs Users

• Elements’ Node Browser gives you a clear overview of your layouts, much easier than wrangling blocs and brics!

• Tailwind theming just works in Elements, so you don’t have to fight with custom classes or inconsistent styles.

• If you need a hand, the is super friendly, and you can always tag for help.

How to Switch from Blocs to Elements

Migrating from Blocs to Elements is a fantastic move if you’re looking for a modern, flexible, and genuinely fun web design experience. Elements was built from the ground up for rapid, future-proof site building—with a fully WYSIWYG editor and the power of Tailwind CSS at your fingertips.

Here’s a detailed, step-by-step guide to help you make the switch:

Step 1: Prepare Your Content and Assets

Before you dive in, make a list of:

• Pages you need to migrate

• Content (text, images, videos)

• Any custom code or integrations you used in Blocs

Export and organise images/assets so they’re ready to add into Elements.

Step 2: Set Up a New Project in Elements

1. Open Elements and hit File > New Project.

2. Choose a starting project or begin with a blank project.

3. Set your global site settings (site title, address, and favicons) in the Site Settings menu (cog in the toolbar).

Step 3: Recreate Your Pages

For each page from your Blocs site:

1. Click the “+” in the sidebar to add a new page.

2. Name it to match your old site structure (e.g., Home, About, Contact, etc.).

3. You can modify the file name and folder for each page in the page inspector.

Step 4: Rebuild Layouts Using Components

• Drag and drop Components into your page(s) to match your old layouts.

• Elements has built-in Components and pre-built Templates for common needs (navigation bars, galleries, buttons, etc.).

• Arrange and customise each using the Inspector, change text, swap images, adjust colors, all visually.

Step 5: Style Your Site

• Use the Theme Studio to adjust site-wide color palettes, fonts, and spacing.

• If you want extra flair, take advantage of Tailwind utility classes directly in the advanced settings (but you never need to touch code if you don’t want to).

Step 6: Rebuild Forms & Integrations

• Drop in the Form Component for contact/newsletter pages.

• Configure field types, labels, and actions visually.

• Point form actions to your email or third-party service; Elements supports customizable form actions.

Step 7: Preview and Publish!

• Preview your site in the browser by pressing Cmd + P or the browser icon in the toolbar.

• If you're site looks good, feploy to your host via the built-in publishing engine.

If you have any specific component or layout you’re struggling to recreate, just . Share a screenshot or describe what you need and we'll guide you to the best solution in Elements.

Welcome to the future of Mac web design, the Power of Elements is waiting for you!

Components are the raw building blocks for page design in Elements. Let's take a look at the different types of Components available.

Built-in Components

Elements ships with a comprehensive range of Components that allow you to put together an entire website. They include everything from Headings, Images, Galleries, and layout tools, like Grid and Flex.

Custom Components

If you know a bit of HTML you can create your own custom Components for use in your projects. These can be anything from a simple html snippet to a fully blown Component using the , with custom UI controls. .

Custom Components can only be shared via projects, the code is open and visible to anyone with that project. They are perfect for creating bespoke solutions for your project(s), or getting familiar with the before you migrate to building components like those built into Elements.

Third-party Components

Third-party developers can use the to create full-blown Components that are on a par with the built-in Components — Yes, we use exactly the same API that is available to all users.

Third-party components will be as Element Packs (.elementspack). These packs are shipped as highly optimized, encrypted bundles. The code cannot be modified or edited by users or third parties (exactly like the built-in Components).

Details comign soon.

How to create a traditional "Sticky" menu

The “Sticky” option under Layout > Position applies the CSS property position: sticky. However, it might not behave as intuitively as expected.

Simply setting Position to “Sticky” won’t automatically make your navbar stick to the top of the page. Here’s how to achieve that effect:

Option 1: Sticky Positioning

1. Set Position to “Sticky”

2. Choose Type as “Individual”

3. Set Top to 0

Option 2: Fixed Positioning

1. Set Position to “Fixed”

2. Choose Type as “Individual”

3. Set Top to 0

Understanding the Difference: Sticky vs. Fixed

• Sticky Positioning: The element with position: sticky will stay in place only after it has been scrolled to a specific point (e.g., Top set to 0). It combines characteristics of relative and fixed positioning, meaning it will move along with the page until it reaches the set position, where it then “sticks.” However, it requires a defined space around it to work effectively, so if the element’s container is too small or constrained, sticky positioning may not work as expected.

• Fixed Positioning: The element with position: fixed is completely removed from the document flow and will stay at a set position on the screen, regardless of scrolling. It is always visible at the specified position (e.g., top of the page) and doesn’t depend on other elements or its container size. This option is often more predictable for elements like a navbar, as it maintains its position consistently.

In most cases, “Fixed” will likely give you the desired result for a navbar that remains at the top of the page. However, feel free to experiment with both options to see which best suits your layout.

The Top Pages component makes it easy to automatically display a list of your site’s main pages - perfect for building simple navigation menus, site maps, or quick-access sections.

By default, it shows all top-level pages, but you can also choose a specific folder to display just the subpages within it. This gives you flexibility to create menus or content blocks that update automatically as your site structure changes.

It’s a smart, no-fuss way to keep navigation in sync without having to manually update links.

Globals give you the power to create reusable linked (and customisable) groups of components to maintain a consistent design language across your entire site.

You can reuse global template blocks across your site so you only need update the content in one place and have it automagically mirrored in all other instances of that global. For example, this can be very useful for global header and footer sections.

You can take Globals even further by overriding content and design aspects on an individual instance. You might have a banner that you want to use on every page of your site and you'd like the design to be consistent. You can use the override feature to customise the text and background image on each instance. You can even override the design settings on certain instances.

Once you learn how to use the power of globals you'll wonder how you ever built wesbites without them.

Creating a Global

There are a number of ways to turn a group of Elements into a Global. Right-click an element in the Editor or Node Browser and select "Convert to Global".

Unlinking a Globals

To unlink a group of Elements on a page, right-click on the Global in the Node Browser and choose "Unlink from Global".

Globals inside Globals

When working with Elements, you can nest different Globals within each other to create complex structures. However, it's important to note that you cannot nest the same Global within itself. This restriction is in place to prevent potential issues such as infinite loops, system errors, or a rip in the time-space continuum.

When you’re ready to publish your website, you'll need to go to your Site Settings and select the "publishing" tab in the sidebar to set up a publishing destination.

Elements can publish to the following locations and services:

• Local (to your Mac)

• FTP

• SFTP / FTPS

• Amazon S3

Publishing your site is an exciting moment: you’ll be able to enter a website address into Safari and see the fruits of your work.

Depending on who your hosting provider is, you may need to tweak a few options in Elements before you publish your website. This is entirely normal and is simply due to web hosts having different requirements when publishing your site.

Most importantly, you’ll need to remember that the details you enter into Elements are supplied by your hosting provider, not Realmac Software. Many hosting providers will require you to use publishing details that differ from any details you may use to access their control panel in a web browser. While this may be frustrating, it’s designed to keep your private information safe. If you are at all unsure about what to enter into Elements, drop your hosting provider an email, and they’ll be able to advise you.

Recommended Website Hosting

Elements works with almost any host, but if you’re still deciding on a hosting provider, and are looking for a company that knows Elements, then we recommend . They are the official hosting partner of Realmac Software. Every aspect of is built to ensure absolute compatibility with Elements, the friendly support staff at are all familiar with Elements.

CSS Classes

This text area is useful for adding extra Tailwind CSS Classes.

ID

This text field is useful for applying a custom name to a component. The ID name of the component will appear in the enabling you to easily , watch the video below to learn more about how to use this feature.

Manage the overall settings for your Website, this includes things like; site title, logo, favicons, template code, and publishing destinations.

Project Settings can be accessed by pressing the cog icon in the toolbar.

Overview

The Accordion component lets you organize content into collapsible sections. It’s a great way to keep pages clean and easy to navigate, especially when you’re dealing with lots of information. Visitors can click on a section heading to reveal more details, making it perfect for FAQs, service listings, feature breakdowns, and more.

Accordions help improve page flow, reduce scrolling, and enhance the overall user experience, particularly on mobile devices where space is limited. With Elements, creating and customizing an Accordion is simple, giving you full control over the layout, grouping, and style.

How to use Accordion

You’ll find the Accordion component under the Interactive section in the Components list. Each Accordion Item has two separate drop zones: one for the Title and one for the Content. You can add text, images, or other components into these areas to build rich, interactive sections.

If you group multiple Accordions together, you can enable a setting that allows only one Accordion to be open at a time — perfect for keeping your layouts clean and focused.

The Advanced section lets you fine-tune your project’s output and local preview behavior. These options are entirely optional, but great if you want a bit more control.

Site Options

• Generate Search Engine Sitemap

  Automatically creates a sitemap.xml file to help search engines index your site.

• Consolidate CSS Files

  Combines your project’s CSS into fewer files to help reduce page load time.

• Generate Cache-Busting Links

  Appends unique version strings to assets (like CSS and JS) to ensure browsers always load the latest version.

