[Ham-Mac] Mac Web Site Publishing

[Hal Mueller]

iWeb is no longer available. If you have a copy, it's usable. But a discontinued program seems the wrong answer to the OP's question.

I know several folks who use Sandvox and like it. Another product worth a look is Coda, from Panic (several indie developers in the Seattle area swear by this product). Sandvox positions itself as an iWeb replacement; its workflow is focused around content and media, hiding the CSS/HTML guts. Coda is the opposite: it's aimed at people who want to write cool CSS effects by hand, and be able to manage all aspects of the code.

I personally have been using Softpress's Freeway for quite a while. It works well but the workflow is a little awkward. Its approach is close to Sandvox. Freeway has not kept up with trends in web technology (like the move to CSS menus and away from heavy reliance on Javascript), and media management (PDFs, images) is a bit clunky. I would not recommend Freeway to someone looking for a fresh start. Actually, I have to say that writing this post has me thinking it's time to retire Freeway and kick the tires on Sandvox.

Chuck, all three of these choices (Sandvox, Coda, Freeway) would work with your existing ISP's web space. I'm fairly certain that they all offer a free trial. These are all Mac-only products, written by people who love and understand the platform.

I agree that Wordpress is worth a look. In addition to their web interface, there's a nice blog editor (Mac only) called Mars Edit, which lets you write and post blog articles as easily as you write email.

I don't think you want to hire someone to do this work. It sounds like you are very hands on, and it would be difficult to find someone who understands the technical content well enough to organize it as tightly as you could.

I'll toss out another idea, that of an electronic book format. ePub is the current open standard (that is, any company can create an editor that produces ePub books). Apple provides (for free) an ePub editor called iBooks Author. Using iBooks Author would allow you to embed diagrams, animations, media files (images, sounds, movies), and 3D visualizations. The downside of using iBooks is that the final product does not comply with the ePub standard, and those books can only be viewed on iPads. You can export the book to PDF, but much of the interactive magic disappears then.

73
Hal
N3YX