Upgrading to Sandvox 2: pt. 1
Sandvox 2 is a great piece of work and I strongly suggest everybody to upgrade, particularly now that you can enjoy a $10 discount (it will last only ten days, so hurry up). Nevertheless, any major upgrade may produce some unexpected results and sometimes a few issues. If this doesn’t happen, maybe the upgrade wasn’t so relevant…
I myself am exploring all the new features of our favourite app (this is why I will take my time to release a brand new design and I’m focusing now just on compatibility). I think it could be a good idea to share some thoughts and experiences during my discovery time.
Let’s start from the beginning: in other words, from what you should do every time you proceed to a major upgrade of an application which is important for your business or for you everyday life. And the beginning is: backup.
- If you use Time Machine, you’re already ok. If you want to revert, just navigate back in time and restore your files. If you don’t use Time Machine, well… do it! It saved my life many, many times. Anyway, if don’t want to mess with TM, you can still follow these instructions.
- Keep a backup of your Sandvox 1 application. I usually compress the app and keep it in a folder called “My Archive” inside my ~/Document folder. While zipped, it will be available if necessary, but it won’t be recognized by the OS and it will not be launched by mistake. If you prefer, though, the two versions can coexist (but rename the old one “Sandvox 1″ otherwise it’s easy to get confused).
- Now copy your Sandvox files in a folder called “Old Sandvox Sites” and put this folder away too. Again, you can compress this folder, you’re not going to need it if everything goes fine.
- I always suggest to keep a backup copy of the designs you buy from BehindTheRabbit. If you don’t, this is the right time to do it. If you’ve lost them, look in ~/Library/Application Support/Sandvox. There they are!
- Export a copy of your websites somewhere and keep it too: it’s your last “snapshot” of a Sandvox 1 website and the code will be a little different with Sandvox 2. This is going to be extremely useful if some particular design works weirdly, because you’ll let the developer compare the two versions easily. These, again, can be zipped.
Now you can work safely with Sandvox 2. If the conversion of your files doesn’t convince you, you can switch back. If something looks weird, you can compare the old and the new version and help the developer to find the bug.
Thank You dear Cristiano,
this instructions will help to avoid some desasters!
I sent a Tweet to Karelia (maybe I will send an email too) and I wrote them why they have not create a Sandvox2 folder in ~/Library/Application Support/ . If they had done this, no more workarounds were necessary.
Best,
Bernd
Yes Bernd, I read your tweet and it makes sense; I think that this could be difficult to implement though because there are designs that support Sandvox 1.6, designs that need at least Sandvox 2 and designs that support both!
Anyway, I make abundant use of labels in these cases (and I install things manually): blue is for archived items, yellow for the current ones, purple for the ones you need to watch… and if there’s no label presumably it wasn’t me to put that file there…
Buona sera Cristiano,
yesterday I read the developer instructions for Sandvox. Especially the parts of the differences of the css templates for both versions were interesting…
On the other hand:… it seems that it is really smart to wait some weeks for Sandvox 2.0.x to avoid further problems. Today the update to 2.0.2 was released. (Charlie from blueballdesigns is working very hard updating the templates too … Sure … you read his Tweets too)
That means for all developers perhaps double or triple work if there are main changes in the css files
So my way for Carbone is:
First I will compare the templates and then I’ll try to understand the changes.
Then … if all is clear …. I will swap to Sandvox 2. Otherwise I will use Sandvox 1 as long as necessary.
Best,
Bernado
From the user point of view you won’t see any difference when the Sandvox-2 ready designs will be released.
Or, better, actually you will see them, but because I will add new features (like hierarchical menu support) or improvements (some new fancy CSS3 effects, more attention to details, more versions of the same design…), something I could do anyway.
So there will be no reason to stick with Sandvox 1 or with an old design
I’m taking my time to complete the first one, so I’m sure to catch all the bugs that are coming out and to explore the best I can the new layout. But Carbone 3.0 is definitely on its way
Yes, dear Cristiano, you are a good (for me THE BEST) fellow!
No kidding!!! YOU was the first one who comes out with updates for Sandvox 2 and therefore I’m impressed! THANKS FOR YOUR FAST AND REALLY GREAT WORK!!!
BUT: PLEASE look at your customers… do they know about the new features? Do they need the new layout …..
That means a different marketing strategy at all! What are the differences??? AND: Do they (your customers) understand your changes???
Oh… I forgot …. I’m a stupid fool …. so PLEASE tell me, what I’m missed
))
Thank you Bernd, but they are just fixes for now!
Ok, I tell you what I’m working on right now:
-prettier contact forms
-slightly better grids for photo albums
-nicer navigation arrows for some themes
-hierarchical menus
-more choice: wider/narrower layouts, more colours, when possible (this maybe later)
-more coherence with whitespace and typography (I’m not satisfied now)
-better formatting of lists when needed
-much cleaner code – this is a top priority
-more attention to widgets
-full compatibility with Sandvox 2, of course, which is the real priority. Objects behave really differently now and I have to modify the designs accordingly, for example
-test with the newborn IE9, which is a real pain…
As you can see the final user probably won’t see the difference; with new themes I’m going to experiment a little further and we’ll see
I definitely am NOT changing the experience of current designs, ’cause who purchased them is happy with what he has right now, so it will be just a matter of details