setting up downloadable files with iweb

[dascove]

Hello all,

Well, I bought a Mac and I've finally decided to setup a website. I'm using iweb and have subscribed to mobilme. The iweb interface is very easy to use, however, as a component to my website I wish to allow visitors to download files that will be either in MS Word or PDF formats. I've gone through help many times, but I haven't found any how tos for this particular setup. I'm not too well informed about web jargon so I might not be using the right terms to find what I want. I've visited many sights that have this feature so I assume it's a standard component for any kind of web building interface.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

John S

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

You add them by going to the hyperlink (far right) option in the inspector and select the file you wish to let people download. Upload the file into your .Mac Public folder, and link to it from the web page, i.e. "http://idisk.mac.com/yourdotmacaccount/Public/filename.pdf" or whatever domain/account name your iWeb uses, the key part is the path and filename on the end. On a side note, use PDF over Word documents for more cross-platform compatibility, plus the Adobe reader plugin is free. Word is not owned by everyone.

-jim

 

[Mitou]

You add them by going to the hyperlink (far right) option in the inspector and select the file you wish to let people download. Upload the file into your .Mac Public folder, and link to it from the web page, i.e. "http://idisk.mac.com/yourdotmacaccount/Public/filename.pdf" or whatever domain/account name your iWeb uses, the key part is the path and filename on the end. On a side note, use PDF over Word documents for more cross-platform compatibility, plus the Adobe reader plugin is free. Word is not owned by everyone.

-jim

With iWeb no need to upload the file, it will be done when publishing. Choose link to a file and that is it.
If you have a pdf and you don't want it to open in the browser you need to zip it so that people can download it instead of viewing it.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

With iWeb no need to upload the file, it will be done when publishing. Choose link to a file and that is it.
If you have a pdf and you don't want it to open in the browser you need to zip it so that people can download it instead of viewing it.

The procedure you mention contradicts advice given elsewhere on this forum by IJ Reilly as to .Mac accounts specifically, but also it might be an improvement in iWeb over the years to simply link it and allow the publish to move the file. If so, thanks for the correction.

But we will disagree on the the zip suggestion you offered. I see it as an option, but these days with the Adobe free reader plugin, FFox PDF Plugin and so forth, it's perfectly fine to make it available without zip and avoid extra steps burdening the user with both software and time. Even if zip is common. You used the word "need", which simply isn't true.

-jim

 

[Mitou]

I stand corrected on the use of the word need (perhaps my English was faulty). But if the linked file is in a pdf format, it will open in the browser when clicked, if in a zip or other compressed format it will download automatically to wherever the viewer has set for downloads. Sometimes one might wish for a file download over a preview of the file, but you are right it is not a need it is a choice.

 

[telefunkal]

The software was updated

Just in case anyone is looking – iWeb '09 was updated so that if you link some text to a file in the inspector pane and then update changes to your site, iWeb will upload the file to a directory called yp_files (where "yp" is the name of the page.)