Before I even think of using sparkle, I need to know about any form of support there is, beside this forum.
I have gone through issues with another app, mostly related to two topics:
technical: design and coding of the app, where certain functionalities are not working
functional: Uploading problems or limitations. Usually due to restricted access to webhosting servers as security is lacking or non existing. Causing servers to reject communication with the app.
is there actually real support ,or is it community based, ie reliance on good samaritans who have figured out problems by themselves?
Hi RudiW, I would suggest that Sparkle has probably the best support system of any software company. Duncan (Sparkle) is very involved in the forum and is available through email as well. He starts work early and finishes late, is incredibly knowledgable really tried to help. Very old school. On top of that, you have the forum with people who will chip in with their knowledge and ideas too. If you’ve come across problems as you suggest above, so have we, and we’re all here to tell the tale.
You’re in safe hands with Sparkle and I hope you come on board. You’d be very welcome.
delighted to hear that. I will keep it certainly in mind. Nciepage has a lot of extras to offer, but the most important aspect: service and reliability is not one of them. thanks guys.
@RudiW, you can think of the Sparkle Forum as “solutions on the run”. The forum is a diverse mix-pot of talent with a number of us as full fledge Web Designers that love the convenience, pixel-perfectness, and reliability of Sparkle.
Then there is the Sparkle Team, mainly Duncan who deals with everything that is Sparkle and you.
And not only that but the Sparkle Team is constantly hearing us in how we use Sparkle and how we can see improvement which in most part is implemented with the constant Sparkle updates!
Sparkle might not have everything like all the others but Sparkle isn’t at all like all the others! If you see Sparkle as a box of legos then you realise that with a bit of thinking outside the box you can make just about anything you dream up… and it will only get better over time!
So as you might know by now Sparkle (unless you purchase the Developers Pack) doesn’t for the most part allow you under the hood. You design your website on the canvas and when done Sparkle magically converts the Sparkle document file to html/CSS/javascript with a smattering of PHP. Also Sparkle uses the fixed-width (aka Devices) responsive design paradigm.
For me I have been using Sparkle for three years with my clients and I have never had any issues with Publishing their completed website to a server… maybe I am just lucky
Well I hope the above and @scoutdesign post gives your food for thought!
I’ve found this community and Duncan very supportive, whatever your knowledge or level of expertise. I’m by no means an expert, but Sparkle does it all for you, it’s very similar to using Pages, very intuitive for a Mac user. Any problems I’ve encountered have been swiftly solved either by the community or by Duncan himself. However, I keep my website simple and easy for me to edit, and for visitors to navigate, I don’t use all the bells and whistles, which a pro would do.
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