Sandvox vs. RapidWeaver in lieu of iWeb

I am seeking a replacement for iWeb in the development of a web site for my photos. Does anyone have experience with Sandvox or RapidWeaver? I am seeking ease of use, drag and drop functionality for photos.
Thanks

They both have their advantages althougn RapidWeaver requires a lot of expensive add ons...
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/internet-roundup/building-your-own-website-sand vox-rapidweaver-or-flux/

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Best options for life (gulp) after iWeb...

Hey Gang,
Been using iWeb since its inception. I've learned to love it.
Well- with the begining of iCloud and the transition away from MobileMe I see the writing on the wall. I realize alot of people will continue to use iWeb but I want to be proactive as I have several business websites created on my iMac.
About 2 years ago I had a strange backup issue and lost everything. I nearly switched off of iWeb at that time but I just loved it too much.
I want to start making the switch sooner than later as I know that Apple will eventually not support iWeb. It's only a matter of time before there is some quirk with a new OS version and it probably just won't open or whatever it may be...
So- yesterday I spent 12 hours and tried out each of these sites: Wix, Snappages, Webs, Intuit Websites, Weebly, Yola, Google Sites, Jimdo, Roxer, Neosites, Vistaprint, Moonfruit, and Squarespace.
They all left ALOT to be desired except Squarespace. I think it has potential.
As an alternative, I also downloaded Adobe Muse and did not like it at all. I used Rapidweaver in the past and didn't think much of it. I see their new version is packed with tons of extra costs- no thanks!
I'm left with Sandvox which I am going to try today.
Here's my question: What do you folks suggest? Moving away from actual software (Sandvox)? Transitioning to web-based (Squarespace) ? I really like the drag/drop functionality of iWeb but realize I might have to make some concessions!
A concern is working on multiple sites that reside on my comouter and constantly having to backup. I might be creating 2-3 more sites for friends so that would mean I have close to 10. Do I really want to do that and essentially become a webmaster? No so sure.
I welcome all suggestions!
PS- I'm not a newbie but I also have not created and uploaded via an ftp/host. I do however have domains etc...
I'd like to do what is easiest and makes the most sense in the long run..
D

A few months ago I had a look around at what was available in the way of software and you can download a PDF from this page under "Alternative Website Design Software"...
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/iWeb/Why-iWeb.html
The main alternatives to iWeb, such as Sandvox and RapidWeaver, were not an option for me since they suffer from the same restrictions and cost a lot more. The other available drag and drop style software is either flawed or like, Freeway, antiquated and badly designed.
The online site builders do seem to offer a good alternative but they can be just as restrictive, cost a lot more and still produce huge ammounts of code. Some claim to be free but you need to look at the real cost - especially if you have more than one site. They do offer portable versions of the site suitable for iPhone etc and this has become a necessity - at least for a business site.
I chose to move on to a code entry style software and this has proved to be fairly easy since the one I use is WYSIWYG and I can see the changes in real time in the preview window. Its also cheaper than RapidWeaver and Sandvox and doesn't require add ons to optimize and upload the files.
HTML5 will allow us to build better, more efficient websites but its not quite there yet. If I hadn't made the move to code entry software I think I would have been tempted to stick with iWeb for the time being and use one of the online site builders to create a separate portable version for cell phones as a stop gap.
There has got to be a better way to create websites using drag and drop and I believe something will come along that will make apps like iWeb, Sandvox and RapidWeaver redundant. After all, why did Apple quit on iWeb?
iWeb does offer two alternatives for publishing...
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/iWeb/Publish-Website.html
... and there's any amount of hosting out there...
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/iWeb/Website-Hosting.html
The MobileMe only features can be replaced with alternatives if you need them...
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/iWeb/Comments-Password-Protect.html
"I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link."

State of iWeb replacement options...other ideas?