• Minify CSS and Javascript

  Strips unnecessary whitespace and comments to shrink file sizes and improve performance.

• Anonymize Requests to Third-Party Servers

  Helps protect your privacy by removing identifiable info from external requests (like Google Fonts or embedded media).

Default Extension

Sets the file extension used for new pages, typically html, but you can change this to php or others if needed.

Web Server Port

Configure the local web server used by Elements when previewing your site:

• Auto: Automatically chooses an available port.

• Restart Web Server: Use this if the preview server isn’t running correctly.

• Automatically start web server on document open: Handy if you want preview to be ready as soon as you open a project.

Elements supports the following Favicons:

• iPhone Retina

• iPad Retina

• iPad

• Safari Pinned Tab (SVG, plus colour)

• Classic Favicon (64, 32, and 16)

Further Reading

The topic of favicons has proven to be more exhaustive than anyone could have ever wished. The following article shows how to support just the essentials (and keep yourself sane) while doing it.

• .

Set the title of your website, along with the web address.

Disabling Dark Mode.

You can disable Dark mode if it's not required on your website, by toggling the "Allow Dark Mode" switch.

Dev Diary Videos for Typography

The following video will show you how themes work in Elements. The video was recorded with a development version of Elements so the feature(s) available now may differ slightly to those in the video.

The Video Element is a simple way to add a single video to your website.

How to add Video

You can add YouTube or Vimeo videos by dragging and dropping the URL from your web browser to the Resources area in RapidWeaver Elements.

Supported Video Types

The video component supports the following file types:

• YouTube

• Vimeo

• .mp4

Dropzone

The Video component has a dropzone in the center of it to allow for custom play buttons, text, graphics, and more.

Video Component Settings

Video

Resource: Drop a video file or video url from the Resources Browser into the dropwell.

Thumbnail

Set a thumbnail image to be displayed before the video is played.

Elements is an excellent alternative to Stacks from YourHead Software because it simplifies the web design process while giving you powerful, modern tools to create beautiful, responsive websites. Unlike Stacks, which relies on a collection of costly third-party addons to extend functionality, Elements is built from the ground up with a streamlined, all-in-one approach.

It’s perfect for those who want a faster, more cohesive design experience, especially with the added benefit of Tailwind CSS for precise, professional styling.

Why Choose Elements over Stacks?

Elements is a modern, all-in-one website builder built exclusively for macOS, no plugins, no patchwork. Unlike Classic + Stacks + Foundation + Additional stacks, which can quickly become expensive and fragmented, Elements gives you everything you need in one beautifully integrated app. It’s faster, cleaner, and easier to use, while still giving you full control over your design and code. Plus, Elements gets weekly updates, built in the open with direct feedback from users like you.

In this video, we edit a very similar website using both Stacks with the Foundation Framework and RapidWeaver Elements. We walk through the editing experience in each. It’s a side-by-side comparison that really shows just how much cleaner, faster, and more enjoyable building with Elements is.

If you’ve been using Stacks and Foundation for a while, you’ll probably recognise the pain points. In Elements, everything’s more streamlined. Components are smart and reusable, editing is instant, and you can focus on design without constantly fighting the tool.

Testimonials from Stacks users switching to Elements

I used RapidWeaver Classic for years, invested a lot (!) of money in frameworks, cms solutions and 3rd party stacks which all had a different way to name or sort their settings. That already drove me nuts.

There’ll sure be some 3rd party additions to Elements, but even in it’s current state it can do more than I was able to do with RW classic + Foundry + easyCMS + lots of 3rd party stacks or even Blocs. Yes, there’ll be a learning curve, but it’s worth it.

I could’ve stayed with Classic, but being forced into the terrible UI/UX from Stacks to create a website… no way. And even more so if you switch back from Elements (or blocs, where I now come from) to RW classic and stacks. I can’t imagine that for the life of it.

Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed, and the forums and especially the developers offer a ton of help if you get stuck. — Fynn via the Forums.

"I'm planning on writing up a report on building out this new site as it was a real revelation what you can accomplish with Elements. The quality of the sites is so much higher than when I was dealing with Stacks.

For one of the projects I was extracting a lot of content out of a Classic/Stacks project and it was amazing how painful it was after working with Elements for these last 9 months.

You should be really proud with what you are creating it is amazing." — Robin Muir

"I have been on the beta for some time and I must say that going back to RapidWeaver Classic and Stacks every now and then to do updates etc on sites developed there, seems as if one is going back in time somehow.

Elements is truly forming to be an incredible web design app and I am excited for what is still coming! Keep up the great work Team Realmac!" — Gunther Schenk

How to move from Stack Frameworks like Foundry and Foundation to Elements

Foundry from Elixir Graphics, Foundation from Weavers Space, and other stack-based frameworks were great in their time, they gave a lot of people the tools to build websites without touching code. But as things stand today, most of those frameworks are outdated or haven;t seen any significant updates in years.

The big challenge is that these stacks rely on a fragile web of dependencies: Stacks itself, RapidWeaver Classic, and the individual stack libraries. If any one part breaks, you’re left without support, and without a clear path forward. That’s not ideal when you’re managing client sites or trying to future-proof your own projects.

That’s exactly why we built Elements. It gives you a better WYSIWYG visual building experience and with a modern engine underneath, powered by Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js. No more worrying about stacks, frameworks, or broken dependencies. Just clean, fast websites built with native Mac software that’s actively developed and supported.

If you’re still building with stacks-based frameworks, now’s a great time to start migrating. It’s easier than you might think, and the long-term benefits are massive 🚀

Making the switch can feel daunting, but the Power of Elements makes the transition both smoother and more rewarding than you might expect. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Review Your Current Structure

• Audit your content: Go through your existing site (text, images, structure) and make a list of your key pages and features.

• Note special functionality: Jot down things like forms, animations, custom menus, galleries, accordions, and any third-party stacks you’ve relied on.

2. Choose the Right Approach

• No-code or Low-code: Elements is incredibly friendly for non-coders, offering drag-and-drop Components and visual design controls. Most things you did with Foundry or Foundation stacks can be recreated with built-in Components or included Templates, no need for custom code (unless you want to!).

3. Rebuild, Don’t “Import”

• There’s no direct “import” from Stack based Sites to Elements (they use completely different architectures), but the upside is Elements outputs beautifully clean, modern HTML, and you avoid dragging over any old or bloated code.

• Manually recreate pages section by section: set up your navigation, then build out hero sections, content, forms, galleries, etc., using Elements’ Components.

• You’ll quickly notice the live, WYSIWYG design is a massive step up from the old Stacks preview system.

4. Leverage Powerful Components and Themes

• Elements comes with a variety of ready-made Components: forms, contact blocks, FAQ accordions, pricing tables, sliders, and more. Many additional expensive “stacks” are simply built-in now.

• Explore the Theme Controls and design system in Elements, you get consistent styling across your whole site, easily controlled from one spot. No more separate styling for every “stack.”

5. Migrate Content Easily

• Copy/paste your text content directly, and use Elements’ Resources Manager to add images and other assets.

• For SEO, be sure to set up your Page Titles and Meta Descriptions in Elements’ page setting, these tools are more accessible and modern compared to old stacks setups.

6. Add Interactivity

• You can use the built-in components to add animation and interactovivoty. If you used custom stacks for things like tabs, toggles, or reveal animations, you’ll love Elements’ support for Alpine.js and Tailwind, it’s built right in. You can go as deep as you want, but you don’t have to touch code.

7. Test Responsiveness

• Preview your site at different breakpoints right within Elements—no need for slow browser preview cycles. Modern output means your site just works beautifully everywhere.

8. Get Help & Inspiration

• The Elements Support Forum is thriving, with regular updates and responsive help.

• Loads of video tutorials and live streams are available on the Realmac YouTube Channel.

Pro Tip: Many users find that their rebuilt Elements site is faster, easier to update, and simply looks better than their old Stacks Framework based project thanks to modern, semantic markup and a more integrated design workflow 🚀

If you have any specific component or layout you’re struggling to recreate, just ask on the forum. Share a screenshot or describe what you need and we'll guide you to the best solution in Elements. You’ll be amazed at how far the platform has come!

Welcome to the future of Mac web design, the Power of Elements is waiting for you!

These advanced components ship with every copy of Elements.

Templates are groups of Components that have been put togther to create a design or layout. Once a template is dropped into your page you can customise how you like, and it is no longer linked to the original template.

The core pack inside of Elements includes a selection of useful layouts for everyday web design, including menus, hero banners, layouts, forms, and more.

Supported Components

Templates can support many types of components, including:

• Built-in Components

• Third-party Components

• Custom Components

• Globals

• Resources (as part of the components)

How to create Templates in a Project

To create a Template, drag a collection of Components from the Editor or Node Browser into the Project Templates area.

You can right-click on a Template to re-name it, or create a new folder for organisation.

How to create Templates to share across Projects

To build a Template Pack that is available in all projects and distributable on the Elements Store you'll need to create a new Dev Pack. This can be done from the Addons tab in the app Settings window.

You can learn more about creating Template Packs in the Elements Language section of the manual.

