I’ve played around with iWeb several times since it first came out, but I never really gave it much thought, as it always seemed pretty limited for what I wanted it to do. Recently however I was having a conversation with a friend who showed me some of the things they were doing with it and I was pretty impressed. So I decided to give it a second chance and have a good, deep exploration of the software’s capabilities. I have to say, I was really impressed with what I found. But this is not a review, because there are plenty of those around the internet already, instead I’d like to discuss what I think iWeb could be, because iWeb has, in my opinion huge potential. There is nothing really like it on any platform from what I can see, yet it is limited, partly for the audience it is aimed at. But with maybe 10 percent more functionality, iWeb could be 100 percent more useful. With that in mind, rather than cannibalize the iLife suite, I think Apple could really shake the web design market up if they came out with a professional version of iWeb.
There are plenty of visual web editors out there, and many offer significantly more functionality than iWeb, but none offer the same kind of features iWeb has. Take adding pictures to a page for example. You can quickly add picture frames, position them anywhere, scale and rotate, have drag and drop replacements all with relative ease. Programs like Softpress Freeway allow you to visually lay out your page, but to do what you can do in iWeb you’d need to prep everything in Photoshop first, and then changes would be a pain. [UPDATE: Certainly Applications like Freeway allow you to import images and graphics of any kind into the software, but what I am referring to is the way iWeb comes with templates and drop zones for various items, such as the cool picture frames, where you can just drag and drop into the drop zone to replace an image, or the way it generates gallery links for photo pages automatically. This is a great timesaver and really flexible. You could certainly do this in other software but it would require more work. The way iWeb does this (and Dvd studio pro too) is just brilliant]
With iWeb it’s so simple to create visually powerful layouts in minutes an yet some simple things are equally frustrating, such as changing the width of your site. To do this you have to edit every new page, and then things don’t flow properly so you have to go change that, and there is no way to do this on a master basis.
If you look at some of Apple’s other Applications though, you can see some ideas that would work really well with iWeb. Take keynote for example. It’s ability to create and edit master pages would make iWeb considerably more useful. If you could edit the master pages of themes, it would be so much easier to create customized sites. Another similar paradigm is DVD Studio Pro. It’s menu layout system has some neat features that would greatly enhance a professional version of iWeb, such as the ability to store libraries of custom styles for buttons, text etc.As I said, I don’t think it would actually require that much as Apple has most of the technology in its other software, it’s just a matter of rolling it into a new package. (And yes, I know that’s not as easy as It sounds)
So here is a list of 10 things I think iWeb Pro, for want of a better name could have to make it a powerful entry into the web design field:
1. Ability to edit master pages and templates like Keynote. SO for example you can select a theme and then edit the master pages that make up that theme so that any new pages you create will be based on your modified masters. Also, you should have the ability to save your changes as a new theme.
2. Ability to make site wide styles and changes that affect your entire site. Much like working with CSS in traditional web design
3. Come with a library of objects and images, much like DVD studio Pro, SoundTrack pro, Motion etc.
4. Ability to create custom libraries of Button Styles, Layouts, Text Styles etc, in the same way you can with DVD Studio Pro.
5. Built in FTP Client.
6. More pre-defined web widgets
7. Plug in Architecture for web widgets, much like the way wordpress widgets work
8. On Screen rulers and grids and (non dynamic) guides for precision layouts
9. Some kind of support for server based blogging, in other words, you’re not limited to updating your blog through iWeb
10. Support for dynamic and animated elements, even if it’s just basic custom roll overs, or menu effects.
So there you have it. I don’t think any of this is too ambitious or too much to ask for, but you could end up with a pretty powerful web design system that fills a badly needed hole in the current line up of web design tools. I for one would buy it in a heart beat. In the mean time I’m going back to seeing how far i can push iWeb.
[UPDATE 2: In response to the comment below, I don't mean to take away from other Web Development packages such as Freeway, Dreamweaver or Golive. All are great packages. I think iWeb's way of doing things is uniquely Apple, that it would be great if it just past some of it's limitations to attract a wider audience.]
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This is a very insightful and well-written article. I applaud you for opening this discussion, Thomas.
