JamesJM wrote:
Opening up my iWeb and copying my text, lists, images WITH wrapping, (various objects), I could paste them into RapidWeaver and it worked… from what I saw, almost perfectly. Same with SandVox… WOW… create in iWeb then copy and paste… it's not that bad of a solution… until I learn all the ins and outs of whichever other application I choose.
Yes, of course, I know. If the 'copy and paste' works from iWeb then you don't need iWeb… it can be done within those two applications…. but it's still a very quick and easy fix until I learn a 'new' way.
Sorry, James, I should have thought to mention that. Several of these smaller companies get business by poaching customers from other services and so build in the ability to transfer material from pre-existing sites since rebuild time is the biggest disincentive to change platforms. Both the ones I suggested allow this so it does make the job easier.
HOWEVER, there always has to be a however in life, doesn't there? In order to get the simplicity built into iWeb the program creates the most terrible code. This is acceptable from the users point of view but it does not help the performance of a site in the search engines. Acceptable if you have a good links strategy in place and as part of the package of having a super quick and easy site to work with that is updated frequently and uses minimum time and yet looks great.
While copying and pasting is sensible as a way to transfer material from your existing site I would not recommend creating fresh material in iWeb with the intent of transferring it on an ongoing basis. You will be better served by learning to do all that in RapidWeaver.
That large and active community of both users and developers makes it a fabulous platform to work with despite some quirks. The code produced seems to be quite good and there are SEO options. Unfortunately blog commenting is done by signing up for a third party service (free) but not as elegant as iWeb commenting.
Of course, while Rapid Weaver works with any hosting, the standard thing was to use Mobile Me which was already paid for for syncing iPhone/computer etc and so was not an extra cost. Now hosting will be an extra monthly cost.
For me, I will move my iWeb site elsewhere and probably to RapidWeaver, but because of inevitable design changes that will be necessary I will redo the entire site so there will be a lot of work to do, but probably not until next year.