I therefore installed PHP 7.1 manually and configured Rapid myself. The world is PHP 7 or moving rapidly towards it. Unfortunately, the automatic install is for PHP 5.6. Rapid PHP 2018 automatically installs PHP and configures Rapid accordingly, a very nice touch. With previous editions of Rapid PHP, installing an executable version of PHP was a separate task. I don't have a high DPI display and I found the new icons low-contrast and "fuzzy," but the intent is good. This is primarily evident in the new set of icons. The changes in this category are designed to improve the visuals on larger displays with more dots per inch. These two are not integrated, something for possible improvement in the future. Rapid PHP's display is controlled in two ways, one called the "Interface Style," which cannot be controlled by the user other than by selecting a packaged style, and the other "color schemes," which the user can manage. Therefore, I appreciate having the dark themes and consider it an important improvement. However, I find that they are easier for me to work with. Dark themes are in vogue, which I don't care about. I'm finding my preferred black on white displays much brighter than in the past, which is a combination of better displays and my age. I qualify as a senior citizen and my eyes are showing their age. Here is my list of the most notable improvements. It is thus extremely hard to determine what has changed without long experience. Regrettably, most of it is fluff and a large number of the listed improvements are vaguely stated, without specifics. There is a comprehensive list of new and improved features at Blumentals' Web site. Nonetheless, I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it.Īnd now, let's drill down a bit. I know that Rapid PHP is not the pinnacle of PHP tools. After the 2018 release, several quick updates to address problems were posted. For those reasons alone, I consider it an excellent product, more than worth its bargain price.ĭespite the small size of the company, Blumentals has been responsive regarding support and feature suggestions. It has dramatically improved my PHP coding productivity and enhanced my CSS and JavaScript editing. Last year I bought Rapid PHP 2016 and upgraded this year to Rapid PHP 2018. However, those interested in Rapid CSS or HTMLPad can be reasonably sure that comments here about how Rapid PHP handles CSS and HTML will apply to those lesser products. Because I have no need for Ruby, ASP/.NET or Python at the moment, I can't comment on WeBuilder's support for them. This article focuses entirely on Rapid PHP and its capabilities. The Rapid PHP 2018 IDE in its default livery, the "Flat Blue" Interface Style. Blumentals has been updating this suite about every two years, so an upgrade cost of $50 is $25 per year, a bargain in anybody's book. When comparing pricing, the initial buy-in is one thing but the more important consideration is the long-term upgrade cost. For Rapid PHP, a license for four (4) users is $180 with an upgrade price of $100. Blumentals offers lower-cost Academic and personal licenses as well as volume pricing for multiple seats.Ī special "team" license is available for some of the products. Upgrade prices are less Rapid PHP's upgrade price is $50. At the top of the pyramid is the main product, WeBuilder, costing $90 and adding support for Ruby, ASP/.NET and Python. $70 gets you Rapid PHP, supporting PHP and associated technologies such as SQL and Apache. At $60 is HTMLPad, which adds JavaScript to the mix. The family dates back to 2004.Īt the bottom of the heap Is Rapid CSS at $50, capable of editing CSS and HTML. The four editors are actually variations of one editor (WeBuilder) from which features are stripped to create the other products. Rapid PHP is one of a suite of four editors from Blumentals Software in Latvia.
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