TONS of broken software after downgrade from Lion...

Question

Ihave a 13" MBP with the 2.3GZz Intel COre i5 processor.  Itcame with Snow Leopard and in a moment of foolishness (Mac Newbie) Ispent the $29 and updated to Lion as soon as it came out.  Needlessto say, I was very unimpressed as I lost Front Page, Expose, andSpaces.  After a few days of hair pulling and research, I goteverything back to normal on Snow Leopard, so I thought.  Acouple programs were broken, some completely missing. 
Igot it all working again though, so I thought.  Now months laterI just discovered that I didn't.  And I am stuck without abackup, due to the amount of time passed, that can get this sortedout.  After discovering one of my broken programs, I wentthrough and checked everything and discovered a slew of broken items. Everything on this list, I am pretty sure got updated on Lion,and was working fine before the change to Lion, then fine onceupdated on Lion.  Apparently I did not check well after goingback to Snow Leopard... 
Thereare a few random items, and then a bunch doing almost the same thing. I think some sort of library got damaged.  I would havethought restoring to the backup would have fixed this.  Themethod I used was to wipe the HDD with the Install DVD, thenreinstalled on a blank machine, and restored via the install discs. Here is hopefully a full list of the broken items.
1) Desktop and Screen Saver via Preferences or the pop up ChangeDesktop Background.  However I access this it will bring uppreferences and then quit as it tries to access the second part. Oddly I found that going through every screen in preferencesand changing a few items back and forth, temporarily fixes this.  Butafter correctly accessing the desktop background 1 or 2 times, itlocks up again.  I can change the background by selecting theoption in Safari though...
2) Final Cut Pro takes FOREVER to stop bouncing in the dock(1-2minutes+ before it "loads" and stops bouncing) and goesinto the "restoring window layout" screen.  Eventuallyyou can access menus above and it appears to be working even thoughthe startup box is still there.  But if you try to select aproject, you get back the whole "restoring windows layout"and nothing ever actually happens.
Therest of the problems are all with the iWorks software suite.  Noneof it works.  iTunes was also broken, but it was the first thingI fixed via a simple reinstall.
3) iWeb is basically all grayed out.  It loads up quickly,but no projects open.  And in the taskbar I can't open a newproject.  I did have a website I had been building (no big dealif lost).
4) iDvd seems to be okay at first.  Opens and the new projectselection comes up.  Select one and it opens.  But thepinwheel keeps spinning and after 5-10 seconds it shuts down withnothing happening.
5) iMovie opens in dock, but never actually allows access.  Mostof the menu items remain grayed out.
6) iPhoto never even opens.  It claims to be damaged orincomplete and crashes.  I had never noticed as I use Aperturemost of the time.  Speaking of that though, I have some sort ofbroken libraries issue.  Browsing in Aperture I can seeeverything.  But I have seen an odd "libraries missing"when trying to add pictures from outside of Aperture.  I can'tremember where I was doing that, most likely Mail.  In fact inthe Applications folder it is crossed out like you see sometimesafter an update before a reboot.   
Mailamazingly is working fine with the bounce option back.  I dohave issues with it sending emails from the wrong gmail account attimes (I have three setup in it), but I think that is just me... Garage Band also seems to be working fine. 
Ithink that covers it all.  It seems like some sort of library orapplication support database got damaged?  I have triedrepairing them from the Software reinstall DVD (I have both OE discsstill).   

Answer 1

James Somners wrote:
iPhoto now opens and claims my library was edited with a newer version.  "Do you want to make a new library or quit?"  I do not remember upgrading iPhoto, I only used it for the first week or so,
Did you ever open the iPhoto library with iPhoto on Lion?  That's what it sounds like. 
iWeb is 3.0.4 (601)
That's the most up-to-date version, and runs on either Lion (with a few quirks), or Snow Leopard.
iDvd won't stay open long enough to check.
Select and right-click it and choose Get Info.
I don't use it anymore, but 7.1.2 opens on Lion and Snow Leopard for me.
iMovie is 9.0.4 (1634)  and says "iMovie '11"
I never upgraded from 8.0.6, and don't use it anyway, but that should work.
GarageBand is 6.0.4 (427.84) and also says "GarageBand '11"
Also never updated from 5.1, but that should work.
And sure enough in the themes folder for iDvd, I see one for iDvd6, and one for iDvd7.  Sooo um what is the best course to fix this?  Reinstall iLife '11?  Or reinstall the older stuff via my disc again?
I'm not sure that's a problem.  It may be so you can use the old themes with the new version.  You might want to check that in the iDVD forum at https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/idvd
I do find both of those in my /Library/Application Support/iDVD/Themes folder (and a Tutorial folder).
In my ~/Library/Application Support/iDVD/Installed Themes folder, is only iDVD 6
I suspect that's correct, the difference being the names Themes vs. Installed Themes.
It doesn't sound like preference file problems, but have you deleted the appropriate ones (without the app being open)? 
What messages do you get in your system.log when you try to open these apps?
Otherwise, I'm about out of ideas here.  I can't imagine what's going on -- it sure looks like you have the right versions of these, at least.