Are there deals like this for MS software?
Not any time soon.
If you are still waiting – now is the time to jump the sinking MS ship.

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.

After I got fed up with slow response, I decided that it was time to take drastic measures and fix it. There was about 5GB space left on the internal drive. I could not even burn a DVD.

The right way to fix a misbehaving computer is to backup all data, erase the drive and reinstall the OS from scratch. I came up with this recipe years ago, use it religiously myself and recommend it to everybody. Not to many people listen to my advice. They always say later “I should have listened to you”. I does not bother me, I know what I am doing.

Thanks to FreeAgent 500GB backup drive and the Time Machine in Leopard, I already had a backup. It was time to put it to a test. I put the Leopard distribution DVD in a drive, selected erase and install instead of upgrade. I said bye-bey to the data on the full drive and some time later or maybe long time later, I got the new OS installed.

I did immediate backup of the new install. This step took agonizing three or four hours. I do not know exactly, could not watch it barely moving. Instead I took a nap.

Eventually it all worked perfectly. I could see all of my old files and folders in the Time Machine. This is the best and easiest backup software I have ever used. In addition to having a futuristic and attractive look it actually works and it is automatic.

I installed iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08 and did the software update in one shot. There were twelve updates. I did another immediate backup after that and started installing my custom applications – Firefox, TextMate, BBEdit, CSSEdit, Skype for now. I will install only what I need to use and not keep any downloads or distribution files on the main drive to save the space. I am not going to install any Adobe CS3 applications for now, not even the Acrobat, Preview is much faster with PDF.

After reboot and a glass of wine with some mozzarella and dry baguette, I try again – click on the tour in the three choices screen. Same black, dead screen with an apple. Now what? I am ready to give it a whack this time, but wait, if I punish the Apple, I will have to go back to SuSE that had been killed by Novel. This is not good.

Another reboot, wine, mozzarella and some green olives and we have a plan. Try the software update. Yep, there are updates for all three components of iWork ‘08. Install the update, more wine and water. This time we are going to press on “try” instead of taking a hike with a black screen. After obligatory legal button presses it all goes slooooooow. I can not even select anything from the dock. My Mac has been reduced to the standard WIntel. I can not take it anymore! I will donate my Mac mini to the garbage man. That is it!