Like many others, I've been searching for an iWeb replacement. Here's my next findings:
Sandvox - way too dumbed down (can't even set page widith).
RapidWeaver - not WYSIWYG (editing is separate from layout), can't modify templates easily.
Muse - best candidate, but still in beta (and that subscription model....)
Freeway Pro/Express - WYSIWYG but not free layout (i.e. can't put an image where you want it - it flows with the text) - still requires knowledge of HTML, tables, etc.
Dreamweaver - heavy duty, not remotely free layout, requires HTML knowledge.
Flux - Dreamweaver done right, but still requires knowledge of HTML layout, and doesn't do free layout.
In other words, there's no decent iWeb replacement out there right now that I can find. Here's what 'decent' means in my mind:
1) Able to publish to any server
2) True WYSIWYG (edit and preview together)
3) Able to do basic site formatting (like page width) without hand-editing CSS (or breaking open app bundles)
4) Able to do drag/drop placement of images and text without futzing with tables, etc (i.e. free layout).
Maybe in sum, what I'm looking for is an iWeb that generates good code :-).
Have I missed any options?

I have played with a bunch of different iWeb replacement programs. I have a product brochure that I am transferring to a web page and I have tried it in just about all of the packages you mentioned (just not dreamweaver or Muse). In Sandvox and Rapidweaver, I gave up; I could not get the programs to display what I wanted. Kind of a shame because the interface seems very nice otherwise. I was pretty convinced that Flux was the best I was going to get. Flux is overall good and gives a lot of flexibility. It is not as difficult to learn to be productive as it might seem given its easy access to the HTML code being generated. As discussed above, putting stuff in div elements and walking them around the site is pretty easy to do. I have tried to get fancy with a few things, but each time, I got twisted to the point that my project became un-workable. I can accept that this is because I am not a code guy, but then again, I am also looking for something that helps me avoid code as much as possible. I was disappointed that after I got my site organized in Flux the way I wanted it, I could not get it to display correctly in either Firefox or Safari. Not sure what I did wrong, but was not about to start over. I am sure I can get there with Flux, but I think they still have some work to do before the program is really a viable option for non-developer / weekend designer types like me.
I was very surprised how much I like Freeway. I think this is the way to go. I have been playing with the pro version and I can drag photos directly in and place them anywhere without any trouble. I can mask (or crop) easily with drag and drop simplicity too. It is not too bad getting into the tables when I need to to modify page sizes or HTML text details. Right now, I am pretty enamored by Freeway as a replacement. I think it is very well done and I was able to generate my brochure very quickly without ever using the program before. I should give credit to Flux for some of that. After the time I put in with it, I picked up a little bit about styles and site organization that helped me understand better what I was doing in Freeway.
As a benchmark, it took me about 3 hrs to create my page in Flux (but again, it did not publish well in the two browsers) and about 45 min in Freeway from a cold start (and the page published fine). Sandvox and Rapidweaver Did Not Finish because I could not get the layout I wanted. I will try Muse as well as the standard version of Freeway to see how those compare.
For reference, I created my page in iWeb in 20 min. I have no idea what the code looked like, but it published as expected and seemed fine for my purposes. I too will miss that program.

How to move iWeb site with missing Domain.sites file

I've been asked to host a friend's iWeb site now that MobileMe is no longer an option. The problem is that the MacBook it was created with is long gone and the only original files remaining are the image files for the site. No Domain.sites file. They are also not sure which version of iWeb was used, if that even matters. Initially I was thinking we could just access the existing site using ftp and go from there - upload the site to my hosting account and use Dreamweaver to maintain it, but everything I've read seems to point to 'Not gonna happen that way'.
Is there a way to transfer an existing iWeb site hosted on MobileMe to a new hosting account and be able to work on it with another editor, all the while not having the original Domain.sites(2) file?
Thanks much,
Mark

Quite a few people are moving to other drag and drop style editors like Sandvox and RapidWeaver although they aren't really any better - just more expensive.
I advise people not to use iWeb for new sites and just to keep it going to update existing ones until they are defunct or rebuilt some other way.
I quit using iWeb about a year ago due to the fact that it, and similar apps, can't create responsive designs for mobile devices although I did figure out a stop gap design for iPhones...
http://www.iwebformusicians.com/iWeb/Mobile-iWeb.html

Program to replace iWeb

Since we have to go to somewhere else to publish our web pages, besides a new site, what about using some other software for site creations besides iWeb?
Barb

If you want to stay within the realm of WYSIWYG, then Sandvox and RapidWeaver are probably your best bets.
http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/
http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/overview/
If you want to be a bit more adventerous, I would recommend using WordPress, or WebDesign (for those who know HTML or want to learn HTML).
http://wordpress.com/
http://www.ragesw.com/products/webdesign.html

Which website builder is the closest in use to iweb?

