User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

warning: iweb 08 changes directory & breaks links!

if youve got external (ie: non-.mac) webspace & links pointed from that site back to your .mac pages, get this: iweb 08 changes the directory structure of your .mac webpages, & those links from your external site will now be broken - in fact, they all will now default to your .mac site's *home page*. is this unbelievable or what? iweb 08 gives you no warning when you are uploading using the new (08) version, but sure enough, you can see the new directory structure in the url's of all your pages, & you will find yourself w/ newly-defective links (in my case dozens) back on your other site/pages that are hosted elsewhere. inconceivable that Apple could do this w/out building warning into iweb 08 or automatic redirecting of the incoming link based on previous directory structure as it comes in - jeezus, Apple (or have you guys suddenly been secretly bought up by Microsoft?), fix this immediately!!! meanwhile, if anyone knows of a fix or workaround...

Message was edited by: Kyle Etie

powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Feb 9, 2008 10:41 AM

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18 replies
User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

Feb 9, 2008 8:20 PM in response to Mireille Green1

its not changing things on another server, its just redirecting/defaulting previous .mac-based addresses to the .mac-based home page, because it cant find the previous .mac-based addresses based on the previous directory structure. if your whole website is .mac-based, you wont be affected, but if you have external pages pointing to your .mac-based pages, they will no longer work b/c iweb 08 changes the directory structure (ie: the old pages' url's), so anything from the outside pointing in is now sending to the wrong (ie: old) address based on the previous version's directory structure, which is now inaccurate. ugly...

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User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

Feb 10, 2008 11:49 AM in response to Roddy

right; apologies if that was not made clear - the prob is created upon updating to iweb 08 from previous versions of iweb that used the different directory structure, but the problem is as i describe it - the outside links are no longer accurate thanks to this. my guess is that they have hosed a whole boatload of people this same way who have upgraded, like i just did. very frustrating & an unimaginable oversight.. was hoping someone might have a fix w/out going back & manually relinking outside links pointing to the new url's based on the 08 change in directory structure

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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
122,514 points

Feb 10, 2008 12:59 PM in response to Kyle Etie

my guess is that they have hosed a whole boatload of people this same way who have upgraded, like i just did.


That's possible, but I think yours is the only post I've seen about this since the new iWeb came out last August.

The iWeb Help just says "The web address (URL) used for .Mac has changed since iWeb 1. When you publish your website for the first time using iWeb ‘08, .Mac redirects visitors who use your old URL to your homepage at its new location. Individual pages are not redirected, so bookmarks and links to individual pages will not work."
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User profile for user: Patrick Henke
Patrick Henke
User level: Level 4
1,165 points

Feb 10, 2008 1:59 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

In addition, you could bypass this issue by purchasing a domain name (you can get them for as cheap as about $5 from http://www.godaddy.com/). That way if the address ever gets changed again in the future, then at worst all you would have to change is the cname at your registar, instead of changing all the other links you have made.

-Patrick

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User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

Feb 10, 2008 4:46 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom Gewecke wrote:
my guess is that they have hosed a whole boatload of people this same way who have upgraded, like i just did.


That's possible, but I think yours is the only post I've seen about this since the new iWeb came out last August.


sure, most folks prob have their site self-contained on their .mac webspace, but i would think plenty of people use .mac in addition to other webspace & refer back & forth between them; its also going to render inaccurate any previous links that were sent out in emails that had the old directory structure in them

i can certainly see why they did it, as the previous url's based on prev directory structure were unnecessarily long & tedious, but to not have redundancy built in & allow for the migration, & to stuff it all in one supposed cure-all basket & simply redirect back to the home page (where links to further internal .mac pages may or may not be posted) is a presumptuous, ugly/clumsy, & grievous oversight on the part of Apple

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Message was edited by: Kyle Etie
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User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

Feb 11, 2008 4:43 PM in response to Roddy

i talked to one of their tier-2 iweb support reps today, & he was sympathetic & saw the issue clearly as one that undermines users & sent the case info up the ladder in the feedback chain (& mentioned they are currently working on a set of tweaks & updates). unfortunately, he also provided only partially necessary & correct feedback as to how to correct the problem per: the directory structure/url (you basically have to change 'homepage' to 'web', & also remove 'iweb' from the old directory structure/url - he only mentioned the first one). in the end i went in & manually changed the links one at a time. tedious & a hassle, but doable (prob 40-50 links). all in all, a big groaner, & a case in which a disclaimer/warning was definitely in order, but absent

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User profile for user: Kyle Etie
Kyle Etie Author
User level: Level 1
65 points

Feb 12, 2008 6:16 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom Gewecke wrote:
you basically have to change 'homepage' to 'web'


+iWeb has never published anything with 'homepage' in the url.+


incorrect - i found a couple yesterday on my .mac site; however, i think they were from a very early version of iweb, as most were already 'web' where the tier 2 rep said i would find 'homepage'

+Links from outside to homepage.mac.com urls would never be changed by anything iWeb does.+

this is a given, that .mac pages can't change what an outside link does, but it is not a given that iweb cant change the directory structure/url upon which the outside link depends to get to the right spot; you are misunderstanding the problem, so you might want to reread my post, b/c i'm not inclined to keep re-explaining it after i've already solved the issue. the 2 apple reps understood the problem, several people on this thread understood it, & a couple didn't, which may have to do w/ several levels of experience, so all i can say is reread the post if you suspect you are potentially vulnerable to this

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warning: iweb 08 changes directory & breaks links!

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