Dev Diary Video's covering Templates

In Dev Diary 86, and 88, we take a closer look at the new Template features in Elements.

Transforms in Elements allow you to manipulate the position, size, and orientation of components all without writing a line of code. Transforms are a powerful way to apply effects like rotating, scaling, translating (moving), and skewing elements, making it easy to add dynamic and interactive visual effects to your design.

You can also use transforms to create hover or focus effects that make elements feel more interactive and responsive.

Type

Specify if the component has transforms enabled or disabled. The Hover effect works in conjuction with Transitions.

Custom ID's for Hover

The component must be nested somewhere inside a component that has the custom ID applied, and the custom id class needs to be formatted with the group modifier, like so: group/parent-component-id.

Transforms

• Origin - Set the origin of the transform.

• Scale - Changes the size of an element by percent.

• Rotate - Rotates an element by a specified degree, supports positive and negative values.

• Translate - Moves an element along the X or Y axis, supports positive and negative values.

• Skew - Skews an element along the X or Y axis, supports positive and negative values.

Filters allow you to apply various visual effects to elements, such as blurring, adjusting brightness, or adding drop shadows. These filters are applied via the filter settings on most elements and enable quick visual enhancements.

Type

Specify if the component has effects enabled or disabled. The Hover effect works in conjuction with Transitions.

Filters

• Blur - Applies a blur to the contents of the object. Vvalue is set in pixels.

• Brightness - Darken or lighten the image, value is set in percent, 100 is the default value.

• Sturate - Asjust the colour saturation, 0 is greyscale, 100 is the default.

• Drop Shadow - Apply a drop shadow from the theme studio.

Backdrop Filters

• Blur - Applies a blur effect to the content behind the element, rather than the element itself. It creates a frosted glass-like effect, which is commonly used in modern web design to maintain focus on the content in the foreground while still giving a glimpse of what’s behind. To see this effect, ensure your component has a completely transparent background or semi-transparent background colour.

Filters UI in Elements

In Elements, borders are easy to add, customize, and control, allowing you to create clean and consistent boundaries around components with minimal effort. Elements provides a range of options for setting border width, border color, border style, and even border radius (for rounded corners). This flexibility makes it simple to define borders that suit your design, from subtle outlines to bold accents.

Type

Specify if the component has effects enabled or disabled. The Hover effect works in conjuction with Transitions.

Style

The Style control allows you to choose between three distict border styles, solid, dashed, and dotted.

Colour and Opacity

Define a colour and oppacity for the border. Colour swatches are defined in the Theme Studio.

Width

The Width property controls the thickness of the border. Width can be set for all four sides of an element—top, right, bottom, and left—or individually for each side. A custom pixel value can also be set.

Radius

The Radius property controls the roundness of the border. Radius can be set for all four sides of an element—top, right, bottom, and left—or individually for each side. A custom pixel value can also be set.

Border UI in Elements

Overview

The Background component lets you easily add color, gradients, or images behind your content, helping you create visually rich and layered designs. Whether you’re highlighting a section, creating contrast, or simply enhancing the overall look of your page, the Background component gives you full control over the style and appearance.

You can choose a simple color, apply a background image, or even create angled backgrounds for dynamic effects. Fine-tune the opacity, fixed positioning, and layering options to craft exactly the look you want.

How to Use the Background Component

You’ll find the Background component under the Layout section in the Components list. It includes a single drop zone where you can add the content you want to sit above the background — like text, images, or other components.

You can choose a solid color, add an image, or enable angled backgrounds for more dynamic designs. If needed, you can also fix the background in place for a parallax scrolling effect. Adjust the color, opacity, and style settings to match your site’s design perfectly.

When to Use Background Instead of Container

While you can use a Container to group and layout content with padding, width control, and background color, the Background component is designed specifically for more advanced visual effects.

Unlike a Container, the Background component gives you the ability to add fixed background images (for a parallax-style scrolling effect) and angled edges to create dynamic section transitions. If you need a background that moves independently from your content or you want to add stylish slanted dividers, the Background component is the better choice.

Use a Container when you need flexibility for simple layouts, but choose a Background when you want to add extra visual flair to your designs.

If you need/want your Anchor link to stop (or leave some space) before a Component on the page you can use the Scroll Padding Tailwind Utility class.

Place the following class scroll-mt-[300px] in the CSS Classes box under Advanced on the Component you're scrolling too. This class will set a offset of 300px, but you can change it to the pixel value you require.

Buttons are fundamental user interface elements in web design that enable users to interact with your website. They serve as clickable elements that trigger actions, such as navigating to a new page, or triggering a specific function, like showing a modal window.

Buttons help provide a clear call to action on your website.

The Screens section in the Theme Studio allows you to configue the responsive breakpoints for your website. Watch the video below to learn more about this feature.

Constructor

__construct(ElementsCMS $cms, array $data = [])

Creates a new CMS item.

• $cms (ElementsCMS): The CMS instance.

• $data (array): The data for the CMS item.

Static Methods

static load(ElementsCMS $cms, string $filepath): ?self

Load a CMS item from a file.

• $cms (ElementsCMS): The CMS instance.

• $filepath (string): Path to the file.

• Returns: ElementsCMSItem|null – Loaded item or null if not found.

Instance Methods

setOptions(array $options): self

Sets runtime options for the item.

• $options (array): Option key/value pairs.

• Returns: $this for method chaining.

getOption(string $key, $default = null)

Gets an option value by key.

• $key (string): Option name.

• $default (mixed): Default value if not found.

• Returns: Mixed option value.

slug(): string

Returns the item’s slug (URL-friendly identifier).

title(): string

Returns the item’s title.

date(string $format = 'F j, Y'): string

Returns the item's date in the given format.

• $format (string): Date format (default 'F j, Y').

datePublished(string $format = 'F j, Y'): string

Returns the item's published date.

dateModified(string $format = 'F j, Y'): string

Returns the item's last modified date.

featured(): bool

Checks if the item is marked as featured.

status(): string

Returns the item's status (e.g., published/draft).

body(): string

Returns the rendered HTML body content.

rawBody(): string

Returns the raw markdown body content.

image(): ?string

Returns the item's image URL, if available.

excerpt(int $words = 30): string

Returns an excerpt of the body, limited to the specified word count.

meta(string $key, $default = null): mixed

Fetches a value from the item's metadata/front-matter.

• $key (string): Meta key.

• $default (mixed): Default if key is missing.

attach(string $key, $value): self

Attach related data to the item (e.g., relations, computed properties).

get(string $key, $default = null): mixed

Returns any value from the item data or metadata.

__call($method, $arguments)

Allows dynamic method access to metadata fields.

file(): string

Returns the full path to the file.

fileName(): string

Returns the base filename (without extension).

url(): string

Returns the item’s URL.

lastModified(string $format = 'F j, Y'): string

Returns the file's last modified date.

toArray(): array

Returns all item data as an associative array.

with(string ...$relations): self

Declare relations (one-to-one or one-to-many) to eager-load.

withOne(string ...$relations): self

Declare one-to-one relations to eager-load.

withMany(string ...$relations): self

Declare one-to-many relations to eager-load.

loadRelations(): self

Loads all defined relations for the item.

Usage Example

The link property allows you to link to a page, resource or extrenal website. Elements will keep track and update all internally linked pages and resources.

Link Panel

You can envoke the link panel on most components and inline text areas. Add a link click the "Choose Link…" button in the inspector. To clear a link click the "x" icon to the right hand side of the link button.

Custom Attributes

Custom attributes in an link (anchor tag) provide additional information about how the link behaves, where it directs, and how it interacts with other elements or the browser. Here's a selection of example custom attributes.

Linking to an Anchor

1. You first need to add an ID to the component that will serve as your anchor. The ID can be found in the Advanced section in the settings for the selected component.

2. Then where you want to create your link in the text. Select the text, which will display the inline text

   • Click the LINK button in the inline text editor to open the link dialog.

   • If your anchor is on the same page, choose the page from the dropdown next to the link field.

   • This will display all available anchors in the Anchor popup.

   • Select the desired anchor, and you're done.

While each component has a set of unique controls, we've designed them so many of the components also share a set of common controls.

For beginners or users new to Elements, shared or common controls reduce the learning curve significantly. Instead of needing to master a different set of controls for each component, they can focus on understanding a core set of common settings that apply across the board.

By learning these shared controls, you only need to understand how to use a specific set of controls once, which can then be applied across various components. With common controls across multiple components, making changes becomes faster. You'll be able adjust the same properties (like padding, margin, colors, effects, or typography) across different components without having to search for or relearn where those settings are.

Easily enhance the visual appeal of elements in your website by applying effects like box shadow and opacity. These effects can help create depth, highlight key elements, and adjust the transparency of components, giving your site a modern, polished look.

Type

Specify if the component has effects enabled or disabled. The Hover effect works in conjuction with .

Hover Over

If you set the Type to Hover, you can specify which element should be hovered over to trigger the transition.

*Custom ID Note

When using a Custom ID to trigger a transition, make sure the parent element has a class name in the format group/{customID}.

If the parent element is a Container, Grid, or Flex component, you can simply enter the custom ID into the Advanced → ID field. Elements will automatically apply the correct class name for you.