I am thinking of leaving iweb before it leaves me. Which website builder is closest in use to iweb? Has anyone used Sandvox or RapidWeaver? Are these close? Is something better/easier/closer to iweb? I'd also want it to be easy to upload to a third party host and as easy as iweb to edit the contents. Thanks.

Dreamweaver is probably not the way to go, as it is very expensive and quite hard to learn.
I have looked at both RapidWeaver and Sandvox and don't particularly like them - you can't start from a blank page and it is not easy to drop and drag items around like it is in iWeb.
Look at something like Freeway Express that is available in the Mac App Store - you can start with a blank page here and this is probably nearer to iWeb. It is certainly cheaper than RapidWeaver.
Also, have a look at Flux 3 that is also available in the Mac App Store. A little harder and more expensive than Freeway.
You then have other choices such as Content Management Systems such as Drupal and Joomla - you can use these if you have hosting with a company or you could try http://www.wordpress.com where you can build a site and it will be published on the WordPress servers, but you can also pay extra to add a domain name. Although WordPress is really for blogs you can build your whole site with it and you can have your blog too.
Also have a look at http://www.weebly.com - this is an online solution where you can create a website and have a blog and there are shopping cart facilities too. There are different levels that you can pay for where you can add your domain to your site etc.
There are a lot of possibilities out there, but in the end you just need to look at what is best for you.

Is iWork comatable with iWeb?

I've used iWeb08 but there were not many templates to choose from. I started to customise them and started having fun. However, I just downloaded the free trial version of iWork while I watch the clock for iLife09 to get into the shops in Thailand.
It's the first time I've opened and version of iWork and the templates are all great looking and more like the websites I want to make. Is there a way to get the iWork templates to open up in iWeb? Can I create a website in iWork? and publish in much the same way I can publish from iPhoto to web gallery?
I really like iWeb but haven't seen more than two new templates in the promo. I know about the cool new features they've added in their promo.

A web page and a printed page are not the same. So you can not just copy the Pages templates over to iWeb. The closest you would get would be to save as a .pdf file with interactivity linked into your website.
You could of course match the look by taking the graphical elements of whatever Pages templates you like and reconstructing them as web pages.
For that you will find RapidWeaver and Sandvox much easier to handle than iWeb.

Is iWeb Really "What You See is all You'll Get"

Not an articulate title I know, but I've been coming to the realization that iWeb has seen it's last updates. I've been holding out hope for iWeb Pro. I still plan on using iWeb for some time to come, but here's my question. Will IOS kill iWeb. Right now my iWeb sites seem to look and act fine on IOS devises, with the exception of the iWeb standard Slideshow that used when publishing to FTP. On my photo album pages, the slideshows work on IOS, but the second line or more of the photo description is cut off. So is this a problem with iWeb not publishing HTML 5 compliant sites.
Alot of my customers are now viewing my site on iPhones and iPads and I want to be sure the viewing experience is equal on both Desktop and Mobile devises.
So I'm assuming that many iWeb users are more so experimenting with other Apps such as Rapidweaver, Sandvox, Freeway, Macflux and more. Most of the posts I've searched on the iWeb Forum are from 2010 and mid 2011. Does anyone have any 2012 input as to my HTML5 question in regards to iWeb and IOS and or with other website apps.
Ref: I've only downloaded trial versions of Sandvox 2, Rapidweaver and I will download Freeway tonight. Apps are either to complicated or to restraining. Still like iWeb the best.

2012 is only 19 days old.
Progress is fast, but not that fast that your 2011 info has become obsolete.
iWeb is HTML compliant. And your photo problem has nothing to do with HTML5. When viewed on a mobile device, the browser chooses the mobile version of the photo slideshow page.
<script type="text/javascript"> // <![CDATA[ if(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/)) { location = 'phoneshow.html' + location.search; } // ]]> </script>
Simply make the text fit. Rewrite the captions.

