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My iWeb wish list

W

wordwench

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 16, 2007
32
0
As I am struggling with a new iWeb designed site, I have developed a list of what I would like iWeb to do:

#1-allow chosen links to open in a separate window. I had to search out the correct HTML code online, and now have to copy and paste it in manually each time I edit and re-launch)

#2-insert the correct HTML code for symbols (Like the c-in-a-circle for "copyright" etc). Though iWeb does provide a menu of symbols you can add to your site, something gets corrupted in the translation to the net and they appear online as random marks only, "????", etc.

Again, something I have to fix manually each time I edit/republish). On. Each. Page.

#3 Be able to add a nav. bar anywhere on the page, not just the top. (I prefer mine at the bottom and had to create separate text boxes, which created many annoying symbols I had to manually delete)

#4 Faster load time- especially for sites that are image-heavy, like mine. I have seen this on other iWeb designed sites, not just mine. If it is a business site (like mine) you run the risk of losing visitors and potential clients waiting for a slow page to load.

#5 Also, it would be nice to have some guidance on HOW and where in the HTML code to add meta tag names and key words. Just a thought.

As I am far from an HTML pro, I purchased this program SPECIFICALLY to avoid HTML coding issues.

What say you, Apple?

here is the result- still a work in progress:

www.claudiajulian.com

Thank you for letting me vent.
 
In the copyright notice at the very bottom your missing a space in "usedin" ;)
 
WillJS said:
In the copyright notice at the very bottom your missing a space in "usedin" ;)
Click to expand...


See? this is exactly what I mean- there is a space on all my pages in iWeb, but not after the site is launched. Details details..

Thanks.

Which page do you see it on?
 
Rapidweaver VS iWeb

Eraserhead said:
I would suggest giving RapidWeaver a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks. How hard is it to transfer files from iWeb over to another program? Isn't iWeb easier to use?

Also, my problem isn't with iWeb per se, it's with what happens to the site after it's launched via another ISP (not .Mac) and via an FTP (I used Fetch).
 
wordwench said:
As I am struggling with a new iWeb designed site, I have developed a list of what I would like iWeb to do:

#1-allow chosen links to open in a separate window. I had to search out the correct HTML code online, and now have to copy and paste it in manually each time I edit and re-launch)

#2-insert the correct HTML code for symbols (Like the c-in-a-circle for "copyright" etc). Though iWeb does provide a menu of symbols you can add to your site, something gets corrupted in the translation to the net and they appear online as random marks only, "????", etc.

Again, something I have to fix manually each time I edit/republish). On. Each. Page.

#3 Be able to add a nav. bar anywhere on the page, not just the top. (I prefer mine at the bottom and had to create separate text boxes, which created many annoying symbols I had to manually delete)

#4 Faster load time- especially for sites that are image-heavy, like mine. I have seen this on other iWeb designed sites, not just mine. If it is a business site (like mine) you run the risk of losing visitors and potential clients waiting for a slow page to load.

#5 Also, it would be nice to have some guidance on HOW and where in the HTML code to add meta tag names and key words. Just a thought.

As I am far from an HTML pro, I purchased this program SPECIFICALLY to avoid HTML coding issues.
Click to expand...

Can you satisfy your requirements by:

1) Adding the target="_blank" attribute to your <a href>links.
2) The ???? happens when your web page is using a character set that does not in include the copyright symbol. Change the font to arial (for example) just for the copyright symbol should do it.
3) A nav bar can be added anywhere, with an embedded object script, and many other methods.
4) The load time is sluggish because your images are not optimized. Save them as a compressed png or jpg and your page will load zippy. You'll have to experiment with the compression percentage to tweak to the quality you approve. Also, trim your images to eliminate load bloat.
5) Meta tags go in the <head></head> sections. Look at popular site source for the syntax for "keywords" and "description" examples.

iWeb doesn't do it all with point and click. That's where a little knowledge of HTML can really help. Good luck!
 
Your source code is rather awkward, I'm surprised iWeb doesn't output cleaner results. I would recommend using an unordered list for your navigation, the way it's set up now with a huge pile of DIVs is kinda ridiculous.

Suggestions:
1. Switch navigation to an unordered list instead of an imagemap and an image with just text.
2. Replace image captions with paragraphs instead of images (this will help your load times a lot.)
3. Optimize your images. I pulled one image from the site (mia_1_framed.png) and it's size was 76 KB as a PNG with a transparent background. Optimized as a JPEG with no visible quality loss, I got it down to 11 KB and used a solid color background the same as your page background.

HTML is not a difficult language at all, it can be learned rather quickly.
 
iWeb to Rapidweaver

Eraserhead said:
Use Copy and Paste.


iWeb is designed for making simple sites, you want something more capable.
Click to expand...

My eMac is running 10.3.9, so I found a free download of an older version of RapidWeaver. (3.5.1).

is there a tutorial for older versions of RapidWeaver? I haven't found one online--yet..

thanks once again
C.
 
brasscat said:
1) Adding the target="_blank" attribute to your <a href>links.
2) The ???? happens when your web page is using a character set that does not in include the copyright symbol. Change the font to arial (for example) just for the copyright symbol should do it.
Click to expand...

1) it should be rel="external", not target="blank"
2)a simpler way is to ad this meta tag:
Code: 
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
 
wordwench said:
My eMac is running 10.3.9, so I found a free download of an older version of RapidWeaver. (3.5.1).

is there a tutorial for older versions of RapidWeaver? I haven't found one online--yet..

thanks once again
C.
Click to expand...

a lot of tutorials are the same for RW3.5. If you want some good ones try the user submitted tutorials section on the realmacsoftware.com forum
 
opening pages in new window

http://www.rowan-cottage.co.uk/Site/Target_Blank.html

directions, and link to software you can download and set up (very easily) to make ALL external links you want to open in new windows. takes about 5 mintues to set up the program. then whenever you alter your iweb site, takes about 30 seconds to automatically change all the codes on every link you want to open in new windows.
 
probs on iweb

I have had similar probs to you.
One you have solved, I would like to ask how. Your images on your web site do not have that irritating little blue arrow indicating the they are hyperlinks that iweblikes to put on. How did you get rid of them.
Your help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Tom
PS no ideas on how to get text hyperlinks not underlined?
 
A much more easier way (ie. there in the first place) to save projects and load projects so you can run multiple projects from your computer.

At present the way I did it, was to dig around and forcibly copy and paste the entire website to a seperate location. Definately not simple and :apple: like.

Anyway. That was the main bug-bear for me. As well as the slightly odd code it came up with lol.


It would also be cool to save different instances of one projects, organised by time (without having to use Leopard). So you can re-load your site when you last saved, say a day ago.
 
responses to all

Thanks for your ideas so far. I wasn't getting any heads-up e-mails from this forum, so I had no idea how many had responded to my wish list.

I am still hopelessly HTML-challenged and was able to follow some of your suggestions but:

#1- I can't seem to find an older version of RapidWeaver compatible with my older eMac, running 10.3.9

#2-As for saving images as optimized jpgs to speed up load in times- I did that. All images on my site are optimized .jpgs I ran through Photoshop first. It's iWeb that translated them to .pngs, don't know how. Like I said-HTML challenged.

As for the question about the little blue arrows- well, I see them too in the iWeb program, to indicate which image has been saved as a link. The arrows shouldn't appear after the site is published.

thanks again all, and here's to the next iWeb update- to the "professional" level? Dare to dream.
 
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