GRRR! - I HATE IWEB!!! - any teachers?

[toblerboy]

I love my mac but I hate Iweb!
I am a teacher who is trying to produce websites and I am finding that Iweb has so many dead-ends and limitations that it is frustrating.

Quick plea - are there any teachers or mac-techs that can recommend a web-builder that is really nice and works well with a mac?

Many thanks in advance.

[maflynn]

check out RapidWeaver It has a bit of a learning, not as much as dreamweaver but offers tons of themes, and plugins. I use it and its quite easy but powerful

[saberahul]

Originally Posted by maflynn

check out RapidWeaver It has a bit of a learning, not as much as dreamweaver but offers tons of themes, and plugins. I use it and its quite easy but powerful

Great tip, thanks!

[george-brooks]

What specific problems are you having? iWeb certainly has its limitations but there are usually some easy ways to solve some of its little issues and a lot of hidden features.

However, if you want to ditch it all together, I find that wordpress is a great tool for teachers. Many of my professors use wordpress (or blogspot, sometimes tumblr) to post class notes and info on upcoming assignments. Wordpress allows you to create pages in addition to the blog roll to post info like this quickly and easily.

[toblerboy]

Hi guys - thanks for your suggestions. I will definitely check these out.

George in particular I am finding these issues with iweb:

it has problems uploading to mobileme - page sizes, formats change on publishing.

Sometimes it does not publish at all

Links get messed up and quite often dont work

The templates are fairly good but its just all rather clunky.

Oh and its hard to tinkle with html in it.

[Santabean2000]

Originally Posted by toblerboy

Hi guys - thanks for your suggestions. I will definitely check these out.

George in particular I am finding these issues with iweb:

it has problems uploading to mobileme - page sizes, formats change on publishing.

Sometimes it does not publish at all

Links get messed up and quite often dont work

The templates are fairly good but its just all rather clunky.

Oh and its hard to tinkle with html in it.

I have found there are quite a few variables when viewing iWeb from different browsers.

[jwm2]

If you want to be rid of limitations then dreamweaver is really the only choice. Its expensive but its what most true professionals use when designing website and has been that way for many years. I first got into web design 14 years ago and the first app i was trained on was dreamweaver. I've tried many apps since, but have never gotten nearly the same results. Its one of the only true wysiwyg html editors, i find most that claim to be wysiwyg merely have live view options and don't allow for in-context editing.

[ZZ Bottom]

Try downloading Adobe Muse (working title): Adobe Muse Link

As of right now its in Beta, and therefore it is free. When the final version releases this spring it will be a subscription based software. Check out their website for the details.

The reason I am pointing this out is because Muse seems to be the closest to the ease of iWeb while offering professional options. It is very much a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" type of software. If you like the fully drag and drop style of iWeb you will feel mostly comfortable in Muse (based on what I've played around with so far).

In terms of publishing, I doubt it will be easy to publish to MobileMe after building your site in Muse. But isn't the MobileMe hosting going to disappear in the near future? Doesn't that mean you'll have to migrate to another service for hosting? I prefer using namecheap.com, but there are plenty of options out there. Also, I like to use Cyberduck (app) to FTP my website files (publish).

[jwm2]

Muse (code name) will be complimentary during the public beta period.
Version 1 of Muse will be released in early 2012 at which time customers will need to purchase the application if they want to continue authoring websites with Muse.
Muse will be available by subscription only. This will allow us to add new features to Muse regularly and customers will always have access to the most up-to-date functionality which is critical when building standards-based content that is cross-browser compatible.

Sorry i wouldn't get too attached to it unless you feel you can justify $20/mo to use it after its out of beta. I'd rather just buy a discount license of dreamweaver and know i can use it at any time from that point on.

[toblerboy]

santabean....did you manage to figure out why there are so many different variations? This is probably my biggest bugbear

[Heebeejeebies]

iWeb makes a lot of use of javascript, which if often not enabled on Internet Explorer. In addition, Internet Explorer has more than a few limitations, including the way it read iWeb's CSS. I solve that major problem by providing links to download Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Opera on my websites.

However, if you must make a website compatible with IE there a couple of important things you can do:

- Don't use iWeb's built in Navigation Bar, but instead create your own using text boxes and links.
- Use web-safe fonts. There are many web-safe fonts that you can download, and iWeb lists the ones you already have for you in the Fonts toolbar.

Finally, there is a program called WebCrusher, which will allow you to "optimize" your website for IE.

[toblerboy]

heebee
That is the clearest explanation why - thank you so much! I have been sooo confused for ages as to why the navigation bar did not come up on my school computer!!

[Heebeejeebies]

Originally Posted by toblerboy

heebee
That is the clearest explanation why - thank you so much! I have been sooo confused for ages as to why the navigation bar did not come up on my school computer!!

Glad I could help.

[toblerboy]

Out of interest, is there anything I could do to actually get the navigation bar to show? (apart from of course, ditching iweb altogether!)

[toblerboy]

I changed my browser in the end - though I kind of feel that I shouldnt have!