Contemplating iLife Purchase

[iKristina]

The big draw for me is iWeb. I'm a freelance designer and want an easy web site building application I can easily make updates with, post project pics, etc... iWeb is perfect - I've used it before. What I'm curious about is what sort of additional bells and whistles come with the other apps that aren't already available to me now.

Do iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, etc... get a huge facelift or will I essentially be buying what I already have just to get my hands on one application?

 

[eawmp1]

If you have iPhoto, iMovie, etc. on your Mac already, then yes you are buying all again to get iWeb.

 

[GoCubsGo]

iWeb does a lot of canned stuff. As a designed I'd think you would want something more robust, no?

 

[iKristina]

iWeb does a lot of canned stuff. As a designed I'd think you would want something more robust, no?

Well, not exactly although I can see the desire to go that way in the future once I familiarize myself a bit more with web design. Now I design mainly for print media and on screen business pitches so in addition to the Creative Suite I use a lot of Keynote, iMovie, etc... plus I do a little fine art of my own so essentially I want a web building tool for non-web types that I can update easily and feature a portfolio, blog, bio, etc...

I like iWeb and have tinkered with it a bit so I have a basic familiarity but it just kind of irks me that I'd be spending $80 on a suite of applications I already have when all I really want is iWeb. I keep thinking there must be some additional bells and whistles for the other other apps? Surely there's something?

There isn't a way to acquire just iWeb legitimately vs. pirated is there?

 

[rdowns]

Are you really quibbling over $80 for an app that you earn money from?

 

[iKristina]

What I'd like to hear is that there's something above and beyond what I already have where the other apps in the iLife suite are concerned is all. I mean, they charge $80 for the whole package and I already more or less have the whole package. I know I want iWeb but I don't think it's beyond reasonable to be a little vexed about pulling cash out of my wallet to essentially buy 75% of a suite of apps I already own just to get the other 25%.

I'll do it but it bugs me. I'd just like to think I'll get thrown a bone here and will get some small upgrade to what I already have to help justify the purchase.

 

[GoCubsGo]

What iLife version are you on today?

 

[rdowns]

http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/whats-new.html

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/whats-new.html

http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/whats-new.html

 

[maflynn]

I found iWeb to be quite constraining. For instance can only create a website that's only one level deep. If you want a more hierarchical website, you either need to bend over backwards with iWeb or use another product.

Also with iWeb, it produces a lot of messy html, that's slow and is not that SEO friendly so getting google to see your stuff will be hampered with iWeb.

I recommend you check out rapidweaver from realmacsoftware. Tons of themes, lots of plugins. Almost as easy as iWeb but more extensible and flexible. Plus it produces relatively clean html that is SEO friendly.

 

[iKristina]

I found iWeb to be quite constraining. For instance can only create a website that's only one level deep. If you want a more hierarchical website, you either need to bend over backwards with iWeb or use another product.

Also with iWeb, it produces a lot of messy html, that's slow and is not that SEO friendly so getting google to see your stuff will be hampered with iWeb.

I recommend you check out rapidweaver from realmacsoftware. Tons of themes, lots of plugins. Almost as easy as iWeb but more extensible and flexible. Plus it produces relatively clean html that is SEO friendly.

Excellent, thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely check that out. I'm not web savvy insofar as development/design goes so the easier the better at this stage in the game.

@jessica: I'm running Snow Leopard and using the latest version of everything that came stock on my machine where iLife apps go. I've never purchased the iLife Suite and only just started thinking about it because of iWeb.

@rdowns: thanks for the links, I probably should have dug deeper on the apple site. It does look like there are some enhancements so that's promising.