Want to purchase iweb but have questions. :)

Question

I am considering purchasing iweb and I have a few questions
1) I saw all of the webpages and they had no sound? is this typical?
2) how many websites can you have with the .mac account? and do we need iweb to make a website?
3) I wanted to make a website so that as soon as it loads a video (with sound ) will play without pressing a play button.
4) can i use final cut pro to produce a video for this webpage?
5) do i need .mac to run this web page? or do you all use other applications? please list other apps if any.
and last question..............(drum roll)
6) do I need to upgrade from my OS 10.3.9?
thank you all so much in advance for your kindness...
dave kc
g5 dual 2GHz 2gb ram   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

My answers pertain to using iWeb "as is" - which means not manually messing with the underlying html that it produces. Also, I don't have .mac, I use bluehost. so I will defer to any .mac users.
1. You can drag audio files on but they show up with controls and need to be started manually.
2. You can probably make lots of sites. .mac isn't very generous with disk space - that will most likely be your barrier.
3. You will have to alter the html to make this happen. By default you have to press play.
4. yes
5. no, but certain features such as a hit counter are dependent on .mac. also, uploading only the changes to the site depends on .mac. I use a terminal session and rsync.
6. no
iWeb is like the other i apps. it hides a lot from you. every time you publish to a folder ALL your sites will be published. this will only bother you if you don't use .mac - most likely. all your sites are kept in a single archive type file. It's made for people who know nothing about making a web page.
There is little flexibility. The sites follow templates based on CSS. IF you don't change the css your sites will be prevented from doing simple things like changing the color of web links.