How to update my website without iWeb??

[steveyraff]

Hey guys,

I run a recording studio. I built a website for it on iWeb a few years ago, using my old white MacBook. I recently bought a used MacBook Pro (13inch mid-2012), running El Capitan.

I noticed there is no longer any sign of iWeb. I presume it is discontinued?

A few things - all my passwords etc were saved on iWeb, so I didn't even have to sign in to my domain company etc to make website edits. It was all there.

Now what do I do? I need to edit some information on my website, and I have zero idea how to access it or do that on my new Macbook.

Thanks,
Steve.
P.S
website is www.outlandstudios.co.uk

 

[olup]

At this point you have several options:
a) Hire someone to set up a CMS (content management system) on your host along with either a custom theme or a pre made theme and explain how you can put your content on there.
b) Go with a template service such as squarespace,wix, etc and pick a template for a monthly fee, depending on the template. Those work the same way as a CMS does, but are less customizable.
c) Learn HTML,CSS and some Javascript and create your own site, depending on if you can/want to put in the time and effort.

In the end it comes down to your budget and how much money/effort you want to invest in your business.

 

[middlewingnut]

Hi Steve,

Your question really didn't deserve the sarcasm you received. You deserve an apology.

As a freelance web-dev, I'd recommend moving the site into a CMS (content management system) like Wordpress for a site the size of yours. This could be installed into your existing Godaddy web hosting. It is not a complicated job (for a web-dev) but possibly not something you'd want to launch into yourself.

Wordpress (there are many other free alternatives) is pretty straight-forward to learn, if you need (or would like) to do it yourself - it just takes a little time to get your head into the system. There is a lot of support available (for free, mostly). Alternatively, if its not too cheeky, PM me and I'll send you a quote.

 

[jtara]

No, I will not apologize.

You walked away from your site for YEARS, and now seem in a panic. Which is exactly what was to be expected.

I did not criticize on the basis of technical knowledge, but on lack of common sense.

The post certainly implied loss of the password. I will apologize only for my lack of mind-reading ability! 😉 How was I to know that what you meant was "one of my favorite features of iWeb is that I could update without having to type passwords?." Good news: Every WYSIWYG HTML editor has this feature, and even some of the fancy text-editors where you work directly in HTML. (But, see below, I don't really recommend this approach, as things have changed since iWeb).

I think you are being overly-sensitive. I could haul out a couple of shop-worn analogies - "shoot the messenger", "gift horse"...

It looks like a simple and nicely-designed static site. It just needs a way to keep it fresh. (And the will.)

I would suggest a CMS only if you want to maintain a blog. You may face some challenges making the whole site not look like a blog, then, though.

If there's no desire to learn HTML/CSS/JS, there are good online site generators today that have already been mentioned - WIX, SquareSpace, etc. I would recommend starting over with one of them. These did not yet exist when iWeb was created. Well, they did but they were poor.

The existing years-old content generated by iWeb is likely too out-of-date to fight with to bring it up to date.

As a quick fix, go read the instructional material on your host site, find the file where you offer bookings for 2013, download, edit in a text editor, and upload. Or hire somebody to do it. It should take them only a few minutes. Repeat for other simple changes.

Now you can accept bookings for 2017, which seems to me essential for your business.

Tell me, what do you think that prospective customers think, when they see that you are "accepting bookings for 2013"? Do you think they will contact you? Do you think that they will get an impression that you are on top of your business, or even still IN business?

THAT line jumped out on me, and was 50% responsible for the snarky reply. That and the implied loss of the password.

(My response could have been even snarkier. I really, really resisted the Rip Van Winkle analogy!)

Congrats on the New Year's Resolution, though! Now - take a deep breath - and continue with what you had set out to do! Find a solution you can live with, and set some schedule for regular review and update.

 

[maestrosteve]

Steveyraff, I went thru something similar. I made my 6 page website with iWeb years ago, was really into it. Didn't make any changes or update the website for years, and after many operating system updates, I couldn't find any of the info I needed to update or make changes to the website now that I wanted to.
I knew that iWeb was discontinued, and even if I got it to work, it was in my best interest to move to another program because some operating system update in the future might break it.
I tried a few of the web authoring apps that I could download as demos, and after rebuilding my site a few times in different apps, I ended up with the app Sparkle. It was like a major iWeb update, and kind of worked the same way. I didn't read any manual, I did everything by trial and error going thru every menu I saw and trying every option. With some of their additional features, I totally rebuilt my website, and it looks really great compared to the older one. More modernized.

I highly recommend Sparkle. I have nothing to do with the company, I'm just a very satisfied user.
I haven't found any bugs or anything that I wanted it to do that it can't do.

 

[wlossw]

A whois search indicates your domain name is registered at: https://www.123-reg.co.uk

I would get in touch with them, prove you own the domain, and then point the domain to a new hosting account running modern CMS like WordPress.

