iweb
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Shutterbug receives major overhaul
Shutterbug by xtralean software allows you to make online photo galleries (and more) easily. Construction is drag-and-drop simple and the supplied templates don't scream "I'm using a default template!" Alternatively, if you're the type that likes to design things yourself, you can do that too.Last week, Shutterbug 2.0 was released with more than thirty new features and several new templates (including one that looks a lot like iWeb's "watercolor" theme). Some of the big changes include: Support for QuickTime movies and Mp3 files The ability to create contact forms, page counters, HTML snippets and external HTML pages Thumbnail rollovers Layered images There's more, of course, and you can get the full run-down here. Shutterbug requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or 10.4.3 or later. It's universal, and a single license will cost you $50US.
iWeb Enhancer 1.0
Awesome: Chad Brantly has created a small add-on app for iWeb that can insert all sorts of blogging goodness into your sites such as Flickr pics, AdSense, YouTube videos, blogrolls and more.I haven't tried this out yet, but one word of caution: due to what I would assume could be iWeb's unfriendly plugin architecture, the process for inserting any of these little addons is a little wonky. Don't fear it though, as Chad walks you through the short operation on his site.All things considered, iWeb Enhancer still seems like the easiest and most feature-enabling iWeb addon I've seen to date. Go check it out if you've been looking for a few of those blogging extras to complete your iWeb-powered sites.
Handy iWeb tip on the .Mac blog
I believe I've found the perfect use for iWeb. I've used it to create a family site for all of my far-flung relatives. They couldn't care less about trackback pings, comments, validation or any of that stuff. They just want to see cute pictures and videos of the kids, and I want to spend as little time as possible maintaining the "kids' site." iWeb is the perfect answer.Up until now, I've been manually deleting the caption under each new photo that I add (usually something like "IMG003.JPG"). Thanks to this tip from the official .Mac blog, I don't have to do that anymore. Select a photo in an image gallery and open the inspector. A slider appears under the heading "Caption Height." Slide it all the way to the left and the captions are gone. I like it.
iWeb update simplifies URLs
The iLife Updates Apple released yesterday fixed a gripe some users (including myself) had with the new URL scheme that iWeb employed. With its original release, an iWeb site's URL was http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/. Leaving that last /iWeb/ off the URL would result in a 404 error. While this isn't a big deal to some, it's just one extra quirky name to add to a URL. To those unfamiliar with the internets however, .Mac and iWeb could mess up, resulting in that exponentially increasing frustration that usually leads to users simply giving up on the endeavor.After installing the 1.0.1 update last night and making changes to some of my iWeb pages, I was pleased to see the URL in the "announce your site" confirmation window chopped down to simply http://web.mac.com/username. This not only makes the URL a little easier to remember and pass around, it also adds a bit more credibility to the URL, especially over the previous http://homepage.mac.com/username scheme.
Backup 3.1 is available
.Mac users: Launch Software Update. Apple has released Backup 3.1, with several changes. According to Apple:"Backup 3.1 delivers added support for some backup destinations and addresses file restoration and other issues. Backup 3.1 is recommended for all users of Backup 3.0. Significant areas addressed are: improved support for iDisk, local hard drives, and some network destinations (Mac OS X Tiger only); new iWeb QuickPick and updated iLife plan; and addresses issues with restoring files."I'm looking forward to checking out the iWeb QuickPick. Grab your copy, and let us know if anything goes wonky.
My other issues with iWeb
Adding to the small pile of gripes with the new technology Apple is using with iLife 06, such as complaints about iWeb's bloated CSS or RSS standards and photocasting, I just developed a beef that I haven't really seen mentioned yet: the crummy new URL scheme for iWeb sites, both on and offline.First of all, in the olden day the .Mac "homepage" did't seem to be case sensitive, as in: homepage.mac.com/user will get you to the same place as /User. iWeb is a bit pickier, as a wedding site I'm working on lives at web.mac.com/myuser/iWeb/Wedding/, but /wedding/ will result in a 404 error. Yes, a friend already reminded me that "Unix = case sensitive," but I don't care. While this could be labeled a minor complaint, my fiance and I have plenty of family members who aren't too hip on these computer thingies. They're going to get confused by something silly and minor like this, and I'm sure our relatives aren't the only ones.Next on my list is the URL scheme itself. web.mac.com/user/iWeb/sitename? Could that get any less friendly? Granted "homepage.mac.com" might seems a little unprofessional to some, but this new scheme feels pretty cumbersome and just plain ugly. Why couldn't we simply have web.mac.com/user and web.mac.com/user/othersites, Apple?Last but not least is how the new sites are organized in a user's iDisk. Old homepage sites still live in iDisk/Sites/, while shiny new iWeb sites live in iDisk/Web/Sites/iWeb/sitename. Nevermind a discussion about how needlessly buried that file structure is - I'm sure this dichotomy of old/new sites and content is going to confuse plenty of .Mac customers if they ever want to get at any of those files, or make a backup of their sites or entire iDisk.But enough about my gripes, what do you guys think: do iWeb and its underpinning .Mac support have more issues besides CSS and standards? Let's hear your thoughts.
