# iWeb '08 WARNING



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Hey all - many of you know that I've been hoping iWeb 2.0 (or '08) would see some significant upgrades. I don't have my hands on it yet, but judging from the problems arising in Apple's iWeb '08 Discussion Forum, it may be a bit of a lemon.

Some users are reporting total domain file wipeouts and other very serious problems. And for those of us who have subdivided our domain files, I think we need to approach the new iWeb with a great deal of caution (and backups!).

FYI.
M


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

Looks like the problem might be people using 3rd party templates. I don't – I have tweaked mine based on an original iWeb template. I have already ordered my copy of iLife – should arrive any day. I'll back up both the old iWeb app as well as the domain file and upgrade to the new version and post my results.

I was really hoping that with this version, one of the things I could do would be saving my tweak of the template as my own template.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

teeterboy3 said:


> Looks like the problem might be people using 3rd party templates.


According to this thread, the problems are affecting people who are *note* using any add-ons or third-party templates.


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## Vandave (Feb 26, 2005)

Why didn't they add a comment feature to the blog? It seems like a major shortcoming for a personal webpage.

Apple could host that data quite easily as it would only be text.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

??? Uhmm.... well, my Blog on .Mac *used* to have a comment feature... it broke a few months back, but it *is* a part of iWeb.

M


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

I find 99% of supposed 'software' problems are typically 'wetware' issues or PEBKAC.


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

CubaMark said:


> According to this thread, the problems are affecting people who are *note* using any add-ons or third-party templates.


Well, as soon as my copy arrives, I will let you know how it goes.




guytoronto said:


> I find 99% of supposed 'software' problems are typically 'wetware' issues or PEBKAC.


I think you might be on to something.

If you go to the Apple Discussions linked above I must have counted at least 7 threads all started with the exact same line of discussion… most of which seems to be relating to the templates. _What… can't anyone see if there is a thread already started before they start spouting off?_


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## Moscool (Jun 8, 2003)

According to the description in .mac member pages you simply repoint a URL to another. In other words, iWeb remains a retentive piece of software. I don't think you will be able to share a web site with other apps for example, I think it picks up the URL at the root level. So much for progress!


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

Okay it arrived on Friday night. I didn't get a chance to install it until today. I did all the precautions: copied iWeb 06, as well as the domain, and then install 08. Once I did that, and launched it. It tried to open my old site and it hung on updating. I force quit, go read the discussions to find that the work around someone found was to start fresh as though you don't already have a site. Make an edit to the stock page, save and quit iWeb. Then take the old domain you backed up and copy it into the proper folder. Double click that and it will open in 08. Did that. Then it updated. I made a new post, made some edits to my site and then saved. Tried to publish. iWeb quit 2 or 3 times without posting. I did repair permissions, opened it again, and then everything works ticky-boo, I publish, save and close. It works fine.

I've since re-published 2 or 3 times with edits I made (added Google ad Sense, changed photo frames and fixed typos. Each time it worked fine.

I will tell you they have gotten a rid of a LOT of the bloat - the old domain was over 760MB and it took forever to open, now it's down to 256MB and it way more snappy. It publishes faster, it works a lot smoother. And you can format the fonts on the blog summary page – I am pretty sure I couldn't do that before.

I think it's a very good upgrade that does need an update that I am sure is forthcoming. I also think a lot of the problems people are having may also have to do with all the .Mac rearranging they're doing (more space, adding Photo Galleries etc etc)

At any rate, upgrade went relatively smoothly. I am happy.

iPhoto friggen rules. And I think I am the only one happy with how iMovie was revamped.


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## dalethompson (Sep 12, 2006)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (I do feel guilty saying this too) but I installed iweb '08 last night and it worked perfectly. Installed no problem at all, recognized my previous '06 website (I had to locate it first though which wasn't a problem) and there were no problems whatsoever. I made small little changes in it and, after saving (which was lightning quick), I then exported all the pages to .mac with no problems at all. Very fast upload too (probably shaved off 1/3 of the time to upload as '06 version) and everything works smoothly right now.

Love the intregration of the widgets too!!! I added three of them to my website already (anymore and it will become a circus I think) but they work really seamlessly with the new iweb '08. The Google map works awesome too and I'm thrilled with all the other features I tried out so far too. Will get into looking to the other new things in '08 when I get the chance soon.

