iWeb vs RapidWeaver

Discussion in 'Mac Apps and Mac App Store' started by 7254278, May 25, 2006.

Most Liked Posts
  1. 7254278, May 25, 2006

    7254278 macrumors 68020

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2004
    Location:
    NYC
    #1
    Hey all,
    I usually make my sites in rapid weaver cuz its fast and easy to use. But it also lets you do some stuff in HTML(although very limited). The only complaint I have is that the templates are not very flexible. For example if your blog title is too long it will stick out of the template and stuff like that. So I was wondering, can anyone who has used both give me some pros and cons and a general opinion. I am considering switching to iWeb.

    Oh and is iWeb only compatible with .mac or can I use some if its special site management feature with say geocities aswell?

    Thanks

    PS: I didnt know if I should post this here or in the web design forum so feel free to move it if deemed appropriate.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  2. 7254278, May 26, 2006

    7254278 thread starter macrumors 68020

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2004
    Location:
    NYC
    #2
    No one has any opinions?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  3. Ugg, May 26, 2006

    Ugg macrumors 68000

    Ugg

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2003
    Location:
    Penryn
    #3
    I haven't used Rapidweaver so can't comment and have no HTML experience although I have used NVU which is open source and it was ok. I do have iWeb and I do like it. The templates are fine and everything in iLife plays very nicely with iWeb.

    I did the .Mac trial thing and it took nothing to get the site uploaded. I've had my own website for 3-4 years that was horribly underused so I decided to upload everything to that as well. I used cyberduck, a shareware ftp program. It works just great. The only bad thing about iWeb is that if you add a blog entry, iWeb wants you to upload the entire site. I have a small movie on mine, it's about 10 mgbs so, even with DSL it can be a lengthy process. However, I played around with it and found that I can just take the Blog folder, upload it and the site works just fine. Even that takes awhile but it's better than uploading the entire site.

    My site is: A Traveling Life

    and ICD Soft is my hosting company.

    There are a couple of features that only work with .Mac but they're not ones I think are necessary. I'll stick with iWeb and hope future upgrades include only uplloading what's been updated and a complete feature set compatible with non .Mac webhosting.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  4. ChrisA, May 26, 2006

    ChrisA macrumors G4

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2006
    Location:
    Redondo Beach, California
    #4
    I never used rapid weaver but I tried iWeb. You don't need .mac to use iWeb. You can "publish to a folder" and it writes the entire site out to a desktop folder. From there is is pretty simple to move that folder to a web server. Mac OS ships with "ftp" so nothing else is needed.

    If you have a very low volume site and you leave the Mac on 24x7 and have a DSl connection you can host the web on your own Mac. If you do this then managing the site using iWeb is triveal because "publish to folder" puts the site on the server.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  5. mintlivedotcom, May 26, 2006

    mintlivedotcom macrumors regular

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2004
    #5
    I use RW and I love it! The support forum is even better than MacRumors (?!?!?). You can adjust the template to fit your blog titles. Just post a message in the forum.

    RW goes to a new version next weekend and is a free upgrade to all current users.

    My RW site is http://heroldshangout.com
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  6. Platform, May 29, 2006

    Platform macrumors 68030

    Platform

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2004
    #6
    Don't even think about iWeb, I have both and Rapidweaver is sooo much more feature packed, scalable and has support for PHP etc ;)

    RW will also have a new version out on friday (2nd) RW 3.5 free upgrade for 3.2.1 users, lots of new feature......:D
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  7. 7254278, May 29, 2006

    7254278 thread starter macrumors 68020

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2004
    Location:
    NYC
    #7
    Well Ive gotten to use both and here is what I noticed imho:

    RapidWeaver is better at or has more or is more:
    Features and support for things like php and html
    Modifiable, it you can change more things regading themes
    Has better medial gallery pages
    Comments on blog posts(surprised iWeb doesnt have this)
    A guestbook function(surprised iWeb doesnt have this)

    iWeb is better at or has more or is more:
    Cooler themes
    Easier to use
    Better drag and drop, eg: drop an image into a place holder and it automatically resizes
    Easier to edit things in the page itself, text and things like that

    I am picking iWeb but I had a few good months with rapidweaver, I might give it another try after the update. Also if you become good at editing themes these tools will be sweet cuz I kinda feel cheap and like I'm cheating when I use a theme so changing them a bit is cool.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  8. Platform, May 30, 2006

    Platform macrumors 68030

    Platform

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2004
    #8
    Agree on most points, as you said that is a feature I like in Rapidweaver; changing themes on the fly...very useful ;)
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page