However, if you’re using a different component—or have built a custom one—you’ll need to manually ensure the appropriate class name (group/{customID}) is applied to that element.

Note: You do not need to include the group/ prefix when entering your ID. Just enter the raw ID in the ID field, and Elements will handle the rest.

Box Shadow

Apply a box shadow to the Component.

Opacity

Set an opacity for the component.

Effects UI in Elements

The Spacing controls allow you to add Margin and Padding to an object. By default this control is disabled, this is to ensure the pading and margin classes are not applied to the object.

To set Padding and Margin you need to switch the "Enable" toggle to on.

The "Mask & Paintbrush" icon will toggle the control between selecting from a Theme Preset and setting an arbitrary value. To change the arbitrary value by 5px increments, click and drag the mouse up and down. To change the value by increments of 1px hold down the shift key while dragging.

To link the opposite value, click the dashed line so the highlight is set to blue. This can be done independently for vertical and horizontal values.

Margin

The Margin property controls the space around an element, outside of its border. It creates space between the element and its neighboring elements.

Margins can be set for all four sides of an element—top, right, bottom, and left—or individually for each side.

Padding

The Padding property controls the space inside an element, between its content and the element’s border. Unlike margin, which affects the space outside an element, padding pushes the content inward, creating internal spacing within the element itself.

Padding can be set for all four sides of an element—top, right, bottom, and left—or individually for each side.

Spacing UI in Elements

This short tutorial will show you how to add and animate an icon inside of a button.

The color settings allow you to manage a global colour palette for your website. You can add aditional colors, and override theme defaults.

The colors specified in the Theme Studio can be chosen in a component. This can be anything from a font color to a background gradient.

Whether you’re new to Elements or considering an upgrade, this section covers everything you need to know about purchasing a license, managing your subscription, and understanding what’s included with each plan.

Pre-Sales FAQ

Q: What are the differences between the different plans?

With Elements’ five license options—Base, Plus, Pro, Studio, and Site, you can choose the plan that best fits your needs, whether you're a casual user, hobbyist, professional web designer, or multi-member team.

Every Elements license includes all you need to build the website you've always wanted, however, there are a few key differences. Please take a look at our License Types document for more details.

Q: Can I switch to a different license?

Yes, eventually Elements will support upgrading/downgrading in app, but in the meantime, email support and we'll do the change manually for you.

Purchasing FAQ

Q: Where can I purchase Elements?

You can purchase Elements via our website.

Q: I didn't receive a license email. Where is it?!

When you purchase Elements you will receive an order confirmation email within 5 minutes confirming your order along with your license number. The email will be sent from "[email protected]" which is our payment provider. If you can't find the email it's usually because of one of the following reasons:

• The email from us ended up in your Spam Folder.

• You entered your email address incorrectly when purchasing (no shame, we've all done it!).

The first step is to check your spam folder for anything from Realmac Software or [email protected].

If you still can't find your order email, you can contact us directly: [email protected]. Please include your name, email address, and when you purchased Elements — this will help speed up the search!

Q: Do you offer refunds?

Yes! We offer a 7 day money-back guarantee.

If you've purchased Elements from us and are not happy, let us know within 7 days, and we'll issue a refund for you.

Please forward your original email receipt from your purchase to obtain your refund. While you don't have to do this, it does make it much quicker for us to find and process.

Send this email to [email protected]

We generally issue refunds within 48 hours (often quicker).

Subscription FAQ

Q: Is Elements subscription based?

Not in the traditional sense. When you purchase a Elements license from our website, you are automatically subscribed to one year of app updates. The license itself will not expire (you can use it forever), however the one year period of app updates will renew on an annual basis.

Please note the following:

• Subscriptions automatically renew unless you cancel them.

• If you cancel, your one year period of app updates will remain active until the next renewal date.

• You can manage your subscription here.

Q: What is your subscription cancellation policy?

You can cancel your subscription anytime via your Billing Manager.

We offer a 7 day money-back guarantee from the date you initially purchase a license for our software. During those initial 7 days you can cancel your subscription and request a refund with no questions asked.

Subsequent automatic subscription renewals are not refundable under our 7 day money-back guarantee.

Q: What happens if I cancel my subscription?

Your one year period of app updates will remain active. You will continue to receive updates until the next renewal date. If you wish to receive further updates after that renewal date, you will need to manually re-subscribe.

Q: How do I cancel my subscription?

Hopefully this day will never come, but if you need to cancel your subscription for one of our apps, visit the Billing Manager page.

In the event you cancel your subscription, any apps registered will continue providing all of its updates till the end of the current subscription period (the one you’ve already paid for).

Q: What happens if my subscription expires?

You get to keep the version of Elements you're currently using, you just won't receive any further updates to it. You'll need to re-subscribe to start receiving updates again.

Q: How do I manage my subscription?

Our Billing Manager can help you check a subscription status, change payment details, and cancel your subscription. All you need is access to the email address you used to purchase our software.

If you no longer have access to the email address, contact [email protected], and we'll be able to help you directly.

Licensing FAQ

Q: Help, I've lost my license?

If you've lost your license, visit our License Manager and use the automated system to help find your previous purchases.

If you’ve tried using our license manager and are still having issues, please email [email protected], and we’ll get you back up and running.

Be sure to check your Spam folder. Just in case!

Q: How do I deactivate my license?

If you have access to the activated version of our Elements, do this:

1. Open your registered version of the App.

2. Go to the App menu → Registration…

3. Click "Deactivate" under the "Activations (1 of X)" button.

4. Confirm your decision.

That's it. You can now use the same license to register the app on another Mac.

If you don't have access to your old Mac, you can still manage your license activations in the "Register…" window. This includes seeing what machines are licensed and deactivating any machines you no longer require. Elements > Registration…

Q: I'm seeing an "Activation failure (404)" Error when I try to register. What should I do?

First, make sure you are running the latest version of Elements.

The first thing to check is that your license number is correct. You'll often see this error if the code is slightly wrong or missing a digit.

If you've triple-checked and made sure you're license code is correct, try the following steps:

1. Launch Elements and choose "Registration…" from the "Elements" menu.

2. Deactivate your Mac using the "Activations (1 of 2)" button, and Elements should become Unregistered. (if required)

3. Restart your Mac.

4. Launch Elements.

5. Open the Registration window again and press the "Activate License…" button and enter your new license details.

6. You should now be up and running.

If you're still having issues, you can email [email protected], and we'll be able to help you out.

Q: Help, my license won't activate!

If you see the following "Unable to Activate" message, it may mean your license was entered incorrectly, or Elements is having trouble validating it over the internet.

You can email [email protected] with your license, we can check if it's valid and working. If it is, and your license is still not activating on your Mac, you should try the following things:

1. Check you don't have iCloud Private Relay or a VPN running.

2. Check you've not installed anything that blocks or tracks network traffic (i.e. LittleSnitch.app).

3. Reboot your Mac.

4. Try activating your license on another Mac.

5. Try activating your license on another network (3G/4G from your Phone).

6. Try starting your Mac in Safe Mode. A guide can be found here on how to do this.

Trying out the above will help you narrow down the problem and determine if your Mac or network is causing the issue.

Q: Why am I seeing an "Update Period Expired" message when trying to register Elements?

You'll see this message if you're trying to activate a newer version of Elements that was released after your subscription period ended.

If your subscription has expired and you're trying to use a new version of Elements that was released after your subscription period you'll see the "Update Period Expired" window. You now have a couple of options. You can choose to purchase a new subscription to get access to the new version or get an older version of Elements that was covered during your active subscription period.

Elements will show you what version you can still use underneath the "Renew License" button. Clicking the button will take you to the release notes page where you can download this version.

Q: I still have a question, where can I go for help?

If you question wasn't answered above or you need clarification, please post on the Elements forum, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Overview

The ElementsCMS class manages the base path for content storage and provides methods to create collections, load items, and manage configuration options.

Constructor

__construct(string $basePath, array $options = [])

Creates a new instance of ElementsCMS.Parameters:

• $basePath (string): The base path for the CMS content storage

• $options (array, optional): Additional configuration options for the CMS

$cms = new ElementsCMS('/path/to/content', ['debug' => true]);

Static Methods

make(string $basePath, array $options = []): ElementsCMS

Static factory method that creates a new instance of ElementsCMS.Parameters:

• $basePath (string): The base path for the CMS content storage

• $options (array, optional): Additional configuration options for the CMS

Returns: ElementsCMS instance

$cms = ElementsCMS::make('/path/to/cms_data');

Configuration Methods

basePath(): string

Returns: The base path as a string

$path = $cms->basePath(); // Returns '/path/to/content'

options(): array

Returns: Array of all options

$allOptions = $cms->options();

option(string $key, $default = null): mixed

Returns: The option value or default value

Parameters:

• $key (string): The option key to retrieve

• $default (mixed, optional): Default value returned if the option is not set

$debug = $cms->option('debug', false);
$theme = $cms->option('theme', 'default');

setOption(string $key, $value): void

Sets an option value.