Here's my revamped website thanks to iweb '08:

http://web.mac.com/darlaanddale

I think any problems with iweb '08 are to do with linking to external sites or even using 3rd party templates (I'm guessing anyway). All my templates were iweb standard ones and I'm not using anything else that's considered 3rd party either, which is why there's no issues with upgrading this (yet).

Hope Apple fixes the iweb '08 issues though as I love this software!!! I'm going to build another new website for my side business as well as change a few things around in my wedding website.

-Dale


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Thanks for the update, Dale. There are sufficient reports from users who are not using third-party templates or add-ons to indicate that there really are some serious issues with iWeb '08. Glad you were one of the lucky ones!

I *know* that I'm in trouble... I have several sites, all spread out across multiple domain files.... I'm biding my time....


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## singingcrow (May 6, 2005)

Are the problems with iWeb strictly with people trying to bring in websites that are already done or in progress, or are there other problems, like let's say for people who are starting from scratch?


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## teeterboy3 (May 22, 2005)

Actually since I last spoke, iWeb is still working fine and posting fine. However, and it's a big however, somehow between .Mac and iWeb, I managed to have lost a year's worth of comments. And while I do have my domain backed up to include everything except for this past blog post (about having t put my dog of 14 years down) which means if the answer is rebuilding the site from the backed up domain, it means I have to ask the 4 people that commented on that post to repost when I rebuild that entry.

But before I do that I have an email into Apple to see what the hell happened.

My guess is that iWeb needs an update, as well as the changes they made to .Mac (space doubling) and the personal domain support has really made for a bad experience for a lot of people.

The odd part is that iWeb is running flawlessly otherwise. Lightyears faster.


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## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

dalethompson said:


> ...http://web.mac.com/darlaanddale...-Dale


Wow, beautiful site!


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

Installed the new iWeb, backed up the Domain in case. No problems at all. It updated fine.
I must agree, I think third party extensions give people problems. I use a clean OS. No extensions, themes, modifiers or anything.

BTW, the original iMovie stays on your HD when you upgrade, so you can still use both versions if you wish. No need to download anything.


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## NewGuy (Jun 23, 2005)

*works fine for me...*

Although there was a hic-up during publish, it installed and seems to be running fine.
My existing sites (all through .mac) were recognized right away, and they were all red, noting that they needed to be published. I saved the sites and hit publish. From there I got the beachball and had to force quit.
As requested, I sent a report to Apple and then re-opened. Following advice from a fellow ehmac'er, I made a small change on the front page of one of the sites, saved them all and they tried to publish again. This time successful.
Everything seems to be working fine, and faster with one exception. One of the pages on one of my sites is now AWOL. No idea where it is... It's not a big deal to re-build it as it was a photo page from iPhoto.
Like others, I expect a bug fix soon and like "some" of the others I'm happy with the upgrade.


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## jhollington (Jan 29, 2007)

When I first installed it, I got a message that .Mac groups are no longer supported, and I had a few of those in my iWeb configuration. Rather than purging out all of the groups by itself, or otherwise disabling them, however, it left them in place, and then failed every time I tried to "Publish."

Once I removed all of the sites from the .Mac group entries it worked just fine, however. The warning needs to make the whole .Mac Group incompatibility a bit clearer as to what needs to be done, since there wasn't even an indication that I needed to remove them before publishing, or any attempts to deal with them in any way.


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## dalethompson (Sep 12, 2006)

Boys and Girls:

I spoke way too soon!!! I went in last night to finish up a few things on my site and guess what? My photo page was still there but all the photos were missing and it was crap (the whole page was changed... I'll take a screenshot of it to show you rather than try to explain it).

As well, most of my pages (if not all) had things moved around as far as positioning and whatnot. Yes, cosmetic changes but, still, I had to reposition a lot of things. As well, all my fonts were converted back to Arial (or whatever the default font is for iweb templates). Pretty weird huh???

I tried to re-do my photo page again but it wouldn't allow me to upload it this morning. And, when I saved everything and shut down iweb (then opened it back up), guess what? The photo page again switched back to crap again and all my work was lost for a second time! I must point out that I haven't installed iphoto '08 yet as I wanted to back up all my photos first in case they went missing (this could be the key though I think to why things are going wrong).

So, here's what I've personally seen as far as iweb '08 bugs go:

-Photo pages go missing and/or get changed around. iPhoto hasn't been installed yet but after I back-up all my pics, I will install it again and see if I'm able to re-create my photo page (iweb original template) and see if it saves and uploads.

