iWeb Won't Save or Quit

[bluecabochon]

I'm using iWeb '06 1.1.2 on an Intel iMac.

I moved my iWeb files around to consolidate and discard duplicate files between my Mac's HD, duplicate files on the desktop and an external drive. I just did an update to my site and to my horror, it "couldn't save media files" - and showed a long list of files. I went and found them from the new location on my HD and re-dropped the movie and picture files in. Then, when I tried to save, it listed three new but non-specific files ("movie" "dropped pict image"). I checked the pages and all pictures and videos are visible. Then when I tried to save again, almost the entire previous list of "Missing" files (most of which were visible anyway) came up again as being unable to be saved.

Then, when saving, it doesn't know where iWeb is. Here's the error message:

"The location of the document iWeb cannot be determined. You can specify where to save it."

So it called itself "Domain" and it saved itself to the Desktop. Then it told me that it would be replaced...fine. The thing is, it has never done this before. I looked in the my-name-little house-folder/Library/Application Support/iWeb, and there is a Domain file in there too, and it opens the same iWeb as the one on the desktop.

I have no idea why this is happening. Something has gone screwy - obviously it did not like having its files moved around, but I have replaced those files from the same ones in the new location.

I can't save the files, and can't close the application. I tried again, and now it shows a whole new list of files it "can't save".

My website looks fine after the update I did earlier this summer and I don't want to lose the work I put into it. Can anyone help?

 

[sickmacdoc]

Hmmm.. well to boil this all down, when you import a graphic for instance into an iWeb page a copy of the graphic is stored within the domain.sites file that you found. Control Click on the domain.sites file and choose Show Package Contents and you will see the graphics stored within the package. The original that you dragged in or imported is no longer important since a copy is saved there.

If I understand your description, your original domain.sites file is still in its original position ( Users/yourname)/Library/Appliction Support/iWeb/domain.sites ) and reflects the original site correctly. That being the case you are pretty much in luck I believe- and if you have a backup of your drive there is no question you are fine.

Double clicking the domain.sites file in the location above (and disregarding the one on the desktop that you mentioned) will reopen iWeb and reflect the state of your site the last time it was successfully saved. You should then be able to successfully save further changes to it correctly.

As far as straightening up the confused state that iWeb is in now, I imagine you will have no choice but to force quit iWeb before you do what I mentioned above. Note that you will lose any changes you have made since your last successful save of course.

If you have a backup of your drive like many of us preach, simply locate the domain.sites on your backup and drop it in place on your drive and startup iWeb normally and you should be good.

If you don't have a backup, be sure to duplicate the domain.sites file in your User library before doing anything in case of further difficulty- and continue to do that periodically.

 

[bluecabochon]

Wow, thank you, doc, for the informative reply. I did force quit and when it reopened, asked me for the missing files, but some didn't have enough info so I was unable to replace them all, but did replace almost all that it asked for. While closing, it said that it was still unable to save 2 of the files I had just re-loaded, but I'll have to deal with that when I install the pics again. I do have to load in many more photos, but I have them, so it's doable. I guess I won't be moving those files again anytime soon.

I was afraid to load in the backup I had, preferring to start over as I had moved the files and who knew what else might be missing.

I especially want to thank you for the detailed, kind, and well-written reply. Sometimes I post questions to various boards and the replies are on the terse side, and often assume that I know more than I do. If I have any more problems, I'll come back here again.

Many thanks,

Blue

 

[sickmacdoc]

Hey- My pleasure! This forum is about trying to help where we all can!

Glad you are making some progress on the problem! Like you said, please do come back if you run into other weird problems- God knows I have run into a bunch with iWeb itself but still like using it for straight forward sites!

On another note, thanks for writing back to let us know how a problem is going too. I admit it is frustrating over time to answer a question with a detailed reply and the poster does not even bother to acknowledge it! I think that is what, over time, keeps a lot of people from posting anything but terse replies since they never get feedback on whether or not the original poster is aided by their suggestions or if they even SAW the response. Keep it up- and continued good luck with your project.

One last thing- if you are going to be using iWeb, take a look at a free companion program called iWebSites. Apple designed iWeb to store all the web sites you create in ONE domain.sites file which leads to a real time waste and confusion if, for instance, you just make a couple of changes in one site- you will find that when you publish it publishes ALL sites, not just the one you made changes to. iWebSites handles that by letting you create a new domain.sites file for each site and then it manages the necessary renaming of those files automatically. Very, very helpful program for use with iWeb-- and no, I have no ties to the author- I just like having helpful free programs! Check it out at: http://mistergregg.com/cocoadrillosoftware/iWebSites/

 

[Jules Dameron]

I'm worried about altering Domain files

iWeb has a similar strange nature.

I noticed that whenever I click on the dock for iWeb, it'll just open everything that I've made.

Problem is, I'm starting to get to a point where I want to separate website files-- from professional to personal ones.

My question is, if I duplicate the domain files into different folders and open and alter each one in a way so that I only have to worry about one website per domain file, would that be a problem?

My worry is that I was thinking about deleting a major website I created and just to save that one website on a separate domain file that I duplicated, but when I was about to delete the major website, it asked if I wanted to delete the site online too, and, I of course, didn't want to do that!

But I wanted to check with others if anyone says it would be a major disaster if I were to go this way, with the duplication of domain.sites2 files and rename them.

Any advice?