• $key (string): The option key to set

• $value (mixed): The value to set

$cms->setOption('debug', true);
$cms->setOption('cache_enabled', false);

Content Management Methods

collection(string $path, array $options = []): ElementsCMSCollection

Creates a new collection instance.Parameters:

• $path (string): The path for the collection (relative to base path)

• $options (array, optional): Additional options for the collection

Returns: ElementsCMSCollection instance

$articles = $cms->collection('articles', ['sort' => 'date']);
$projects = $cms->collection('projects');

item(string $collectionPath, string $slug): ?ElementsCMSItem

Loads a specific item from a collection.Parameters:

• $collectionPath (string): The path of the collection

• $slug (string): The slug/filename of the item (without .md extension)

Returns: ElementsCMSItem instance or null if not found

$blogPost = $cms->item('blog', 'my-first-post');
$aboutPage = $cms->item('pages', 'about');

Usage Examples

Basic Setup

<?php
require_once '/path/to/ElementsCMS.php';

$cms = ElementsCMS::make(
    '/var/www/cms_data',
    ['debug' => true, 'cache_ttl' => 3600]
);

Working with Collections

// Create a blog collection
$blog = $cms->collection('blog', ['sort' => 'date_desc']);

// Create a pages collection
$pages = $cms->collection('pages');

Loading Individual Items

// Load a specific blog post
$post = $cms->item('blog/introduction-to-cms');

// Load a page
$homepage = $cms->item('pages/home');

Managing Configuration

// Get configuration
$debugMode = $cms->option('debug', false);
$cacheEnabled = $cms->option('cache_enabled', true);

// Set configuration
$cms->setOption('theme', 'custom');
$cms->setOption('max_items_per_page', 10);

Dependencies

This class requires the following files:

• ElementsCMSCollection.php

• ElementsCMSItem.php

Make sure these files are available in the same directory as the ElementsCMS class.

File Structure

The CMS expects content to be organized in the following structure:

• cms-base-path/

  • collection-name/

    • item-slug.md

    • another-item.md

  • another-collection/

    • item1.md

    • item2.md

Items must be in Markdown files (.md extension) within collection directories.

The Elements CMS gives you full control over how your content is displayed by supporting the Twig templating language — a fast, secure, and flexible engine widely used in modern content systems.

With Twig, you can dynamically output content, apply filters, and build custom logic directly into your website.

Item Data

Inside of a Collection, Collection Item, and Static Item component you have access to the following data.

Collection Pagination

This object, combined with Twig, will allow you to build custom pagination to suite your project's needs.

Twig Filter Examples

For example, if you need to ensure your title is uppercased you could append a pipe and upper text to the item.title tag, like this:

{{item.title}} 

Outputs: Hello world!

{{item.title|upper}}

Outputs: HELLO WORLD!

Useful Resources

• Twig Docs

• Twig Filters

• Twig Playground

• PHP Date Functions

The Image component in Elements allows you to easily add and display images (in JPG or PNG formats) on your website. This versatile component supports a wide range of customization options, making it ideal for showcasing visuals in a clean, responsive, and accessible way.

Supported Image Types

• JPG

• PNG

The Image Component does not support SVG's, instead you should use the SVG Component.

Lightbox

A simple Lightbox feature can be enabled under the Lightbox setting in the Image Component.

Image Protection

Basic image protection can be applied using the Image Protection option under the Image properties.

A short note about Why “Image Protection” Isn’t Foolproof on the Web

It’s a common request: protect images on a website from being downloaded or copied. While blocking right-click can deter casual users, it’s important to understand that it doesn’t truly secure your images. Web browsers inherently download all page assets—including images—so they can display them. This means anyone with basic knowledge of developer tools or access to the browser’s cache can still retrieve your images.

Instead of relying on “image protection,” consider watermarking your images or ensuring they’re resized and optimized for the web. This approach makes them less valuable for unauthorized use while still serving their purpose on your site.

The Form Component is a flexible and powerful solution for sending form submissions either to your own email server or via a webhook.

Server Requirements

The Form Component in Elements requires PHP 8.1 or newer.

PHP Server Check

We recommend PHP 8.4 or later for best performance, but the minimum supported version is 8.1.

To check which PHP version your server is using, simply append ?apicheck to the URL of any page containing a Form. For example:

my-website.com/contact/?apicheck

✅ Form Compatibility & Gotchas Checklist

Before going live with your form, make sure you’ve covered the following essentials. These common issues can prevent form submissions from working correctly, so it’s worth double-checking everything below:

• Forms must be published to a live server. They won’t function when previewed locally.

• Your web server must be running PHP 8.1 or newer. We recommend PHP 8.4 or later where possible.

• Sending multiple attachments? Be sure to enable the “multiple” toggle in the Attachment Component settings.

• Using the reply-to feature? The field name for your email input must be exactly email (all lowercase) for Elements to set the reply-to address properly.

• Avoid special characters in field names. Stick to letters, numbers, and hyphens. Avoid spaces, symbols, or punctuation in form field names as they may not be parsed correctly on the server.

• Use the Error and Success components. These components are optional. However, without them, users won’t see feedback after submitting the form. Include both for a complete user experience.

Form Components

To function correctly, the following Components must be placed inside a Form Component wrapper.

Form Setup

To recive emails via the Form Component you will need to enter your Email server details. Here’s a breakdown of what each field means and what you’ll need to configure to make it work properly.

Reply-to Address

In order for Elements to correctly set the “reply-to” header in the outgoing email, the form field name must be set to email, all lowercase.

Form Webhooks

A webhook allows your form submissions to be sent directly to another service, like a database, CRM, or automation tool without needing to check emails or manually process the data. By sending form data to a webhook, you can trigger workflows in Zapier, Make, or Pipedream, making it easy to do the following (and so much more):

• Add a new lead to Airtable or Google Sheets

• Send a follow-up email through Mailchimp or ConvertKit

• Notify your team in Slack or Discord

• Create support tickets in Zendesk or Trello

There's really no limit to what you can do with the new webhooks feature. Whether you’re building a customer support system, a lead capture form, or a dynamic survey that feeds into a database, webhooks unlock powerful automation and customization that email simply can’t match.

Webhooks and Attachments

If you are using an attachment in your form, only the first attached file will be sent via the WebHook. Multiple files are supported when sending forms via email.

Most webhook endpoints expect a single file attachment, typically for straightforward processing, like saving it to cloud storage or forwarding it via email. Supporting multiple files would require a more complex multipart or array-based structure, which many webhook endpoints don’t handle out of the box.

Testing Webhooks Locally

Webhook submissions require a server environment, so once you publish the page to a server—either a remote server or a local one—you should find the submission works as expected.

If you want to test everything locally, you’ll need to set up a local web server on your Mac. We recommend ServBay for this.

Here’s a quick guide:

1. Install ServBay

2. Publish your Elements site to a local folder

3. In ServBay, create a new site and point the root directory to your published folder

4. Open the site in your browser through ServBay for full local testing—including Forms and webhooks

The Text Component is an ideal choice for a wide range of text elements, from headings and taglines to smaller text areas. It provides flexibility for styling text to suit various design needs, making it perfect for creating visually impactful headings, standout taglines, and highlighted phrases.

With the Text Component, you can easily create bold, eye-catching headings enhanced by background images, gradients, or color overlays, adding depth and style to your design. The component’s versatility means it works seamlessly in both minimal and complex layouts, allowing you to design text elements that grab attention without overpowering your overall look.

Whether you’re looking to create subtle text accents or prominent, styled headers, the Text Component has you covered.

Gettings Started with Text Compotnent

The following video will teach you the basics on using the Text Component.

How to Make Your Text Responsive

The following video will show you how to make your text resposive.

Applying Tailwind CSS Classes to Text

This is an advaced feature that allows you to apply Tailwind CSS Classes to any of your text in the Text Component.

Example Tailwind Classes for Text

Below we have included a few sample classes that were featured int he video. To learn more you can browse the Tailwind CSS Docs.

blur-sm 

hover:blur-sm transition

hover:line-through

inline-block rotate-[2deg]

underline decoration-wavy underline-offset-[10px]

General

Under the General settings in the inspector you'll find options to style the entire block of text.

Tag

The Tag helps create a semantic structure so search engines understand the hierarchy and relationship of your content. For example, the main heading on the page choose would be "Heading 1", your body text would be set "Paragraph".

Text Align

Align your text, left, center and right. You may need to also set the aligment of the parent item to get the desired alignment.

Font

Choose a font family, these are managed by the Theme Studio.

Size:

Choose a text size, these are managed by the Theme Studio.

Text styles include size, line height, letter spacing, and weight. You can override some of these settings inline by choosing the "Override" option.

Weight:

Set the weight of your text.

Spacing:

Set the spacing of the text.

Line Hight:

Set the line height of the text.

Italic:

Make the text italic.

Text Shadow:

Choose a shadow for yoru text, these are managed by the Theme Studio.

Case:

Choose a shadow for yoru text, these are managed by the Theme Studio.

Transform:

Choose from None, Uppercase, Lowercase, and Capitalise.

