Using the New Image Admin Utility

I include an Image Admin Utility for all my themes for years now. Those utilities lets you add your own images to the theme without knowing anything about RW themes and how to access the theme contents. It also means you don’t have to manually copy your images to some invisible folders on your mac and you easily can admin your images whenever you want. The new version adds a lot of new cool features and should be much faster than the old one.

Actually the whole utility is new. I programmed it using Objective-C from ground up. But here is an overview of the new features:

- Much faster than the old utility which used AppleScript
- One program for all themes (you don’t have to use a theme specific application anymore)
- Fast switch between themes
- Supports the new standard RW5 installation directory
- You can choose your own copy of the theme – in case you like to work with a duplicated theme
- Update Checker: it will tell you when a theme is outdated and link you directly to the download section
- Direct Access to the most important Rapid Ideas sites from the menu (e.g. Documentation, Download Request)
- Drag n’ Drop your images from the Finder
- Edit and Adjust your images using Effects and Color adjustments
- Different Image Formats supported: just use any image and saving it will automatically choose the proper image format for you

When you started the Image Admin Utility you will be presented with the main window as seen in the screenshot. Most features can directly be accessed by using the main interface:

[1] All properly installed RapidIdeas Themes can be chosen in the Theme List pop up menu
[2] Once a theme has been chosen it will list the version number and will also notify you when a new theme version is available. If an update is found you can click on the arrow icon [3] to directly open the Download Area in your default browser
[4] Need help? Read some informative instructions by clicking the Help button
[5] Some themes support different Image Sets (e.g. Header Images, Footer Images, …). Select the set here for the images you want to edit/replace
[6] In the "Image" drop down list you can choose the image you like to edit/replace. To edit an image, double click it, to replace the default image with your own one, just drag and drop an image from the Finder to the Image Overview [8]
[7] Once you did your changes, don’t forget to save your image by pressing the "Save Image" button.

In the new Image Admin Utility you can choose your own copy of the theme. Just press "Command-O" or go to the "File" menu and select "Choose Your Theme Copy". This will bring up a standard Open dialog where you can choose your duplicated copy of the theme. If the theme is recognized as a Rapid Ideas Theme, it will be added to the Theme List and you can work with it the way described in the step above.

In the "Help" menu you will find several important bookmarks for Rapid Ideas Themes. Selecting an entry here will open the chosen Site in your default browser.

When you double click on the image in the image preview in the main window you have access to some standard adjustments and effect options. This lets you easily adjust the colors, lightning and other corrections and using some built-in image effects. Don’t forget to save your image when you finished editing it!

When you see an alert sheet telling you about a problem locating a proper theme when you start up the Image Admin Utility, this means that there is no Rapid Ideas theme installed at the correct location (or let’s better say "default location"). For optimization reasons I have decided not to search for all possible theme installations, only the default ones. So, when you see this dialog you can select the "Choose Theme" button and select your theme manually. If you have no idea what to do or where your theme is located, I suggest you do a clean install of the theme. This topic is covered a different manual.