Steve Jobs Confirms Discontinuation of iWeb in iCloud Transition

[LastLine]

I'm a bit dumb-struck. I use iWeb for my business website, but don't use MobileMe to host it.





Why?

Since day one iweb's code had been inefficient and non standards complient resulting in slow, often messy pages.

Put into context if you think of an iWeb page as a car and the code as the engine you'd have a car that has part of the engine in the bonnet, part in the boot, coolant in the passengers seat and spark plugs attached to the string wheel, and tips out at 30mph.

As others suggest, though it's be a small learning time try rapid weaver. Much tidied and much more flexible.

 

[johneaston]

I have tried dreamweaver but simply didn't get it. I like the drag-and-drop of iWeb.

Also, I seem to remember DW wasn't exactly cheap.

Still seems really odd to me that Apple are just discontinuing iWeb rather than making it better.

 

[Takeo]

i like iWeb as a cms. (Content is what matters to me)

Will just shift my hosting elsewhere (1and1).
No worries.

Sounds good but just to be clear, iweb is not a CMS... it's an editor.

 

[Snowy_River]

Since day one iweb's code had been inefficient and non standards complient resulting in slow, often messy pages.

Put into context if you think of an iWeb page as a car and the code as the engine you'd have a car that has part of the engine in the bonnet, part in the boot, coolant in the passengers seat and spark plugs attached to the string wheel, and tips out at 30mph.

As others suggest, though it's be a small learning time try rapid weaver. Much tidied and much more flexible.

That's a gross exaggeration of the inefficiencies of iWeb. While it leaves a lot to be desired, it also got a number of things right. That fact is evidenced by the number of people who are here and elsewhere saying that this is bad news.

As for RapidWeaver...

I have tried dreamweaver but simply didn't get it. I like the drag-and-drop of iWeb.

Also, I seem to remember DW wasn't exactly cheap.

Still seems really odd to me that Apple are just discontinuing iWeb rather than making it better.

I would tend to agree. The non-WYSIWYG interface of RW just drives me nuts. I don't want to have to switch back and forth with a preview pane. Even back in the days that I coded websites using GoLive, the main display gave a pretty authentic WYSIWYG display of what you were working on.

In my time using iWeb, I have had plenty of complaints about it, but none have been sufficient to drive me to other platforms for the basic sites that I develop. But I have been consistently hoping for an update that would address some of the shortcomings of the software. I was VERY disappointed when no update came with iLife '11. Now, long and short, if there really isn't going to be any more updates, while it's true that iWeb will continue working, I have little motivation to try to stick to iWeb instead of finding a decent replacement for it.

From this thread, I've picked up leads on Sandvox and Flux. Both look interesting. Flux looks a little more powerful and versatile, but Sandvox looks a little easier to work with. I really wish that someone would do a real head-to-head comparison between these applications: iWeb; Sandvox; Flux. How do their features compare? What's easy in one but hard in another? And so on...

 

[petvas]

What should he say exactly?

- We are sorry for taking this useful feature away.
- Please find another service that gives you this feature.
- I am sorry for this resentment of yours. I hope I can be more fair in the future.



Do you really expect Steve Jobs to write in each and every email he actually replies to?

If he chooses to reply to an email, then he should do it properly.

 

[ikir]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; it-it) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

RapidWeaver is quite good and available on Mac App Store. Webspave is not a problem.
iWeb was quite good IMHO for who don't know HTML. But there are many other solutions. Flux is good, and Coda (only for hand coders) is awesome.

 

[wilhoitm]

This is how the HTC CEO responded to many complaints from fans and customers of htc and android, about the locked boot loader policy they implemented:

“There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

Considering Steve represents apple, I would expect him to respond in a professional manner instead of the dickish way he normally responds to fans and customers.

