iweb and sub-domains - is this an example?

Jeff...

What you are talking about doing is probably simply best referred to as multiple sites. When you say "subdomains" it means a lot of different things to different people.

Anyways, iWeb is certainly capable of creating multiple sites like you describe. It is probably best to make the sites in separate instances of iWeb. Specifically, this means putting each site in it's own Domain file. That way you can maintain the ability to edit and publish each site independently of one another.

There is an application that will help you deal with this scenario called "iWebSites"...

http://mistergregg.com/cocoadrillosoftware/

Then when you are ready to put your sites to GoDaddy, you just do a "Publish to Folder" for each site, then upload the various sitefolders to your webserver.

Then you will be able to have urls similar to the following...

http://www.mydomain.com/billy/
http://www.mydomain.com/susie/
http://www.mydomain.com/tommy/

as james already suggested very well here, you will have your general domain. Here is how you get "sub-domains" working on your site:

1. create 4 websites in iWeb. One website for each member (you could also do several domain files and then everyone can update their site by them selfes)

2. Be sure that the first page (when you enter www.jones.com) is at the very top in the site-organizer in iweb. this will be your main page and does not belong to the sub-domains.

3. Publish to a folder. You should get several folders (one for each web-site) and one index.html file.

4. the index.html file will link to the first page you had in the site-organizer.

5. Now using a program like cyberduck: http://cyberduck.ch , http://karreth.com/iweb/Host%20To%20Other%20Than%20.Mac.html

upload the folders and the index.html file.

6. now you will have several sub-domains: website1, website2, website3 etc

7. now for each address it would be:

www.jones.com/website1 (one sub-domain)
www.jones.com (first page)

8. (optionally) Now you could make more FTP-entries and so allow your others to only acces the jones.com/website1 folder for person website1. this is so save that you could sell a sub-domain! and they do not mess up your stuff

thats it!

max

<I am trying to build 1 web site that will have 4 subsections. For example, I will have a family site example - www.jones.com.

Then each person will have their own sub page - www.jones.com/bob, www.jones.com/mary, etc.

With in sub site, there will be pages called photos, movies, blog, etc. - but the same for all>

I have the same need as Jeff (stated again above), but I'm not understanding the solution. Can you explain in beginners terms please?

I have 4 Sites in iWeb. I am using .Mac to publish. I have purchased a URL from Go Daddy.

Go Daddy does not give me the option for sub domains. I called and asked. I tried CyberDuck and I don't know the Server (FTP site) address. I looked up iWebSites, but I don't really understand if it's what I need.

I've published to a folder, but I don't know what to do with it.

Thanks for any insight.
Lynn

chipsahoy...

Are you a .Mac member? Or do you plan on hosting your iWeb pages elsewhere?

If you are a .Mac member, then all you have to do is select "Publish to .Mac" and your site will automatically be uploaded to your iDisk and put online. You can then access your site using the following URL: http://web.mac.com/username (username=your .Mac account username).

You can then get your domain name linked to this short iWeb URL using GoDaddy's "Domain Forwarding" setup.

If you are not a .Mac member, then you will need to have a webhosting account. I'm not sure if you have this because you mentioned only that you bought a domain name from GoDaddy. For non-.Mac hosting then you will use the "Publish to Folder" command in iWeb and then upload the resulting folder contents to your webhost server directory. Here are some directions from GoDaddy...

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/ftpinfo.asp?se=%2B&ci=3820

Regarding sub-domains, specifically at GoDaddy. They are available with any domain name through GoDaddy. The setup screen is located under "Total DNS Control" in the account setup page. Then click on "Manage Sub-domains". I think you are allowed 100 subdomains per domain name.

It sounds like maybe you might have other questions. Feel free to ask them here. There are lots of people who can help you here. But take things one step at a time, so that you don't get overwhelmed.

I don't think I explained my situation correctly (excited beginner). I'll try again.
I have .Mac. I have published my website through .Mac. I bought a URL through Go Daddy. I sucessfully forwarded the domain. Everything works/looks GREAT!

Regarding sub-domains, specifically at GoDaddy. They
are available with any domain name through GoDaddy.
The setup screen is located under "Total DNS
Control" in the account setup page. Then click on
"Manage Sub-domains". I think you are allowed 100
subdomains per domain name.

Maybe I'm blind, but I do not see "Total DNS Control" in the Domain Control Center (4.0). I see Off-Site DNS Management under Domain Management, but that's not it.

so if my URL is this: www.jones.com, I want to have a site:
www.jones.com/randompictures

That only people with that URL can see.