Wordpress is easy enough to use for someone that isn't a coder, provided you are comfortable following guides and using plug-ins...

 

[wallydavid]

Login into your Godaddy account.

Part 1: The Old Site

Click your name from the upper right and click on MY ACCOUNT

Scroll down until you see your products and click on WEB HOSTING

Find your hosting account from the drop down click the MANAGE button

This should open your hosting control panel. Find the section labeled FILES and click FILE MANAGER

This will open the root directory of your hosting account where you can download all of the files of your current site.

At this point once you download your old site, delete it or move the files into a folder called old.

NOTE: Do not delete the folder CGI-BIN or the file PHP.ini or USER.ini if they exist.

Part 2: The New Site

Click your name from the upper right and click on MY ACCOUNT

Scroll down until you see your products and click on WEB HOSTING

Find your hosting account from the drop down click the MANAGE button

This should open your hosting control panel. Scroll down to the SOFTWARE or POPULAR APPS section

There are one of two things you'll see depending on your hosting type:
1.) You'll either see One click install for WordPress (just click to install a new copy in the root folder)
or 2.) you see the Installatron Applications Installer (click this, scroll to CMS section and choose WordPress in the root domain folder.)

Part 3: Installation

This will set up the database automatically for you and bring you to a set up screen to enter your website name and choose a login and password, as well as add a recovery email address. Write these down for now, you can save them all in your mac keychain when you login for the first time by checking the REMEMBER ME tick box under the login box.

NOTE: Actual setup once you submit may take up to 24 hours. Usually it takes 5-10 minutes.

Jump over to here and download the WP-EASY WordPress users guide. It's FREE. https://easywpguide.com/download/

As a web developer I recommend this to all my clients who self manage their websites. You do have to enter your email to download it, but it's literally filled with step-by-step how-tos for anything you could ever want to do.

Once your site is up and running something to note is how to get to the login area.

enter your domain http://www.whateveritis.com

then tack /wp-admin/ on to the end to get to the login screen.

so it would look like this: http://www.whateveritis.com/wp-admin/

go there and login to your site.

Here is a tip just to get you started with your new adventure...
from the left side menu, click appearance and then themes... there are tons of them to get you started.

If you get this far and you need help, please feel free to ask any questions here and a knowable developer can help you, either with WordPress in general or any coding help and suggestions you may have. Or at any rate point you in the right direction. (Hopefully without another asshat being all rude to you. As a professional who has worked professionally in a design agencies for over 20 years, I sincerely apologies that anyone in this field would be that utterly disrespectful. I'm looking at you jtara.)


wallydavid.com
rcpmarketing.com
Michigan, USA

 

[jtara]

At this point once you download your old site, delete it or move the files into a folder called old.

NOTE: Do not delete the folder CGI-BIN or the file PHP.ini or USER.ini if they exist.

Wally:

At least I didn't give Stevy instructions to DELETE HIS SITE, and (assuming your instructions are valid for his host and followed to the letter...) CREATE A BLANK WORDPRESS SITE.

At this point he would be stuck. Empty website, and now will HAVE TO figure out WP (or some other solution) and no site at all until he does. And now his clients and prospective clients are going to see bits and pieces of a site until he is done.

(Or, figure out how to re-upload the pages you had him remove.)

He hasn't indicated that he even wants a WP site.

Doesn't seem a very "professional" approach!

I would at least leave the old site untouched until a new solution is in place.

Again, easiest quick-fix is to download the pages that need to be changed, change, and upload.

 

[Mike1984]

Hey guys,

I run a recording studio. I built a website for it on iWeb a few years ago, using my old white MacBook. I recently bought a used MacBook Pro (13inch mid-2012), running El Capitan.

I noticed there is no longer any sign of iWeb. I presume it is discontinued?

A few things - all my passwords etc were saved on iWeb, so I didn't even have to sign in to my domain company etc to make website edits. It was all there.

Now what do I do? I need to edit some information on my website, and I have zero idea how to access it or do that on my new Macbook.

Thanks,
Steve.
P.S
website is www.outlandstudios.co.uk

I would take a look at EverWeb.
Similar in design to iWeb's concept, and updates regularly.

They offer tutorials too.

But, I haven't used it yet.

http://www.everwebapp.com

 

[kiwipeso1]

I would recommend that you get hype pro 3. And that you avoid Wordpress if you don't want to get hacked.

 

[imdamfino]

If you don't have access to iWeb anymore, then you should look at a replacement like EverWeb or Sparkle.
The nice thing about EverWeb is that it was made with iWeb users in mind, so it should be an easier transition for you.
Good luck in whichever way you decide to go.

 

[rochow]

Do you have money to pay someone Steve, or are you wanting a DIY solution?