The htc CEO realises without customers their company is nothing, it seems Steve thinks otherwise.

stevensr123, you are totally missing the point. If you really want to see how evil politically correct corporate BS is just watch the movie Office Space, please watch the clips below! Also, the HTC CEO is a nobody, once he changes the World he will proabably respond in a different manner. You might want to "go ahead" and read up on Steve Jobs, no offense but it seems you are a fish out of water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfSAcVq6s9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGS2tKQhdhY

Marcus

 

[Nixy]

This was my mail to Steve

Just to put things in context the subject line read, 'Is iweb as dead as mobileme?' Most people who get a response say you have to pretty much put the question as the subject so I did. As someone else pointed out icloud can't just be about calendar and music and bookmark pushing. people are still going to want to blog and build sites. I reckon they will have to come up with something in the next ilife, lets face it, ilife 11 was pretty disappointing and a bit of a cleanup exercise.

 

[Nixy]

Can someone shed some light on the "training"? I'm a web developer and I'm a bit confused on what the writers reference to re-training was? Don't you just build you site and find a host?

Update: So its an application that uploads to iWeb? As mentioned by another poster, Wordpress is a great option, its free and with most major hosting, there is a Wordpress install plug in, you don't even need to know how to set it up. Its part of the control panel, you just need to initiate the install.

The reason I used the word training in my mail to Steve is because I don't do code. I do however live in iwork which makes iweb easy and intuitive. Even though I have just set up wordpress on my 1and1 account it looks clunky and I will have to spend ages working out how to get a look that takes seconds in iweb.

 

[Nixy]

Considering the guy who asked the question asked it in a dickish manor, the reply was fine. Nobody said he cannot continue to use the crappy iWeb with another $3 a month hosting service.

I guess it was kind of dickish of me but I actually put the question in the subject line which is probably why I got a response. It was not reproduced in the macrumors article but read 'is iweb as dead as mobileme?'

 

[NightFox]

Seems like the websites with the logo "Made on a Mac" are soon going to disappear

Nah, keep the logo - retro chic!

 

[boomish]

Since day one iweb's code had been inefficient and non standards complient resulting in slow, often messy pages.

Put into context if you think of an iWeb page as a car and the code as the engine you'd have a car that has part of the engine in the bonnet, part in the boot, coolant in the passengers seat and spark plugs attached to the string wheel, and tips out at 30mph.

As others suggest, though it's be a small learning time try rapid weaver. Much tidied and much more flexible.

I too use iWeb for my main website, it's been fine, it reads everywhere, I have loads of comments from people on how easy it is to read & navigate. I have put a lot of work into getting it up & running. Very pissed off Apple are ditching us without an explanation.
I understand it's not the best web editor out there, but it does and has worked fine for many users, it's not that I mind it going, progress and all that it's just the way it's been handled, like no info at all!!! So after the last keynote note everyone is left wondering WTF is happening to all our work we have put into iWeb and iDisk????? this is unprofessional and unforgivable disloyalty to their customers..Even if it was a simple "sorry but we have decided not to continue these products "etc etc..

 

[Nixy]

Here are the headers for the mail he sent me with my details removed

Frankly I can't thinking that there is more to this than how it has been painted. "Yep" isn't really Jobs style. He's succinct but he is usually more clear with the phrasing. "iWeb is done" is more Job's tone.

If the headers are real then I can't help wondering if they were for a computer on the Campus and perhaps the one in Jobs office. But it doesn't mean he was sitting behind it. Could have an assistant who doesn't perhaps know the full score.

Could be that the answer was iWeb is gone, but no mention of the new program that will take its place. or no mention of idisk's successor. But the person reporting this to the site painted it differently.

From: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>
Subject: Re: is iweb as dead as mobileme?
Date: 12 June 2011 20:04:22 GMT+01:00
To:
Return-Path: <sjobs@apple.com>
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[08380728]

Steve shows his true colours again, worse than Bill Gates and all the other sleaze bag's in the corporate world. Suck people into buying their stuff, then discontinue stuff and abandon it's users on the sly while not having the balls to be up front about it. How many billion in the bank do you need?

 

[NightFox]

This is how the HTC CEO responded to many complaints from fans and customers of htc and android, about the locked boot loader policy they implemented:

“There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

Considering Steve represents apple, I would expect him to respond in a professional manner instead of the dickish way he normally responds to fans and customers.

The htc CEO realises without customers their company is nothing, it seems Steve thinks otherwise.

Yes, but the HTC response was an official company statement (rather like Jobs saying how crap MM was as WWDC); Job's response was a personal reply to an email.