I need an iWeb alternative

So since iweb and mobile me are being discontinued I need a new alternative. Does anyone know a website builder that works like iweb? With the same building style. Also is it possibe to transfer my iweb file to the new website builder so I don't have to start over. I have put a lot of time and hard work into my website and I don't want to try to remake it. I have a godaddy domain so would I use godaddy to publish my site? Or is there something better?
My site is: http://www.josephtubb.com
Thanks

It really depends on what type of website you have.
iWeb and similar apps are probably OK for the "standard" website with text and images. If your website includes other media such as movies and music, you need to work a little harder. Displaying these using the QuickTime plugin was never the answer and, nowadays, neither is flash. YouTube (and its far superior rival Vimeo) seems to be the easy answer and, it probably is if you want your site to look like a zillion others.
Online site builders, like the much touted Weebly, don't provide the answer either. Weebly uses the standalone version of the Wordpress mp3 player and an ancient version of the JWLongtail video player. Both are way out of date and won't function on most portable devices. Far from being free, except in their most mundane form, this method of site creation is a lot less versatile than using applications such as iWeb and will end up a lot more costly in the long run.
A lot of the emails I get are from musicians who use HostBaby wanting to change to iWeb. The main reasons being the high cost of a HostBaby site and the lack of ability to produce a unique design.
Having looked "under the hood" of some of the designs that claim to be suitable for all devices, I'm not impressed. On the other hand, if you create a version of your site suitable for cell phones using the available online resources, your going to have to accept their almost non existent ability to play media.
Right now, I wouldn't recommend any direct replacement for iWeb. As I mentioned previously, why replace iWeb with something that's equally redundant such as SandVox and RapidWeaver or the hopelessly antiquated Freeway? Ask your self why Apple is quitting on iWeb. It would make an interesting topic in this forum!
Making the move to code entry style software is not as difficult as it appears to be. Most of the so called professional designs out there are built from "templates" in the form of stock CSS stylesheets. Modifying them is a no brainer compared with trying to produce a template for an app like iWeb. Most of the code entry style software is WYSIWYG and, the better ones, show the changes in real time.
If you want to stick with drag and drop, you'll need to wait for the next big thing. You don't need to change but the problem is that standing still is equivalent to going backwards!

Migrating iWeb content

Hi,
I'm considering SandVox or RapidWeaver to replace iWeb and to find a decent web hosting provider for my site. I plan to build the site from scratch but it is one thing I'd like to migrate if possible. I've done a blog in iWeb for a project of mine and it contains about 50 posts with pictures, text in two languages and comments. Recreating this would take some time. Is there any way to migrate this into the new environment, or at least save the content to be reused when creating the new site?
Thanks...
/Mans

Just a heads up: user mariahb tried iWeb to Rage and had so much trouble that she go a refund from Rage. She reported that the support person told her they were discontinuning the product. See her post in this topic; comment box not showing up: Apple Support Communities.
However it doesn't appear to have been taken off market at their website. Just something to consider.
OT

Must I change iWeb?, must I change iWeb?

Is it neccesary to change from Iweb to a other programm )like sandvox), or can i work with iWeb in the next years?
helmut-eugen

Info About iWeb Curtesy of Old Toad
As you now know iWeb and iDVD have been discontinued by Apple. This is evidenced by the fact that new Macs are shipping with iLife 11 installed but without iWeb and iDVD.   On June 30, 2012 MobileMe will be shutdown. HOWEVER, iWeb will still continue to work but without the following:
Features No Longer Available Once MobileMe is Discontinued:
◼ Password protection
◼ Blog and photo comments
◼ Blog search
◼ Hit counter
◼ MobileMe Gallery
Currently if the site is published directly from iWeb to the 3rd party server the RSS feed and slideshow subscription features will work. However, if the site is first published to a folder on the hard drive and then uploaded to the sever with a 3rd party FTP client those two features will be broken.   All of these features can be replaced with 3rd party options.   There's another problem and that's with iWeb's popup slideshows. Once the MMe servers are no longer online the popup slideshow buttons will not display their images.
   However, Roddy McKay and I have figured out a way to modify existing sites with those slideshows and iWeb itself so that those images will display as expected once MobileMe servers are gone. How to is described in this tutorial: iW14 - Modify iWeb So Popup Slideshows Will Work After MobileMe is Discontinued.
This also may be of interest to you: Life After MobileMe.
OT

Sandvox and "mapping"

I did a lot of researching of simple to use website creators and SandVox impressed me. I watched their video and understood it because it was very familiar and looked a lot like iWeb. Still, I am open to hearing more recommendations of good, easy, website creating applications.
Question: What exactly is "mapping"? This came up in the Rapid Weaver application and was never mentioned in iWeb.
Is mapping just a way of planning how the pages interact in a site? The hierarchy of pages and subpages? Is mapping my site just me deciding how I am going to present the pages?
-L

