Considering iWeb/iPhoto, Few questions...

Question

I havent used iPhoto in some time, but recently am thinking about switching to it to make pic mgmt easier. I also regularly use JAlbum to create and post a photo site with about ~1800 pics in it and another site with ~200 pics in it.
I have a site structure something like this:
/Main Index
.../John
....../Birthday
....../AtWork
.../Mary
....../Birthday
....../1MonthOld
....../2MonthsOld
....../1YearOld
....../2YearsOld
.../TripsEvents
....../GrandCanyon
....../Skiing
....../Halloween07
....../Halloween08
I've read alot of posts in here and am confused about the term "Domain" when used with the iWeb application. I do have my own domain where I host my photo site and blog, but I don't think that is what is being referred to as "domain".
My questions are:
1) Is an iWeb domain, basically a "site"? One set of html pages/images? Like each structure above being a "domain"?
2) With 09, the ability to manage multiple "domains" seems to be coming. Given my description above, it sounds like it will do what I want. Am I wrong?
3) If I add 30 pics to a gallery does iWeb upload the entire thing or just the changes. I read in getting started that it would "sync" it and I assume it means just changes are published. Is this correct?
4) How fast is it? Can it manage 2000 pictures across mutliple sites efficiently on a Powerbook G4 1.67hgz with 1.5gb ram?
Thx in advance. I dont want to purchase until I know it will do what I want.

Answer 1

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
1 - there's the Domain.sites2 file/package that resides in your User/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder. This package contains all of the files that you add to your web site and the necessary files that iWeb adds for creating a finished web site. It is the heart and soul of your site. If it's deleted or otherwise lost you'll have to start over from scratch to rebuild your site. There's also the domain name which is a name you can purchase from a domain name provider and have forwarded to your site. So when someone enters your special domain name in the browser URL window it will take them to your site.
2 - not sure what you mean. Your structure only shows one site or is John, Mary, TripEvents separate sites? If all of that is in one site it can get unwieldy. I have a personal site of over 45 individual sites. Each individual site acts like a page in the overall site. That way I can add new sites, do publish all to MMe for a site without having to publish every other page or site. Just what ever works best for you. I currently use iWebSites to manage my multiple sites, create and rename new sites, etc. It's not clear to me if the reference to managing multiple sites for iWeb 09 refers to individual site domain files or multiple sites within one domain file as it is now. We'll just have to wait and see when it's shipped.
For what it's worth, I use iWebSites to manage over 40 individual sites.. It lets me create multiple sites and multiple domain files.
If you have multiple sites in one domain file here's the workflow I used to split them into individual site files with iWebSites. Be sure to make a backup copy of your original Domain.sites files before starting the splitting process and move it to another location on your HD until you're satisfied the separation process is completed and what you want.
This lets me edit several sites and only republish the one I want. Again, it works for me.
3 - are you referring to an iPhoto web gallery or an iWeb album? In iPhoto only the changes are uploaded or removed for the gallery. It's the same in iWeb.
4 - If everything was in one domain file it could get a little sluggish. My slowest computer that I work with iWeb is my G5 (see below). One of my sites, my test site is 33 pages and has a variety of examples of different "stuff' on it and it does get a little slow when typing in a text box. Moving things around, however, does not seem to be affected.
OT