Underline:

Choose from None, Underline, Overline, and Line Through.

Color

Choose between colour, background image, and gradient for your text. Each different type of style has a set of sub options.

• Color: Choose a solid colour from the theme studio, also supports opacity.

• Image: Choose an image, along with positioning, sizing, and repeat.

• Gradient: Supports up to 3 colours, set position and oapcity of each colour independently.

Links

Default and HOver

The sizing option provides options for setting fixed widths, percentage-based widths, viewport-based widths, and even fractional widths to ensure flexibility and precision in responsive design.

Width

The width setting offers a comprehensive range of options that make it easy to control the width of elements in your design.

Height

The height setting offers a comprehensive range of options that make it easy to control the height of elements in your design.

Min & Max Settings

In Elements the min-width and max-width settings provide control over the minimum and maximum width of elements, allowing you to set constraints on how wide an element can grow or shrink. These settings are especially useful for responsive design, as they help maintain readability and layout consistency across different screen sizes.

Why Use Min-Width and Max-Width?

1. Content Readability: Setting maximum widths prevents text from stretching too wide, which enhances readability, especially on larger screens.

2. Responsive Design: Min and max-widths help maintain an adaptable layout by controlling how elements respond to different screen sizes.

3. Layout Constraints: Min-widths prevent elements from collapsing too small, while max-widths keep elements from overflowing their containers, ensuring a balanced and visually consistent design.

Use min-width and max-width settings when you need control over element sizes to ensure responsive, readable, and user-friendly layouts across various screen sizes.

Using Custom CSS Values

A lot of Components support a “custom sizing” option for you to specify the exact size of an element, this can be things like width, height, and placement.

When adding a value into the custom size box, it’s useful to remember that anything native css supports, Elements supports! So values like vh, px, rem, %, and css maths 2 should all work as expected.

Here's some examples:

• 250px - Make the width (or hight) 250px wide.

• calc(100vw-20px) - 100% viewport width - 20px.

• 100vw - 100% of the viewport width.

• 80vh - 80% of the viewport height.

Sizing UI in Elements

The Transitions settings apply to the Filter, Effect, and Transform sections on the same Component. Transition settings contol the the timing, animation curve and delay when transitioning (or animating) an object between two states.

Apply to

The Apply to dropdown allows you to specify the values of a component the transition will apply to. In most cases you'll want this set to "All".

• All - Apply a transition to all values.

• None - Don't apply a transtion (similar to seeing the duration value to 0).

• Most Common - Applies transitions to color, background-color, border-color, text-decoration-color, fill, stroke, opacity, box-shadow, transform, filter, backdrop-filter.

• Colours - Only apply transition to colours.

• Opacity - Only apply transition to the opacity.

• Shadows - Only apply transition to the shadows.

• Transforms - Only apply transition to the Transform values.

Function

In CSS animations, the terms Linear, Ease In, Ease Out, and Ease-in-out refer to different types of timing functions that control the speed of an animation over time.

• Custom - See Custom Timing Function (below)

• Linear - The animation progresses at a constant speed from start to finish.

• Ease In - The animation starts slowly and then speeds up as it progresses.

• Ease Out - The animation starts quickly and then slows down as it finishes.

• Ease-in-out - The animation starts slowly, speeds up, and then slows down again before finishing.

Custom Timing Functions

The x1, y1, x2, and y2 values used to create custom timing functions using a cubic-bezier() curve for animations.

The cubic-bezier curve essentially determines the rate of change over time of the animation. It allows you to create custom easing effects that can behave in ways that predefined ones like linear, ease-in, ease-out, or ease-in-out cannot.

x1, x2: Control the horizontal axis, which represents time. These values must be between 0 and 1, where 0 is the start of the animation and 1 is the end.

y1, y2: Control the vertical axis, which represents the progress of the animation (i.e., how far along the element is in its transformation or movement). These values can go below 0 or above 1 to create exaggerated effects.

Example Animation Curves

The following animation starts very quickly, with almost no easing at the beginning, very fast through the middle section and ends abruptly. These values are the default values for the custom timing control.

0.95,0.05,0.795,0.035

The following animation accelerates towards the end point, overshoots the final position, and comes back to settle into its final state.

0.21,1,1,1.53

There are tools online like Cubic-Bezier.com that let you visually manipulate and experiment with the cubic-bezier function to create custom easing effects, where you can adjust the control points and immediately see the animation effect on a graph.

Duration

Set the duration for the transition animation in milliseconds, for example setting a value of 500, would result in the transition taking 0.5 seconds to complete. Setting the value to 1,000 would make the transition taking 1 second to complete.

Delay

Set the delay of the transition start in milliseconds, for example setting a value of 500, would result in a delay of 0.5 seconds before the animation will start. Setting the value to 1,000 would set a delay of 1 second before the animation starts.

Transitions UI in Elements

Choose between font name, font resources, and Google fonts.

Custom Fonts

Elements includes a built-in Font Manager that lets you add your own local web fonts. It supports common formats like .woff, .woff2, and .ttf, making it easy to use custom typography in your designs.

For best browser support and performance, custom fonts should be provided in WOFF2 format. WOFF (the Web Open Font Format) is a web font format developed by Mozilla, Type Supply, LettError, and other organizations.

Recommended formats (in order of preference):

1. WOFF2 – Most modern and efficient format (used by all modern browsers).

2. WOFF - Good option when also supporting older browsers.

3. TTF - Mostly for legacy or specific use cases (not recommended for production due to larger size and weaker compression).

Adding Custom Fonts

Add your font files to the resources area in Elements, use the media inspector to define a weight (and width if required) for each of the font files.

Add a new Custom Font in the Theme Studio, give it a name, and set the Kind to "Font Resources"

Next, drag each font file individually from the resources area of your website into the theme studio window.

If you want to control the scroll timing (and other options such as easing) when scrolling to an anchor then you can use the Smooth Scroll js library.

To add Smooth Scroll to yoru project, put the following in your project’s Template, just before the closing </head> tag.

  <!-- Load the Smooth Scroll library -->
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cferdinandi/smooth-scroll@15/dist/smooth-scroll.polyfills.min.js"></script>

  <!-- Initialize Smooth Scroll -->
  <script>
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {
      var scroll = new SmoothScroll('a[href*="#"]', {
        speed: 1000
      });
    });
  </script>

Note the speed option in the docs say this:

[speed] is a number representing the amount of time in milliseconds that it should take to scroll 1000px. Scroll distances shorter than that will take less time, and scroll distances longer than that will take more time. The default is 300ms.

Download Elements

First, you'll need to . When the download is complete double-click to unzip the file, then move Elements.app to your Applications Folder.

System Requirements

In order to run Elements you will need to meet the minimum requirements:

• Requires macOS 13 Ventura or newer.

• Apple Silicon or Intel based Mac.

Elements is built to work on all modern macs, so long as they meet the minimum requirements you'll be good to go.

Got Questions?

Should you have any questions about installation or registration you can post on the and someone from the team will get right back to you.

Can't get your website online or updated. Don't worry. 99% of the time the issue is due to incorrect setup of publishing details. This is due to the fact that everything needs to be entered 100% correctly otherwise publishing fails. By far the most common cause of publishing issues is that the credentials entered are not accurate. It’s incredibly important that you double-check the details you’ve entered. To view your configured publishing details, choose: File > Publishing Settings (Command-K) or choose the Publishing item under Settings in the sidebar. Check that all the fields are entered correctly: Server Address, Username, Password, Path, etc. Entering an incorrect Path is the most common cause of publishing problems in RapidWeaver. Some common site paths may include:

• /

• httpdocs/

• www/

• public_html/

You can always use the “Browse” button inside the publishing settings to pick the correct path on your server.

The list above is by no means an exhaustive list as paths vary greatly between different hosts, so if you’re still experiencing issues, please consult your web host’s online help to determine the Path required to upload to the correct folder. Sometimes, the Path may be known as the “Upload Folder”. You may also want to contact your web host directly and ensure that they have not made any recent changes to the server which may affect your settings and that you’ve not run out of webspace. Done that and still no luck? try this next:

Tweak Server Configurations

RapidWeaver has a number of options to configure publishing - particularly if you’re using FTPS uploading. Please check what your server is expecting, some hosting providers require specific settings. Due to the nature of how FTP works, RapidWeaver cannot reliably detect the correct settings that you should use. If in doubt email your hosting company. If you think it's all set up correctly, try this next:

Concurrent Connection Limit

If your host limits the number of connections that can be made to your server, you can set RapidWeaver to use a smaller number of connections when publishing. If in doubt set this to 1. To do this, open RapidWeaver’s Preferences window, and adjust the slider for the Maximum Concurrent Uploads to 1 before attempting to publish your project once again. If that didn't help, it's time to try something completely different:

Switch from FTP to SFTP

If you're having issues publishing via FTP, we recommend publishing via SFTP as this is often more reliable (and secure).

Contact your hosting company to check your SFTP details as they can often be slightly different to your FTP details.