Enable blog and photocast comments in iWeb
Sweet: Blogger kfloydh points to an AppleScript called iComments actually lets you add a real comments feature to your blogs and photocasts in iWeb. It basically works like this: You add the term "insertCommentsHere" as text to your blog page in iWeb and then publish it. Run the iComments AppleScript and select the page with that text phrase in your iWeb site. Voila: iComments will tweak the page and add a "Comments" link that refers to an account (that you'll have to create) at HaloScan -- which remotely takes in and manages all the comments posted to your blog.Unfortunately, kfloydh notes that you'll have to perform these steps every time you publish your blog -- but if you want the simplicity of iWeb and the interactivity of a comments feature, iComments will make that possible without much hassle.Check out the demo at kfloydh's photocast page.[via MacBytes]
NetNewsWire to iWeb applescript
I think I've finally found the last reason I need to move my personal blog over to iWeb, thanks to a Ranchero blog post. The NetNewsWire to iWeb Applescript app bundle is pretty simple to set up: download the script and place it wherever you want. In NNW, simply chose this script (NOT iWeb) as your external weblog editor, and *bam* - you can now use Apple's slick new WYSIWYG iLife web app to blog NNW headlines to your heart's content.At the bottom of the post, the script's author mentions the possibility of creating similar scripts for Blogger.com and iBlog, just in case iWeb isn't your blog tool of choice.
Grudge match: Rapidweaver vs. iWeb
The term "grudge match" may be a little harsh, but the folks from Realmac Software will be at the Regent Street Apple Store in London on February 8th to give a side-by-side comparison of their application and Apple's. The Realmac folks will also offer a preview of the upcoming version 3.5 of Rapidweaver and have some free stuff to give away, like stickers, demo CDs and discount codes. The event is scheduled for 7:00PM - 8:00PM, so if you're in London and have nothing to do on that Wednesday night, go check it out.
iPhoto captions in iWeb?
OK members of the Mac Elite, I pose to you a question of Great Importance, the magnitude of which could determine the fate -- and maybe demise -- of the known universe. So answer wisely.Using iPhoto's ol'-fashioned Web Export, you were given the option to include the photo's comments on the page, making it easy to narrate your photo journal/album/etc. However, that option doesn't seem to be available when exporting to iWeb: all that shows up is the image's name.Is there a way to include the iPhoto comments when exporting/importing into iWeb? Or is this simply a shortsighted omission by Apple?
iLife 06 Tip: Edit iWeb sites on more than one Mac
I've been poking around in iWeb to create a wedding site for my fiance and I. While I really like the app, I share one of the big peeves around the web: sites created in it are only edit-able on the originating Mac.Thankfully, MacOSXHints has come to the rescue again, with a fairly simple method for giving your iWeb sites some portability so you can edit them on more than one Mac. Basically, the tip involves tracking down where the iWeb support/package file lives in your Home directory, moving it to something like a flash drive and creating an alias (of sorts) so iWeb is none the wiser.While this is a fairly simple work-around, I second MacOSXHInts' call to Apple: this really needs to be enabled natively so a work-around like this doesn't have to exist.
Apple Matters' first look at iWeb
James R. Stoup over at Apple Matters has a first-look review of iWeb that is probably worth checking out if you are curious about the product, but not yet willing to shell out the dough for the new iLife '06. I particularly like the "What iWeb isn't" section: "iWeb is NOT a general purpose website creation application. Do not make the mistake of thinking it is a scaled down version of Dreamweaver, as it most definitely is not. This application is designed to publish personal websites either to .Mac or to a folder to be used via another hosting service. It does nothing else."Check it out.
Karelia: "Lightning has indeed struck twice"
This has got to be frustrating. In an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Watson/Sherlock debacle, the folks at Karelia Software made an earlier-than-originally-planned public beta release of Sandvox available. Sandvox is a super-simple, WYSIWYG web editor that makes web site construction easy and fun. Sound a little like iWeb? I realize that no one has the exclusive rights to web editors, but the timing here is really unfortunate. From the Sandvox blog:"...some of the biggest limitations of iWeb (.mac only, not pluggable, no ability for HTML content) can become strengths for Sandvox. As we move forward past version 1.0, we will be able to further distinguish Sandvox from iWeb by focusing on features that our users demand that will never be a part of the iLife suite." Competition of this sort usually drives the production of better products. I, for one, am looking forward to what Karelia has in store.
iWeb code not so pretty
I put out a call for your iWeb produced pages and you answered in droves. Now, I'm no HTML/XHTML/CSS expert, but Todd Dominey is, and he isn't pleased with the code that he sees. The code is standards compliant, but it is doing some odd things that just aren't needed, or wanted.If you want the full scoop check out Todd's post.