I do want to point out one small but significant error in your article, specific to the functionality of our layout-based HTML generator, Freeway. You state that with Freeway you can “visually lay out your page, but to do what you can do in iWeb you’d need to prep everything in Photoshop first, and then changes would be a pain.” This is not true. With Freeway Pro, you can drag and drop virtually any graphics file – including not only GIFs, JPEGs and PNGs but also PSDs, TIFFs, EPS files, Illustrator files, and a bunch more. Freeway will handle the necessary conversion and downsampling, according to your wishes.
If you wish to change the original file at a later date, you can. For example, if you have a PSD in your design, Freeway allows you to open the original file in Photoshop if you wish. Simple effects including drop shadows, glows, cropping and more can be handled directly in Freeway, of course.
I hope this helps shed some light on the functionality of Freeway. In fact, looking through your wish list for iWeb Pro, I’d encourage you and your readers to check out Freeway. It can do all of these things and more!
Ian Schray
US Marketing Manager
Softpress Systems Ltd
http://www.softpress.com
Ian
Thanks for the Comment. I will certainly give Freeway a more thorough testing, however what I was referring to was iWebs ability to have drop zones with pre-existing frames. Things like the Polaroid and sellotape picture frames etc. This would require you to pre-make these kind of elements in Photoshop and then insert them. That is what I meant.
I realise that I did not make this clear in the article, and I in no way meant to imply Freeway couldn’t import or handle graphics files. I will amend to make the point I was trying to make clearer.
Thanks again for your comment.
Sorry for the confusion
I congratulate you for your article. As a user of iWeb I had the same thought, googled the words iWeb Pro and got to your post.
I share the same wish.
G-
# 11 Creating as many new sites as desired and being able to publish
each one individually or FTP one page at a time if necessary, just so you can make minor corrections without have to commit all webs sites just to change couple of words. I do alot of video and republishing is a pain in the butt!!
Thanks
midijack
lola freeway. In a word. Pass. iWeb Pro with full access to the html would be sweet.
Alas Apple is stupid when it comes to as my friend puts it best. A great 1.0 program design company. They just never get past that when it comes to giving users advanced features and control.
And never will.
Yeah, that lark Final Cut never got off the ground.
Like to see the goodness in iWeb ’09 in Feb.
It’s a great way to ease into Web design from straight graphic design; code horrifies me.
iLove iWeb, iHate coding, just too left brain for me, iLike to work up a design with paper and a few really nice pencils, B6 to H, then dive on my sweet mbp and iWeb and Keynote! iWeb Pro sounds like it would be super! Less coding than DW, with all the Flexibility!
I’ve been using iWeb to build really decent custom pro sites for my very happy customers for a while, pushing the limits of it. I too wish there was a “pro” version coming out. Sure would be nice. I’m a designer and do not wish to spend untold hours learning left brain style code when I can easily do what I need in iweb. When sites get more complex, I have no problems handing that over to a proper tech, but until then, there is much I can and offer to my clients with iweb.
My iWeb Pro wish list would also include the ability to create forms, less complicated URL”S on mobile me if you care to use it, if you don’t, full functionality of blogs and the like. I rarely use the templates native to iWeb so the ability to create and save master pages would be a real big time saver for me, as well as site wide changes.
One of the biggest problems is still the URL thing, blogging on iWebb gives you a great deal of flexibility, but it is a hassle when you want to take advantage of outside services. The cumbersome addresses and RSS/XML feed names can make it cumbersome though generally not insurmountable to do what bloggers on wordpress and the like can do with ease.
Pograms like iWeb buddy are great, but it would be nice if you could do more things in iWeb natively, like, creating and installing favicons, something I still have been unable to do even with iWeb Buddy. I know it can be done because I have seen it, but I just can’t seem to make that trick work. Great article! Funny, I too googled iWeb Pro just to see what would come up.
as a profess. artist i am fully happy with iWeb an the flexibility in my website http://www.art-meets-science.com
yes thomas: fully apple.drived. code becomes generated under the table (as we are used with postscript since 1984).
for http://ftp.upload TRANSMIT is the perfect tool for me.
i just use SMULTRON (searches / changes multiple docs simultaneously) to edit title-, description-, meta-, alt-tags in html.file.
very helpful is ‘iFuWeb’, a tool, to change hundreds of alt-tags (in all pages) in one step in a second . . . and many other things like running text, favicon etc.