Just want to put my comments and praise about Sandvox. I moved to it from iWeb and found it pretty easy to use. There seem to be three classes of web designers, from those who are like me, people who want simple sites to put info up, to the second class who are into coding and sites with advanced features, and then (3) those people who are the pros...they make great sites but they get paid a lot and what they do is time consuming and difficult.
Sandvox lets one put up an iWeb type site quickly. I put up http://www.humanrightscity.com after watching a few tutorials and just diving in. It isn't professional quality, but then, neither am I. If I were a dentist, say, and needed a simple site to advertise my business and put up a map, Sandvox would be great.
Weebly also does this, but has a free version.
Hugh

I used to manage 3 websites using both my imac and macbook, using dropbox, however I can no longer access them from my mac book.

I have been managing 3 websites using iWeb for the last several years, using both my iMac and Macbook. However for the last two weeks, I can no longer access these sites from my macbook. It appears "empty". When I first started seeing this, I took it to the Genius Bar in another city and he moved some library contents to my desktop - still didin't help.
I know iWeb is a thing of the past, but I can't stop right now and learn something new for about the next 4 weeks (in a sports team in the middle of a season)
. After that, I will have time to learn a new product.
Also, what is a suggestion for replacing iWeb? Sandvox? Rapid Weaver?
Thanks!

What do you mean when you say you "can no longer access these sites?" Does that mean you can't connect to those sites in your web browser, or that they aren't showing up in iWeb?
If the latter, note that your iWeb data is all entirely stored in a hidden file. In the Finder, choose Go -> Go To Folder and paste the following path into the window that opens:
~/Library/Application Support/iWeb
In that folder, you will find a single file, called Domain. That's got all the data for all your iWeb sites. If that file is missing, or if it has become corrupt, you will need to restore it from an earlier backup.
As for replacing iWeb, either Sandvox or RapidWeaver should work. Which works best will depend on your own tastes. Note that neither is capable of fully importing iWeb sites, as those sites will have a lot of content that is copyrighted by Apple. For more information about transitioning to one of these products, see:
http://rapidweaverfaq.org/site/migrating_from_iWeb.html
http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/help/z/Transitioning_from_iWeb.html

I can no longer access Yahoo from desktop icon; attempt to report this to Firefox fails. Help.

I have always been able to access Yahoo from my desktop icon. In the last few days, this has not worked 90% of the time (once in a while I can get through). I need to access it through my Verizon account. Why is this suddenly happening - for years I have been able to use the Yahoo icon.
And when I tried to send a help message to Firefox it refused to go through - the green line would go over and over and never finish.

What do you mean when you say you "can no longer access these sites?" Does that mean you can't connect to those sites in your web browser, or that they aren't showing up in iWeb?
If the latter, note that your iWeb data is all entirely stored in a hidden file. In the Finder, choose Go -> Go To Folder and paste the following path into the window that opens:
~/Library/Application Support/iWeb
In that folder, you will find a single file, called Domain. That's got all the data for all your iWeb sites. If that file is missing, or if it has become corrupt, you will need to restore it from an earlier backup.
As for replacing iWeb, either Sandvox or RapidWeaver should work. Which works best will depend on your own tastes. Note that neither is capable of fully importing iWeb sites, as those sites will have a lot of content that is copyrighted by Apple. For more information about transitioning to one of these products, see:
http://rapidweaverfaq.org/site/migrating_from_iWeb.html
http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/help/z/Transitioning_from_iWeb.html

I am creating an I-Web webpage. When I add pages, the only way to navigate throught the pages is with the menu bar on the left. How do I navigate to each page on the actual website?

I am creating a website using i-web. When I add pages, they appear at the top of the webpage, but I cannot navigate to each page in the navigation bar. I can only navigate in the menu bar located on the left side of the program.
How do I navigate thru the website?

You don't unfortunately, iWeb though great does not allow that funtion.
If it is a deal breaker for you I would suggest SandVox or RapidWeaver.
I personal like SandVox
How ever my website is WordPress, you have to understand a little code, but a lot more freedom
LearnFromLee
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link. <Edited by Host>

Sandvox vs. RapidWeaver in lieu of iWeb

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