First look at iWeb via a blog made with iWeb
iWeb, the newest member of the iLife family, has garnered lots of interest from web developers, bloggers, and podcasters. Will it be the end all and be all of web development? Ok, probably not, but will it make creating blogs easier?Sam Kass isn't so sure. He takes iWeb for a spin and comments on it via a blog he created with iWeb. He says it is painfully obvious this is 1.0 release, but it has potential.And for everyone wondering about the HTML output of iWeb, just check out the source on Sam's blog.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Check out the official .Mac blog
What's this? An honest-to-goodness blog from within Apple? Are you serious?Well, sort of. The .Mac blog is really just a promotion for iLife '06 and all of the swell things you can do with it as a .Mac subscriber. Still, it's the first iWeb-generated site I've laid my eyes on, and it's not bad. It would be nice to add a photo gallery, just so we could check it out. While it may not be especially informative, it is a decent demonstration of the product. I'll keep it in mind for when people ask, "So, what exactly does iWeb do again?"
Using iWeb to post to servers other than .Mac
I spent some time grilling some Apple employees about using iWeb with non-.Mac servers and I have some good news. It is possible. It isn't pretty, but it is possible.iWeb allows you to save your files to a local folder, or directly to .Mac. It has no built in FTP capabilities so it can't connect to a FTP server an upload files to your webserver, but you can upload the files that it saves on your computer yourself. Folder actions and some Applescript magic can do wonders, but I think Apple should have baked FTP support in the product.
Apple releases iLife 06, Photocasting, iWeb addition
Apple today unveiled iLife 06, a major update to their award-winning suite of multimedia applications. The largest updates came to iPhoto, which can now handle 250,000 photos and features better, full-screen editing options. A major new feature is called Photocasting, which will allow an iPhoto user to publish their photos to the web using RSS technology, allowing anyone to subscribe to a feed of their images and the ability to be notified of updates. You can also subscribe through your own copy of iPhoto 06, which will allow you to actually download the images and use them as if they were your own, enabling editing as well as ordering prints, cards and now calendars.GarageBand 3 now features a "Podcast Recording Studio," along with professional podcast sounds, a Podcast Radio Engineer, iChat Interview Recording and iMovie Scoring.iMovie HD 6 adds Apple-designed iMovie themes, real-time effects, cinematic real-time titling, enhanced audio tools and effects, multiple open projects and video podcast/blogging abilities.iDVD 6 brings Magic DVD, widescreen DVD abilities, an enhanced map view and the much-requested compatibility with 3rd-party DVD burners to the table.A new addition to the iLife family is iWeb, a much rumored new app that does what everyone had assumed: it will allow .Mac members to easily publish content from other iLife apps such as podcasts, imovies, photos, blogs and more to their .Mac space. It features Apple-designed templates, easy flexible site creation, and iLife media browser and one-click .Mac publishing. I guess there was a reason behind that 1 TB bandwidth upgrade back in Dec.Even with all these great new features, iLife 06 still sells a single license for only $79, with a 5-license pack for $99, and is available today at the online store. I'm sure local stores will have it in soon, as well.
TUAW predictions roundup for Macworld 06 keynote
Alright everyone, we're on the home stretch for tomorrow's keynote, and we thought it would be fun to round up predictions (hopes?) from some of the TUAW bloggers of what will be introduced. Some of these predictions might be honing in on rumors, others could simply be baseless hope for a particular product. The main point of this post is to spark some conversation about what we could see tomorrow to help pass the time and keep the shakes from setting in. So without further ado, here are TUAW's predictions for the Macworld 06 keynote: C.K. - black Intel iBooks running on flash memory Damien Barrett - a Mac mini media center with iLife '06, programmable remote Dave Caolo - iLife '06 including FrontRow David Chartier - a nearly-finished preview of 10.5 Leopard, with a release scheduled before Vista (like that's hard to do) Laurie A. Duncan - iWork 06 gets a major update, finally offering a viable alternative to Office for OS X Scott McNulty - Sell your songs on iTunes, publish your blog on .Mac, get your vlog streaming from Apple's servers Victor Agreda Jr - AirPort Express update that includes video streaming So there you have our hopes and predictions for what we'll see on stage tomorrow. I think we all agreed that we won't see any new iPods, as some of these potential new products (like a Mac mini media center) could really carry the line they have out now. Time will only tell, so until then, feel free to discuss.
iLife 06 and iWeb to be introduced at Macworld?
A MacRumors Forums user spotted the image to the right on Garageband's podcasting page earlier today. It lists iLife '06 (though the link just goes to the iLife page) and a mysterious application called 'iWeb.' iLife '06 seems like a no brainer, since I am sure Apple will be releasing this suite every year at Macworld.iWeb is the real interesting thing here. Is this some sort of web authoring tool? Will it have some uber-benefits for .Mac members? Is this all baseless speculation?We will soon find out.Thanks to gaboosh for sending this in.
