Apple’s iLife software suite includes the application iWeb, to allow Mac owners the opportunity of create, hosting, and developing content for their own websites. The application includes drag and drop functionality for displaying photo albums, movies, and blogs to owners interested in sharing their life and thoughts with the world.

The application includes iWeb Templates that allow users to select the look and feel of the site. After adding content but before making a site developed in iWeb available to the world, individuals must find iWeb Hosting to connect their creations to the internet.

Website Hosting

Each and every website available through your web browser is displayed from a web server. Website hosting provides individuals with easy access to share the websites created in iWeb to the world. There are a number of different options available for hosting your iWeb website.

1. MobileMe – Apple includes in their MobileMe service package website hosting that works great with iWeb. Their iWeb Hosting package is the only ‘out of the box’ hosting provider that includes comment capabilities on the iWeb blogs. However, we’ve mentioned a number of different ways that will allow you to add forms in iWeb and receive feedback from users through your website. MobileMe is a great option for individuals looking for quick and easy service for their web hosting.

2. Additionally, iWeb works with any provided website hosting package available. You can select from a webhosting company that provides you FTP access and the ability to upload files. iWeb includes a user interface that will allow you to connect via FTP to your website and upload or publish the latest updates of your iWeb site. This is a powerful option for individuals that are looking to start into websites but feel that they’ll move to more modern technology in the future. Like MobileMe, this option costs money.

If you’re considering this option, which I would highly recommend as it allows you additional features and capabilities as your website grows, you should check out Host Gator. I know it seems like an unusual name, but Host Gator is an amazing website hosting company and provides great service and capabilities at extremely low prices, even lower than a MobileMe account. Signing up is quick and easy!

3. If you’re looking for free iWeb Hosting then you should check out an article written on TUAW. This guide walks you through setting up a free iWeb hosting platform through the DropBox backup and sharing service provider. The steps are straightforward and easy to follow and can have you up and running on a freely hosted web environment quickly.

If you’re new to iWeb and you’re ready for your iWeb Hosting provider, look into each of the options listed above to find out what will serve you and your needs best. If you’re looking for a blog with a lot of communication from your end users, MobileMe may be best. However, provided hosting may be the best option for you as it won’t limit your future growth. Free iWeb Hosting services are available but include complicated and difficult to remember domains.

Already got an iWeb Hosting provider? Let us know who you use and how its worked for you.

Like all the applications on a Mac, iWeb includes a built in help feature to guide you through the various questions you may have. To access the iWeb Help function open iWeb and then select Help from the menu bar and then iWeb Help from the drop down.

The iWeb Help window will open and allow you to browse through a number of different instructions on how to get the most out of iWeb. These include creating websites, blogs, podcasts, and more.

iWeb Help guides also include instructions on how to add photos, movies, sound, and other web elements to get the most out of your iWeb experience. The help section will also give you guidance on how to utilize iWeb Templates to add the personal touch you have been looking for with each and every website you make in iWeb.

iWeb Help on Maciverse

In Addition to the help that you can access from the built in program for iWeb, you can find considerable amounts of informative iWeb help here on Maciverse.com

Feel free to browse the iWeb tag on the menu bar or search “iWeb” via the search box to find out more about utilizing iWeb. Below are a list of a few tutorials and instructions made available to individuals looking to get more out of iWeb.

Make an iWeb Blog iPhone Friendly – This tutorial provides instruction on how to take any iWeb blog and convert it to an iPhone friendly format. This is great for individuals hoping to stay on the cutting edge of iWeb features and want to allow mobile browsers quick and easy access to their content.

How To: Import your iWeb Blog to Wordpress – If you’ve done everything you can with your iWeb blog and are still looking for more features, it may be time to make the move to a fully functional blogging platform, Wordpress.

Create an Movie Section in iWeb – iMovie makes it easy to add photo libraries to your websites. Adding Movie Libraries are just as easy.

Add Google Gadgets to iWeb – Add additional functionality, games, and more through the inclusion of google gadgets on your website.

Additional tutorials and guides to offer you iWeb Help can be found throughout the site. Be sure to browse through the various iWeb articles and recommended sites here on Maciverse.com, you source for Mac Help.

In the past we’ve described a number of ways to add forms, counters, rss feeds, and many other website tools to your iWeb pages. Now following a similar approach you can add Flash games to your site.

Add a Game

To add flash games to your iWeb site you’ll need to embed it like the other objects we’ve added to iWeb pages. HeyZap is a website that offers a number of different types of interesting games and the ability to embed them into your own websites for free. We’ll use this site as the example and walk through the steps of adding the game to your site.

After navigating to HeyZap:

1. Select the size you’d like the games to be on your site.

2. Copy the code in the box listed below

3. Open iWeb and navigate to the page you’d like to add games
4. Click Add an HTML Snippet and drop it where you’d like the games to appear on your site. Be sure the box is the same size as the games size you selected earlier

5. Paste in the code you copied from HeyZap
6. Publish the page and your guest should now be able to play the game from your own website

HeyZap is a great site to quickly access free games, but there may be other flash games that can be embedded in your iWeb site. Be sure to follow the steps above for any game that you’d like to add.

iWeb makes putting together websites as easy as dragging and dropping files. Although very easy to use, one of its draw backs is that its sometimes not clear on how to structure a site in a way that allows users easy access through out your site and at the same time a way for you to display content the way you’d like.

One example is the ability to display multiple movies to your visitors in a structured way. It is possible to drop multiple videos on one page but doing so causes slow page load times and doesn’t always have the look you want. Adding multiple Movie pages also looks clumsy and doesn’t keep in line with the navigation structure you use through out the rest of an iWeb site

Below are quick and easy steps to creating a Video or Movie section to your iWeb site.

Creating a Movie or Video Section on your iWeb site

To Create a Movie Section:

1. Open iWeb and add a new page

2. Select the template you’re using for your site and then a Photo Page

3. Next, select the Movies tab and find the first movie you’d like to add to your iWeb site. Drag them over to the Photos Album section and include them on the page. NOTE: You may have to prepare the movie for sharing in iMovie before its available to add to your iWeb Site.

4. Continue to add as many videos as you like, they should each appear as an individual album on the Photos page.

 

5. When you’ve finished updating your site, publish your movie to the web.

Conclusion

While iWeb doesn’t label their Photo page as a media section, it really serves as the best layout for adding videos to your iWeb site. It allows you to show thumbnails of each video on a page while still allowing the full video to be easily accessed.