At the end of the day, this is how SJ has always responded to this type of email and it doesn't seem to have done Apple much harm to date (although I do imagine it sometimes puts his PR people in a flap). Yes, it can be considered rude and arrogant, but I'd suggest that the majority of people who chose to email him directly know damn well that if they get an answer, it'll be of this nature and would be disappointed if rather than getting an (in)famous one word response from SJ, they instead ended up with a detailed corporate response from some CS agent.

YMMV but personally I appreciate answers that are to the point; a "no" is a "no" whether it's a single word or half a page of insincere apologies and excuses.

 

[08380728]

Hey Steve, donate iWeb to a 3rd party so as to allow them to continue development.
Think of others before you go wanting people to donate their organs to you.

 

[NightFox]

...Suck people into buying their stuff, then discontinue stuff and abandon it's users on the sly while not having the balls to be up front about it.

The service looks like it'll be running until June 2012, iCloud was announced just one week ago and doesn't go live until Autumn/Fall, Apple have always given good notice of impending changes affecting iTools/.Mac/MobileMe to their customers, so what are you basing your comments on?

 

[Nixy]

Major dickish way to ask a question.

Read it again.


Q: Dear Mr. Jobs,

Will I need to find an alternative website builder and someone to host my sites?

I have invested a lot of time and effort and the thought of re-training sucks more than mobileme ever did.

A: Yep.

Sent from my iPhone

Translation:

Dear Mr. Jobs:

Would you please take the time to answer my question.

*question is asked*

By the way, the service you created and which so many users paid for over several years sucks.

NOW read Jobs' response. All clear now?

Ok, dickish email but the question was in the unpublished subject line for which I got the answer I asked for, but not the one I was looking for.

 

[chadley_chad]

Steve the Dick

Agg, this is getting old.
He's not a saint or a god of some sort. Stop expecting him with flowers coming to each person's house and answering their desired questions.

No, but you'd think he'd be a bit more gracious to those that have helped put his empire where it is today!

 

[jowie]

What about mobileme gallery??? That's more important.

The most important for me is Back To My Mac.

 

[chadley_chad]

I'm a bit dumb-struck. I use iWeb for my business website, but don't use MobileMe to host it.

Have I read it right that iWeb is being discontinued or is it just Apple's hosting of iWeb websites?

Seems really odd to me that Apple would discontinue a product that allows people to make their mark on the world wide web when the net is such a large part of people's lives these days.



Would you be able to explain how you run a site away from Mobile Me for the benefit of me and others? I have several iWeb created sites hosted on Mobile Me; and I'm thinking that I can still use iWeb after the changes (which is great), I just need to find a new way of hosting. My email is chadley_chad@hotmail.com .... any help much appreciated!!!!

 

[jlc1978]

Some people will be upset of course, but really, iWeb is junk... and I'm sure people were upset when Hypercard was kill too.

The difference being Hypercard wasn't junk - it let you do a lot of really neat things very easily. In many ways it was one of the best examples of Apple's approach to design and usability and actually cross platform.
Nothing I've seen comes close.

 

[OllyW]

Steve Jobs would get into trouble if he posted on these forums...

Useless and one-word posts. Do not bother making posts with only one or two words (e.g., "cool" or LOL) or a smilie, or post simply to have the first reply in a thread. Such posts waste everyone's time and will be deleted. Posts saying "I agree", "+1", "this", "me too", or the equivalent are also routinely removed, so don't post them. If you aren't interested in a thread, skip the thread; don't post to tell us you aren't interested. If you celebrate making the first post in a news thread, your post will be deleted.

https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us#Things_Not_to_Do

 

[Wordman]

Useful?

Busy CEO, making time to answer. A little courtesy would only make him look better though. Let's face it, he could be more positive and polite.

Similarly, shouldn't we be doing the same thing in this forum? I applaud all those people who've ignored the opportunity to criticise, and instead have made suggestions to the guy on how he can best maintain his site. That's what this forum should be all about.

 

[sananda]

Steve Jobs would get into trouble if he posted on these forums...



https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us#Things_Not_to_Do

Well that explains why we don't hear from him aroud here!