-iweb 2.0 templates (the ones I'm using for my webpage) aren't correctly coming over into iweb '08. Fonts are switching over to the defaults, pages are resizing different text boxes, page headers are resized too. Nothing has gone missing (besides the photos on the photo page) but things are not the same as they were before I upgraded.

I'll have to check tonight to see if anything else has happened. The fact that I'm not able to upload anything after re-doing my photo page has been slightly concerned but I'm hoping installing iphoto '08 will solve these problems... I'll let everyone know too.

Take care,
Dale

P.S. SoyMac, thanks so much for your kind words... once I figure out this bugs and correct them, the website will be back to how it originally looked (which wasn't too bad).


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## dalethompson (Sep 12, 2006)

Boys and Girls:

I spoke way too soon!!! I feel so foolish now proclaiming my iweb to be sound when, in fact, it's totally not. I went in last night to finish up a few things on my site and guess what? My photo page was still there but all the photos were missing and it was crap (the whole page was changed... I'll take a screenshot of it to show you rather than try to explain it).  

As well, most of my pages (if not all) had things moved around as far as positioning and whatnot. Yes, cosmetic changes but, still, I had to reposition a lot of things. As well, all my fonts were converted back to Arial (or whatever the default font is for iweb templates). Pretty weird huh???

I tried to re-do my photo page again but it wouldn't allow me to upload it this morning. And, when I saved everything and shut down iweb (then opened it back up), guess what? The photo page again switched back to crap again and all my work was lost for a second time! I must point out that I haven't installed iphoto '08 yet as I wanted to back up all my photos first in case they went missing (this could be the key though I think to why things are going wrong).

So, here's what I've personally seen as far as iweb '08 bugs go:

-Photo pages go missing and/or get changed around. iPhoto hasn't been installed yet but after I back-up all my pics, I will install it again and see if I'm able to re-create my photo page (iweb original template) and see if it saves and uploads.

-iweb 2.0 templates (the ones I'm using for my webpage) aren't correctly coming over into iweb '08. Fonts are switching over to the defaults, pages are resizing different text boxes, page headers are resized too. Nothing has gone missing (besides the photos on the photo page) but things are not the same as they were before I upgraded.

I'll have to check tonight to see if anything else has happened. The fact that I'm not able to upload anything after re-doing my photo page has been slightly concerned but I'm hoping installing iphoto '08 will solve these problems... I'll let everyone know too.

Take care,
Dale

P.S. SoyMac, thanks so much for your kind words... once I figure out this bugs and correct them, the website will be back to how it originally looked (which wasn't too bad).


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## dalethompson (Sep 12, 2006)

After trying to research the disappearing photo pages from iweb '08, I managed to find something in the apple forums:

Apple - Support - Discussions - Solution - How to determine if your ...

Apple - Support - Discussions - iWeb 08 and photo pages!!!!? ...

I'm going to try these tonight to see if this indeed is the case with mine. I don't care about losing the original page (I can rebuild it in 30 mins or less probably) but I'm more concerned that the photo page(s) keep on getting messed up after I save them and that it stops me from uploading my whole site.

I'll let you know what happens... 

-Dale


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## zoziw (Jul 7, 2006)

Does iWeb 08 make it easier to transfer content to a non .mac domain?

My ISP provides me with scads of space for a website and I'd rather use that then resubscribe to .mac.

IIRC, you could do this with iWeb 06 but it wasn't easy.


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## dalethompson (Sep 12, 2006)

OK, as much as I have tons of patience and I'm pretty stubborn on top of that too, I'm giving up on iweb '08 for now  

I think the version will be really great when it finally works (for those of us who upgraded from iweb '06), especially the widgets and being able to upload to your own personal site.

So, unless there's a patch in a couple of days time, I have to decide what I'm going to do. My wedding is in 9 days and the site needs to be up and running for those coming from out of town. I'm not at the point of panicking just yet but I should make a decision soon. Although, my site is currently up right now and although it looks different from how it's supposed to, I suppose all the info they need is still accessible. Still, I want it to look really great and after all the hard work I've put into it, I want it looking the way I intended it to.

So, I need some imput here from everyone who knows iweb inside and out:

1). Should I downgrade back to iweb '06? If so, will my website screw up in '06 because it's been saved in '08?

2). Should I bite the bullet and build a brand new site in '08 (based on the one I have up now) so it will be functional?

3). Should I just wait to see if apple comes up with a patch soon or a way to work around this problem?

Damn, I just wish I had backed up my site originally 

TIA, 
Dale


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