Use a Standalone FTP Client

If you have no luck publishing inside RapidWeaver, we recommend entering your details into a third-party client to verify they work and are correct. Transmit and Cyberduck are both great FTP clients and can be downloaded freely for this test. If you're still having issues logging into your server with a third-party client it means your login credentials are incorrect. Please contact your hosting company to verify your details. If you successfully log in to your server with a third-party client, you can then export your site to a local folder with RapidWeaver, and then upload it directly using an FTP client as a temporary workaround. Now that's working, let's jump back over to RapidWeaver to try and resolve the upload issue:

Re-add your publishing details

If you have verified your publishing credentials are correct in another FTP app and it's still not working inside RapidWeaver please delete your publishing destination, and re-add a new publishing destination. By doing this you ensure all the details are new and verified. If you're super technical and can log into your hosting cPanel, you could try setting up a new FTP accountant see if that works. If this means nothing to you, you can safely ignore this and move on to the next troubleshooting step.

Check server space

This issue is surprisingly common, especially if you're publishing multiple websites to the same server. By default, RapidWeaver will backup your project file to the server, and this can easily build up over time and you can run out of server disk space. If you've run out of server disk space RapidWeaver will give the following error: “Couldn't upload to your FTP server” and if you click on the “i” to get more info it may say “Transferred a partial file” or “Operation was aborted by an application callback”. If you're seeing these errors, check how much space you're using on your server, and check how much you've allocated by logging into your hosting provider. You can safely delete some of the older RW backup files to make room for new uploads. If in doubt you can always email your hosting provider and ask how much space you're using and how much you have available. Once you have enough space, you should be able to resume updates to your website.

Changes aren't visible on Website

Use the File menu’s Re-Publish All Files option to re-upload your site. It may be that some files are missing and were not uploaded. You may also want to remove the history and browsing data in your web browser. Sometimes web browsers can display older cached data.

Some hosts may require you to use a path that begins with a forward slash (which has a special meaning to a web server). Unless you explicitly state that your path should start with a forward slash, you should not attempt to use a path with a forward slash - otherwise, you may well run into publishing difficulties.

Still need help publishing?

RapidWeaver can also be configured to produce a more in-depth report about publishing that the Realmac Software support team can use to identify potential problems. First of all open RapidWeaver’s preferences (Cmd,) and select the Publishing preferences pane. Make sure that the Enable Upload Logging option is checked.

• Quit RapidWeaver.

• Re-open your project in RapidWeaver.

• Attempt to republish your RapidWeaver project by choosing File>Re-Publish All Files.

• If the publishing feature returns an error, hit the “Send Upload Logs” button.

• It will then attempt to generate an email with the publishing logs, enter some details about your issue, and hit send!

Error Messages

Exporting If you’re seeing an error message when exporting your site, this may mean that there’s a problem with either an addon or a resource in your project. If an error message appears consistently when exporting a particular page, take a look at the page - are there any resources missing, or a particular addon that may be causing a problem?

Contacting Realmac Software

When contacting Realmac Software, please include as much detail as possible. Please also use the Help menu’s Copy Support Logs. Please be sure to include the following details in your message:

• Who are you hosting your website with?

• Which version of RapidWeaver are you using? What version of macOS is running on your Mac?

• How large is your RapidWeaver project file?

• Which, if any, third-party addons are you using with your project? Please include any third-party themes.

• Are you seeing an error message when publishing? Please include the full text of the error or, ideally, a screenshot.

We aim to reply to all messages within 2 business days. We know it's frustrating not being able to publish, but do remember we're only human and we do our best to help in what can be a very complex issue.

Constructor

__construct(ElementsCMS $cms, string $path, array $options = [])

Creates a new collection instance.

• $cms (ElementsCMS): The CMS instance.

• $path (string): Path to the collection (folder).

• $options (array): Additional options for the collection.

Instance Methods

with(string ...$relations): self

Add relations to be eager-loaded for all items in the collection.

• $relations (string ...): One or more relation names.

• Returns: $this (for chaining)

filter(array $criteria = []): self

Filter items in the collection by key/value pairs.

• $criteria (array): Associative array of criteria (e.g., ['status' => 'published'])

• Returns: $this (for chaining)

filterWith(callable $callback): self

Filter items in the collection using a custom callback.

• $callback (callable): Function that receives an item and returns true to keep, false to exclude.

• Returns: $this (for chaining)

orderBy(string $field, string $direction = 'desc'): self

Order the collection by a specified field.

• $field (string): Field name to order by.

• $direction (string): 'asc' or 'desc' (default: 'desc')

• Returns: $this (for chaining)

whereDate(string $field, string $operator, string $date): self

Filter items by date field using a comparison operator.

• $field (string): Date field to compare (e.g., 'published_date')

• $operator (string): Comparison operator (e.g., '>=', '==', '<')

• $date (string): Date value for comparison.

• Returns: $this (for chaining)

paginate(int $page = 1, int $perPage = 10): array

Paginate the collection.

• $page (int): Page number (default: 1)

• $perPage (int): Items per page (default: 10)

• Returns: array — Paginated results, typically including items, total, page, per_page, etc.

getCollection(): LaravelCollection

Returns the underlying Laravel collection of items.

• Returns: Illuminate\Support\Collection of ElementsCMSItem objects.

findBySlug(string $slug): ?ElementsCMSItem

Find an item in the collection by its slug.

• $slug (string): The slug to search for.

• Returns: ElementsCMSItem|null

search(string $query): array

Search the collection items by query string.

• $query (string): The search term.

• Returns: array — Array of matching ElementsCMSItem objects.

Usage Example

$collection = new ElementsCMSCollection($cms, 'posts', [
    'expectDates' => true
]);

// Filter, order, and paginate items
$results = $collection
    ->filter(['status' => 'published'])
    ->orderBy('published_date', 'desc')
    ->paginate(1, 10);

// Find a specific item by slug
$item = $collection->findBySlug('hello-world');

// Search items
$matches = $collection->search('static site generator');

The Layout controls help you manage the overall layout and positioning of elements within a webpage. These controls include controls for handling display properties, positioning, z-index, overflow, visibility, and more.

General

General layout settings for Position, Z-index, and Inset.

Position

The Position controls how an element is placed in the document and how it interacts with its surrounding elements. These utilities correspond to standard CSS positioning properties like static, relative, absolute, fixed, and sticky. See Tailwind CSS Position for more details.

Z-Index

The z-index controls the stack order of elements on the page and is an important CSS property in web design. When multiple elements overlap, the z-index determines which element appears on top of the others. See Tailwind CSS Z-Index for more details.

Type (Inset)

The Inset property is used to control the positioning of an element relative to its nearest positioned ancestor. See Tailwind CSS Top / Right / Bottom / Left for more details.

Advanced

Advanced layout settings for Overflow, Isolation, and Visibility.

Overflow

Controls how an element handles content that is too large for the container. See Tailwind CSS Overflow for more details.

Isolation

In complex layouts, different elements may interact with each other in ways that are not always predictable, especially when dealing with z-index. Using isolate helps create a new stacking context for an element, effectively “isolating” it from the outside world, preventing unexpected overlaps or stacking behavior. See Tailwind CSS Isolation for more details.

Visibility

Controls the visibility of an element on the page. See Tailwind CSS Visibility for more details. Please note: The Visibility control was updated Janury 2025, so the video is slightly out of date.

Layout UI in Elements

If you know a bit of HTML you can create your own custom Components for use in your projects. These can be anything from a simple html snippet to a fully blown Component with custom UI controls. The possibilities of what you can create are endless!

A few things to note before you get started:

1. No external code editor is required, you can build everything inside of RapidWeaver Elements.

2. Custom Components are stored in the project they were created in.

3. Custom Components have full access to the Elements Language (although they cannot include extra files like an external Element Pack can).

4. To ensure compatibility with Elements you should use Tailwind CSS classes when writting your Template HTML.

5. Custom Components can easily be converted into an encrpyted third-party component that can be distributed and sold via the Elements platform.

Creating a Custom Component

Creating a Custom Component in Elements is the easiest and fastest way to get started with exploring the Elements API. Custom Components can eaily be migrated to distributable Element Packs at a later date.

Adding Editable Content Areas

Using the following tags enable editable areas with the page. No setup of configuration in the properties file is required.

Replace any text in the html template to make it editable within the page.

@text("heading")

Here's a real world example of using the code to make the a heading editable.

<h1 class="text-lg text-gray-300 font-heading">@text("heading")</h1>
<p class="text-sm text-slate-300/70">Build the website of your dreams.</p>

You can also set a default value for an editable text areas, so that when your custom component is dropped into a page it will be populated with a defulat value. In the example below, it would be "Hello World!".

@text("heading", default: "Hello World!")

A dropzones is an area within an HTML template where existing component can be added.

@dropzone("extraItems")

Can also be written like this.

@dropzone(name: "content")

You can also add a title for the Dropzone, this will be shown in the Node Browser.

@dropzone("zone-1", title: "Zone 1")

Going Further with the Elements API

Using the above tags inside of Custom Components only scratch the surface of what's possible, you can also use the Elements API inside of your Custom Components.

If you're a developer you can take things even further by creating distributable (and sellable) Element Packs for RapidWeaver Elements. You can learn more about Element Packs in the Elements Pack section of this manual.

