I have been playing with iWeb for a year, maybe longer.
This is the easiest software to make great looking web pages. All you need is a Mac, even PowerBook G4 will do, and iWeb. No need to know any HTML, it works on just plain English. In fact, you can not even see any HTML, unless you publish the site to the server or local folder and view the source in the browser. How is that for designing web pages - no HTML, and they look good.

It is a child's play to make a site using iWeb. It is totally drag and drop, template driven application. There is not even a blank page to start with. Actually, the blank page templates have been added in current version 2.0, but they are not blank, they have the masthead. All pages have a masthead at the top of a page. The masthead includes automated navigation. Add a page to your site and all existing pages mastheads are changed to include the links to the new page. How is that for productivity improvement.

Template driven design is a blessing and a curse. You get a great site that is standards compliant and works in any browser. There is no easy way to tweek the code if you like to tinker with your designs. All pages designed with iWeb look similar. There are twenty six Apple supplied templates. If you want more check the web. Suzanne at 11mystics.com has a lot of information about iWeb and templates. I bought a set of custom templates from her last year.

Below is an example of a line graph done totally in iWeb without any help from external applications.

All graphic elements - text, lines, arrows, rectangles, circles - you name it - are modifiable within iWeb. You can practically create anything you want. I have not touched on the subject of pictures and video that you can drag and drop like any other element. There is no need for the external application to resize the picture, correct the color, brightness, rotate, add frame or shadow. You can position text anywhere, even across the picture and on an angle. No more thinking about text wrapping on the left or the right of the graphical element. Just put it where you feel like it should be and it will be there when you publish the site.

iWeb is simply amazing. After using Dreamweaver, Netobjects Fusion, GoLive, Quanta and other lesser, traditional web design applications in the past, I am resisting the thought of putting back CS3 bloatware on my Mac mini. I still need TextMate and CSSEdit to tweak traditionally designed web pages. One thing that iWeb is missing is the template editor, but then it would not be the beginners tool.