Hope I'm making sense.
Thanks!
Lynn

so if my URL is this: www.jones.com, I want to have a site:
www.jones.com/randompictures

There are two ways to accomplish what you are asking...one involves subdomains, one does not.

Putting the issue of subdomains aside for the moment, let me illustrate what you are doing currently...

You have a domain name: http://www.jones.com

And you have set it to forward to: http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/ (this is what you will need to do to get this method to work right)

So everyone who types http://www.jones.com will get forwarded to http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/publicsitename/pagename.html (this is your default publicly available site)

If you want a site that only certain people can get to if they know the specific address, like http://www.jones.com/randompictures , then all you have to do is to create a separate (new) site in iWeb called "randompictures" and upload that along with your public site.

The real web address for this site will be:
http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/randompictures/pagename.html

But since your domain name is mapped (forwarded) to the underlined portion, the visitors to this site would only have to type:
http://www.jones.com/randompictures

Does this make sense? This is probably the easiest way to do what you are wanting to do. It involves making the second private site in addition to your regular site that everyone can get to by typing http://www.jones.com . It does not involve using subdomains.

Subdomains can be used to provide the same kind of functionality, though. To explain, let me first dissect out a URL and tell you exactly what a subdomain is...

http://www.jones.com/randompictures/index.html

Looking at this URL, here are the parts...
http://- this tells the browser to look for and HTML file
www- this is the name of the subdomain
jones- this is the name of the domain (domain name)
com- this is the top level domain (TLD)
randompictures- this is a subdirectory (think: folder)
index.html- this is the name of the HTML file that is displayed

So you see, the subdomain is like a subsection of the main domain name... and oftentimes it is assumed to be "www" and typing in http://jones.com usually will resolve the "www" subdomain automatically.

A subdomain, like your domain name, can be forwarded to any other URL, just as you have forwarded your domain name to your iWeb URL. Therefore, an alternate solution to your wishes can go like this...

You have two separate sites made and uploaded with iWeb: publicsite (default) and randompictures

Your domain name is forwarded to your short iWeb URL http://web.mac.com/username , which automatically resolves to your default "publicsite" homepage.

Now you setup a subdomain at GoDaddy called "randompictures". You can then setup this subdomain to forward to http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/randompictures/ which will lead to your private iWeb site. People "in the know" would access this private site by typing:

http:// randompictures.jones.com

That's your subdomain at work! This method is slightly less easy than the first, but works just as well.

Here's what I do to get to the subdomain configuration page:

1. Go to http://www.godaddy.com
2. Login under "My Account" on the right side of the page
3. Select "My Domain Names" under the green "Domains" dropdown menu on the left side of the page.
4. Click directly on your domain name from the list provided
5. Under the Account information section, you will see a box titled "Total DNS Control" and inside the box you will see a link called "Manage Subdomains".

Let me know if you have any questions about any of this...

First let me thank you and every expert on this forum. I love my Mac, but Apple's support and help features stink. every problem or question I've had (hardware/software) has been answered on this forum. You guys are amazing!

I completely understood your explanation. thanks for being so clear.

I changed the forwarding URL on godaddy to:
http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/
(with my real username of course)

when I type in my godaddy url, it still works.When I try to add /random to it, it does not. the site I created in iWeb is called random. I even tried with upper and lower case.
http://web.mac.com/username/iWeb/random/Random.html
this is the homepage.

I also understood how to get to manage subdomains in godaddy (again thanks i would have never found that). I added random as a subdomain and it's forwarding to:
http://web.mac.com/myusername/iWeb/random
However, it says that it's pending set up.

So I think I'll wait a bit to let godaddy do it's thing. It just may need a little time.
I'll let you know.

Lynn

Yeah, it probably is just GoDaddy taking it's time. Your domain forwarding is probably still working off the previous settings.

Here's an example from some of my pages...

http://www.dirtdoog.com <== my main domain name forwards to iWeb URL
http://travel.dirtdoog.com <== subdomain "travel"
http://homepage.mac.com/jwtseng/travel/ <== subdomain forward
http://travel.dirtdoog.com/PhotoAlbum22.html <== forwards to ==>
http://homepage.mac.com/jwtseng/travel/PhotoAlbum22.html

Thank you. Thank You. Thank you.

Both options work and now I have TWO to choose from!

Have a terrific NEW YEAR!
Lynn