Dev Diary Videos for Custom Elements

The following videos will show you how to create Custom Elements. The following videos were recorded with a development version of Elements so the feature(s) available now may differ slightly to those in the video. View the Tutorial playlist on YouTube for more videos.

SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics) have become a go-to choice for web design because they offer incredible flexibility and quality. Unlike traditional image formats like JPEG or PNG, SVGs are vector-based, meaning they’re made up of lines and shapes rather than pixels. This makes them infinitely scalable without losing quality, so they look sharp on any screen size or resolution, from small mobile devices to large desktop monitors.

Here are a few reasons why SVGs are especially useful on websites:

1. Crisp at Any Size: SVGs maintain perfect clarity when resized, ensuring icons, logos, and illustrations always appear sharp and professional.

2. Small File Size: SVGs are typically smaller than high-resolution images, which helps websites load faster. Their code-based structure allows them to be easily optimized, minimizing file size and improving performance.

3. Easy to Style: SVGs can be styled directly with CSS, making them easy to fit in with the colours and style of your website.

SVG Controls

SVG

To add an SVG, drop it from the Finder (or Resources) area into the Dropwell.

Fill

To set a fill colour on an SVG it needs to be setup correctly to support fill colours.

Stroke

To set a stroke colour on an SVG it needs to be setup correctly to support stroke colours.

How to "cleanup" SVG's with Sketch

SVG Cleanup with Sketch App on the Elements Forum provides a good overview and discussion on the best way to get your SVG's ready for use in Elements.

You can download Sketch App here, and the SVGO plugin here.

Q&A on fixing SVG's for display on a website.

Getting SVG's to display correctly is a bit of a dark art, but with a bit of tinkering you'll be able to modify them to work and look great on the web and in Elements.

Q: Why doesn't the Fill or Stroke colour work as expected?

A: SVG images don’t always respond as expected to CSS styles for a few reasons, and it’s a common stumbling block. Here’s a quick rundown on why this happens and how to get more reliable control over your SVGs in RapidWeaver Elements…

SVG elements have their own styling properties, like fill and stroke, which can sometimes conflict with CSS styles. If these attributes are set within the SVG code itself, they can override Colours and Styles from Elements.

For scalable, theme-compatible SVGs, you can set the fill and stroke attributes to currentColor within the SVG file. This approach allows Elements to set SVG color for the stroke or Fill.

Set fill="currentColor" within your SVGs if you want Elements to set the colour of the stroke or fill. Depending on how the SVG is coded, this might not work, if that is the case, you should try removing fill="currentColor" from yoru SVG.

Q: How do I change the size of an SVG?

A: Use the Sizing settings in the component inspector, by default this is set to use a Theme Studio value. Custom CSS values can also be used to size the SVG.

Q: Why doesn't the SVG change size when I adjust the sizing in Elements?

A: Remove the height and width values in the SVG file, see screenshot below for an example.

Q: Where can I find SVG Icons for use in Elements?

A: Tabler Icons has over 5,650 free SVG icons, they are all perfect for use on your Elements websites. Download any of the icons from there and remove the width and height code (as above), and they are ready to use in your project. The icons from Tabler are setup to use the stroke attribute. See the video below for a quick overview of how this works in practice. Also, see our list above.

Free SVG Icon Libraries

All of the following icon libraries work well Elements, if you require them to be resiable in Elements you'll need to remove the Height and Width values from the code before importing.

• https://lucide.dev, open-source library, over 1000+ svg icons.

• https://tabler.io/icons, over 5,650 free SVG icons.

• https://feathericons.com, simply beautiful open source icons

• https://phosphoricons.com, outline, filled, duotone and more.

• https://svgl.app, a beautiful library of company SVG logos.

• https://heroicons.com, hand-crafted SVG icons, by the makers of Tailwind CSS (you'll need to copy and paste the code into a file and save it with a .svg extension before adding to Elements).

• Google Material Symbol Icons.

Further Reading

• Practical SVG by Chris Coyier

Download Elements

First, you'll need to Download Elements. When the download is complete double-click to unzip the file, then move Elements.app to your Applications Folder.

An Introduction to the Elements Interface

While the following video doesn’t cover every feature available in Elements, it offers a clear, high-level overview of the app’s layout and workflow. You’ll get a feel for how to add components to a page, how the editing interface is organized, and how to start building a website.

Think of this video as a quick tour to help you get comfortable with the basics. Once you’ve watched it, you’ll be ready to dive deeper and explore all the powerful options Elements has to offer.

Ready-Made Projects to Explore and Use

The Elements Marketplace offers a selection of free pre-built Projects that are perfect for getting your website up and running quickly. Whether you want to launch something fast or learn by exploring how others have built their pages, these Projects are a great way to dive in and get inspired.

Optimise Media before import into Elements

It’s always a good idea to prepare and optimize your media for the web before importing it, especially large files like videos, audio, and high-res images. Uncompressed or oversized files can quickly inflate your project size and slow things down, both in the app and for your site visitors.

In general, we'd recommend:

• Compressing images using tools like Squash, TinyPNG or ImageOptim.

• Optimizing videos for the web using formats like MP4 (H.264) and reducing resolution/bitrate where possible.

• Hosting larger files externally (videos, audio, PDFs, etc.) and linking to them using URLs. That keeps your project lightweight and more manageable in the long run.

Need Website Hosting?

Elements works with almost any host, but if you’re still deciding on a hosting provider, and are looking for a company that knows Elements, then we recommend Chillidog Hosting. They are the official hosting partner of Realmac Software. Every aspect of Chillidog’s hosting is built to ensure absolute compatibility with Elements, the friendly support staff at Chillidog are all familiar with Elements.

Best of all, we have worked closely to ensure you can set up your publishing details inside of Elements with a single click from your Chillidog dashboard!

Server Requirements

The CMS Components in Elements require PHP 8.x or newer. You must ensure all CMS related pages use a .php extension.

Wrapper Components

These components are used as wrappers, or container, components. You should place other components inside of these. Components placed inside these components will gain access to CMS data.

Child Components

These components should be placed inside the wrapper components. These components have access to CMS data, such as as the title, date, author, body, and so on.

File and Folder Setup

The built-in CMS system in Element requires a specific file and folder setup to work. You must ensure all blog related pages use a .php extension.

Content

Content should be stored as Markdown down files inside a dedicated folder.

• cms

  • posts

    • 2025-04-18-my-first-post.md

    • 2025-04-19-another-blog-post.md

The structure for the Markdown file:

Authors

You can create additional metadata about Authors by organizing a folder structure with supplementary markdown files. In this example, the authors folder is placed at the same level as the "posts" folder.

• cms

  • posts

  • authors

    • steve.md

    • jasmin.md

The structure for the Authors Markdown file:

RSS Feed

Any page with a CMS collection can provide an RSS feed. Simply append ?format=rss to the end of the URL, like this yourwebsite.com/blog/?format=rss .

Advanced

A $post array containing the post's information is available to any component placed inside a Collection or Item component.

_{Clean URL Redirection & Routing with .htaccess}

This guide explains how to use Apache’s .htaccess to:

1. Redirect URLs like /post/?slug=some-post to /post/some-post/

2. Internally rewrite /post/some-post/ to /post/index.php?slug=some-post

3. Support both single-route and multi-route setups

Option 1: Single Route (e.g. /post/ only)

Use this if you’re only applying the redirect/rewrite logic to one route like /post/

.htaccess Example:

How it works:

Redirect Rule (Human-Friendly URLs)

• Matches incoming requests like /post/?slug=some-post

• %{THE_REQUEST} ensures it only triggers on direct browser requests, not rewrites

• Redirects to: /post/some-post/ using captured value %1

Rewrite Rule (Internal Routing)

• Matches URLs like /post/some-post/

• Internally rewrites to index.php?slug=some-post

• Uses !-f and !-d checks to avoid rewriting actual files or directories

• QSA preserves any additional query parameters (like UTM tags)

Option 2: Multi-Route Support (e.g. /post/, /notes/, /blog/, etc.)

Use this if you want the same functionality across multiple sections without duplicating rules.

.htaccess Example:

How it works:

Redirect Rule (Dynamic Section Matching)

• Matches /something/?slug=some-slug

• ([^/?]+) captures the section name (e.g., post, notes)

• ([^&\s]+) captures the slug

• Redirects to /section/slug/

Rewrite Rule (Flexible Routing)

• Matches /section/slug/

• Internally rewrites to /section/index.php?slug=slug

• Works for any folder that uses index.php to handle dynamic slugs

Example Requests:

Notes and Best Practices

• Place .htaccess in your site root, unless you’re scoping it to a subfolder.

• Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled on your Apache server.

• Use [R=301,L] for permanent redirects (cached by browsers).

• The QSA flag (Query String Append) ensures extra parameters aren’t lost.

• Ensure your index.php files handle $_GET['slug'] properly.

Debugging Tips

• If you see errors like AH00124: Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects, it likely means you are rewriting the same request repeatedly.

• Use RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f and !-d to prevent rewriting actual files or folders.