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iWeb still kicks butt

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macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 4, 2005
710
185
California
I liked iWeb back in the day - built a nice site with it that I since abandoned. Sure, no master pages, but the templates are just great.

Just now, I had to whip up a replacement landing page for someone shutting down her site.

Good grief, iWeb is just awesome.

Beautiful site with a few clicks, publish to a folder, upload with Fetch (I could have uploaded via FTP directly but I already had Fetch configured for her site).

It's really a shame Apple no long publishes iWeb but I guess personal pages are a thing of the past.
 
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Oh, that's sort of good to hear. I used iWeb for one or two things, but I'm also a web developer and I'm aware how far from its internals standards have evolved in the years since – which bothers me just because I'm aware of it – but it's nice to know it's actually aged well for people who want the ease of using it.

I suppose making ways to create good-looking web pages is something so many other people are doing now that Apple didn't see the need to keep that up; a fairly Apple-like attitude if you look at other examples. Back when they introduced it, they seemed to speak as though they felt a need for a product like that because others didn't really exist then.

I hope personal pages aren't that dead; I think I supposed they would become better and more plentiful, and I love the idea of a world in which everyone who wants to can make themselves investigable in such an incredibly customizable way as the web allows now.
 
Starfia said:
I hope personal pages aren't that dead; I think I supposed they would become better and more plentiful, and I love the idea of a world in which everyone who wants to can make themselves investigable in such an incredibly customizable way as the web allows now.
Click to expand...

I've been building websites since the 90's. In personal technology and digital media, like in fashion, everything comes around again. Advancements in what's possible combined with the desire to seek novelty ensures that this cycle continues. If we liked it before, we'll like it again when presented in the right way at the right time.
 
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i clearly remembered my friend bought a new mac just to use iWeb
 
I loved iWeb. I used to really push its limits with great results. Another great product down the drain.
 
There is definitely a market for a good simple WYSIWYG web design application (that can produce clean code and while simple is still powerful). Sure there are plenty of WYSIWYG web design apps out there but there isn't one that is so good that it makes you think "Wow, that is clever". I've used Rapidweaver and while it is okay, it isn't great (and it isn't cheap either). Blocs might turn out to be something good, it looks good and it is more reasonably priced than Rapidweaver. Macaw looked promising but it seems that the developers sold it or at least stopped working on it.

Mecha
 
The problem is that iWeb, and all other WYSIWYG editors (past and present), were not designed to create mobile-first, responsive content. Even a few years back, web designers were free to design pages that were only intended to be displayed on a desktop browser. That is no longer the case. ALL modern website markup really MUST be compatible and usable on a diverse array of devices and display resolution. I don't know of a single WYSIWYG in existence that can output usable mobile-first and responsive HTML5 and CSS markup. That's why Apple was wise to simply drop the old product.
 
I'm sorry IHelpId10t5 but Blocs does that. I would guess that there are more apps out there that do it too but I know for one that at least Blocs will let you design a site and then you can adjust it to work on different devices (different sizes and what not).

Mecha
 
MacBH928,

Thanks for bringing up EverWeb. I had never heard of them and it is always nice to see what else is out there.
 
Love and miss iWeb. I guess WYSIWYG editors today need to take mobile supported designs into account first. I moved on to Blocs and it is a great replacement for iWeb. I also get to play with some of the CSS classes and add more custom code to it.
 
TMRJIJ,

Thanks for the info. I haven't tried the HTML widget yet but I'm going to have to because there are too many things that I can't seem to do with the program's WYSIWYG. I downloaded Blocs and while it has a lot to like, there are many things that are odd. There seems to be many presets that aren't adjustable or they are adjustable but only to the presets that the company has determined (one place there was a setting for 2,3,4, and 6 but I couldn't choose 5 for reasons unknown and there is no way to enter a custom amount). I like the overall layout and functionality of Blocs but many things are absent or overly complicated to use (like making a simple rollover isn't an easy task in Blocs). Why deleting an object requires you to use the contextual menu instead of using the "delete" key is baffling. I also don't like the "no drag and drop" idea that the company is pushing. Sure drag and drop isn't ideal for every situation but there are times when it is the best solution (but it doesn't work in Blocs). I'm also not sure their idea of how "assets" work is the most efficient? It takes 2 steps to add images to a page, first I have to add them to my "Assets" and then I have to add them individually to where I want them. I would prefer to just add them once to where they go instead of having to take the extra step of adding them to the "Assets" first. I do think that the basic templates are very nice and work smoothly. If you want to make a simple, slick looking website, Blocs will work but it doesn't (at this point) seem to allow you to have as much control over things as I think many people would like to have. I can't decide if I should buy it or wait until the next major revision (probably version 3) to get it as I'm hoping that the developer will improve things. The price isn't bad, especially if you compare it to Rapidweaver. Rapidweaver is a similar price but it is much less capable unless you purchase quite a few extras and then the price is a lot more.

Mecha
 
I completely agree. Even today, it is still the easiest and most intuitive way to create a website for most people. I can only imagine how powerful it would now be if Apple chose to update it.
The move towards online editors is a bad decision in my opinion as it has extreme lag and appears complicated, not to mention the cost. I think Apple should re-release it, even if it is an additional purchase.
 
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