WordPress and similar are great, no point writing lots of info about it if you're DIY'ing though.

 

[Geeky Chimp]

You could also try out Blocsapp . It's a great web design tool; it's saved us hours compared to coding from scratch and makes the job much easier.

 

[rdiiorio]

No, I will not apologize.

You walked away from your site for YEARS, and now seem in a panic. Which is exactly what was to be expected.

I did not criticize on the basis of technical knowledge, but on lack of common sense.

The post certainly implied loss of the password. I will apologize only for my lack of mind-reading ability! 😉 How was I to know that what you meant was "one of my favorite features of iWeb is that I could update without having to type passwords?." Good news: Every WYSIWYG HTML editor has this feature, and even some of the fancy text-editors where you work directly in HTML. (But, see below, I don't really recommend this approach, as things have changed since iWeb).

I think you are being overly-sensitive. I could haul out a couple of shop-worn analogies - "shoot the messenger", "gift horse"...

It looks like a simple and nicely-designed static site. It just needs a way to keep it fresh. (And the will.)

I would suggest a CMS only if you want to maintain a blog. You may face some challenges making the whole site not look like a blog, then, though.

If there's no desire to learn HTML/CSS/JS, there are good online site generators today that have already been mentioned - WIX, SquareSpace, etc. I would recommend starting over with one of them. These did not yet exist when iWeb was created. Well, they did but they were poor.

The existing years-old content generated by iWeb is likely too out-of-date to fight with to bring it up to date.

As a quick fix, go read the instructional material on your host site, find the file where you offer bookings for 2013, download, edit in a text editor, and upload. Or hire somebody to do it. It should take them only a few minutes. Repeat for other simple changes.

Now you can accept bookings for 2017, which seems to me essential for your business.

Tell me, what do you think that prospective customers think, when they see that you are "accepting bookings for 2013"? Do you think they will contact you? Do you think that they will get an impression that you are on top of your business, or even still IN business?

THAT line jumped out on me, and was 50% responsible for the snarky reply. That and the implied loss of the password.

(My response could have been even snarkier. I really, really resisted the Rip Van Winkle analogy!)

Congrats on the New Year's Resolution, though! Now - take a deep breath - and continue with what you had set out to do! Find a solution you can live with, and set some schedule for regular review and update.

[doublepost=1486323531][/doublepost]Question, why do you dislike STEVEYRAFF? Don't you see you're simply justifying what you made in your own mind at the outset. All posters should be shown respect. all are equal.

 

[ColdCase]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rapid Weaver. When iWeb was discontinued years ago, that seemed to be the go to app, recommended by many in the know. Much easier to use and probably less expensive than other plug and play type apps mentioned. Tons of community support and active template/page developers where you simply plug in your data... well simple for web site development anyway.

 

[2manygs]

I had a similar situation to the original poster. I used iWeb for years, then a charge of mac and me forgetting that iWeb was on the old mac resulted in no iWeb and no back up of the website.

I had been trying out alternatives across the years, this issue forced my hand and I went with the web design app, BLOCS. Best software decision I ever made, it is just as easy to use as iWeb was and works with iPads, iPhones etc, Highly recommended!

 

[pacmania1982]

Do you still have access to the old machine? If so you may be able to get the username and password out of Keychain Access which is located in /Applications/Utilities

Worth a shot as iWeb was an Apple app, it may have saved that information in there.

 

[kiwipeso1]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rapid Weaver. When iWeb was discontinued years ago, that seemed to be the go to app, recommended by many in the know. Much easier to use and probably less expensive than other plug and play type apps mentioned. Tons of community support and active template/page developers where you simply plug in your data... well simple for web site development anyway.

I should have just went with Rapidweaver rather than go through the hassle of Hype 3 Pro.

 

[macguyincali]

I would take a look at EverWeb.
Similar in design to iWeb's concept, and updates regularly.

They offer tutorials too.

But, I haven't used it yet.

http://www.everwebapp.com

The closest thing to iWeb I've seen lately (and actually a lot better than iWeb) is Sparkle. I had a bunch of websites on iWeb and found it was really easy to design a new website using WYSIWYG editor: Sparkle. It is drag and drop. Works similar to Pages / Keynote in terms of text, image placement, grouping etc. and requires NO CODING at all. After trying to hire a web developers to do our business website, I ended up doing it myself with Sparkle and it is 100% better than what I had paid some web guys to do. I couldn't recommend this app more. 100% Mac focused and great customer support. It is updated constantly and I've been using it since the beta. Very cool and I highly recommend it.

http://sparkle.cx/

 

[GoJames4]

Oh my god, I had this same problem! I ended up going through all my files and re-writing a lot of files by hand. iWeb codes were so hard to read. 😡

Whatever new app you go with, make sure you get the trial first.

 

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