If I publish a public website to my MobileMe account will my other content

Question

be public as well? I plan to create a website for a small "business" that I've started and would like to save web hosting expenses by using my MobileMe account, but I'm wondering if those visiting my website will then have access to the rest of my content on MobileMe? Even with password protecting photo galleries, etc. I would prefer that none of my content, even thumbnails, be visible to those visiting my website. Could I solve this by buying a domain name and using that?

Answer 1

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Visitors to your business site would have to know the URL of your personal site to be able to access it. If you password protect the personal site they couldn't get in event if they did know the URL.
Are you going to purchase a domain name for your business site and use it? If so there are some things to know:
1 - if you use the CNAME method of domain name forwarding the business site will need to the the top site in iWeb.
Click to view full size
So when you start building the site move it to the top of the left hand pane in iWeb.
If you plan on having more than one site with a domain name here is some info you should know:
Multiple Sites with Domain Name(s) in a Single MobileMe Account
Here's how to have multiple sites in a single MMe account with one or more sites having a domain name.
A. All sites are in the same Domain.sites2 files
1 - only one site can use the CNAME method of domain name forwarding and it must the top site in the left hand pane of iWeb.
Click to view full size
2 - the other sites must use URL domain name forwarding which directs the domain name to the site's full MMe URL, http://web.me.com/MMeUsername/SiteName, or, if there is no domain name, just MobileMe's full URL.
B. Each site is in its own Domain.sites2 file.
Again, only one site can use CNAME forwarding. This presents a problem since CNAME forwarding directs the domain name to the basic MMe account URL: http://web.me.com/MMe_Username/ which uses an index.html file in the root folder of the account, iDisk/Web/Sites. Each time a new site is published or an existing site uses the File->Publish Entire Site a new index.html file is created in that root directory, iDisk/Web/Sites folder, directing the browser to that particular site. This file is what the CNAME method uses to find the site it represents.
Therefore some steps must be taken to assure that the index.html file in the MMe Accounts root directory always points to the correct site. This can be accomplished is three ways.
1 - don't use the CNAME method. Just use URL forwarding . This, IMO, is the simplest method as it doesn't requre any additional effort on the user once the domain name has been set up.
2 - use the following method suggested by Wyodor in this topic: Is it possible to have multiple sites when using ur Domain name?
In iWeb domainfile 1:
Create a dummy site : _dummy
with a blank page.
Create your working site : Whatever
Add pages
Publish both Sites to the same same location on the same server.
Your _dummy site is now the default Site.
Check.
In iWeb domainfile 2:
Create/Use your CurrentSite.
Move a page to the top of the Site and back. Publish the Site.
iWeb will create a new index.html file in the root of the server and from now on CurrentSite is the default site.
Check.
From now on, never move your Whatever Site to the top of the list in the iWeb sidebar and never change the page in the _dummy site.
Simply do not touch your _dummy ever again. And never forget that.
3 - use Ethmoid's suggested method in Using two sites - setting one up with separate domain? or republishing the entire site that uses CNAME forwarding. Just making a minor change and publishing the site changes does not create a new index.html file.
The entire site must be republsihing in order to get that new site.
Or keep a copy of the CNAME site's index.html file on your Mac and replace it manually in the iDisk/Web/Sites fodler when necessary.
NOTE: the CNAME method provides a shorter URL: http://www.DomainName.com/Site_Name/PageName. CNAME does not have masking.
The URL forwarding displays the full MMe URL:
http://web.me.com/MMeUsername/Domain_Name/PageName.
With domain name masking that will be shortened to:
http://www.Domain_Name.com for every page of your site.
However, with masking visitors will only be able to bookmark and enter at the first page of the site. If a page is refreshed the visitor is taken back to the first page. Also search engines will only be able to index the first page of the site.
OT