Multisite FAQ


Frequently Asked Questions... Answered




Q: I purchased Multisite. When do I get the email with my registration information?

A: We email your registration information within an hour. Often much less. We’ve found that once in a while an email won’t make it through for some reason. Perhaps it’s an overzealous spam filter or simply a “glitch” in an email server. If you suspect this has happened to you let us know and we’ll promptly resend your information within one business day.


Q: I just started using “Multisite for iWeb” and all of my sites are still together. How do I separate them?

screenshot

A: If you want to publish your sites separately to different servers or just have the freedom to publish them at different times then you need to separate them.

For this example let’s assume prior to getting Multisite you’ve already created a “Family Site” and a “Work Site.” In iWeb’s main window the sites and their pages all show up in the left side of the window. When you publish to a folder both of these sites publish each time into the folder you designate.

main window

Once you run Multisite you will see in its left pane a single site that’s marked as being the current site. In the right hand side of the Multisite window you see the name of the “Family Site,” its pages, the name of the “Work Site” and its pages.

At this point Multisite isn’t helping you since the sites are still together.

To separate the sites you need to make a copy of the original site and then from iWeb delete all but one site from the copy. Then repeat this for each additional site you have.

Next we will illustrate this approach a bit more concretely with our hypothetical pair of sites.

main window

From inside the Multisite window select the current site. Rename the current site (quickly double click on the name) to something like “Original Site.” Then pick the above toolbar button “Duplicate” to make a copy of the site. Next take the copy and set it as the current site and rename it to something like “Family Site.” Launch it in iWeb and from within iWeb delete all of the sites and pages that are not part of the “Family site.” Save that and when you go back to Multisite you’ll see the site and pages are now just showing the family content for the family site.

main window

Next go back and select your “Original site” again and duplicate that. Rename the copy, “Work Site” and then launch it in iWeb and repeat the process of removing everything but the “Work site” content.

Once you’ve done this for each site you have, make sure they work as you expect. If you make a mistake along the way you can always go back to the “Original Site” you started with.

Once you have separated the sites you can pick one to make it the current site and then use iWeb to edit the site or publish it to a folder or to MobileMe.






Q: Can I publish multiple sites to a single MobileMe account?

A: You can publish multiple sites to a single MobileMe account. While this isn’t as easy as a single click it is straightforward as long as you avoid the following pitfalls:

  1. Have the right version of iWeb. You either need version 2.0.2 (or later) of iWeb ’08 or the older iWeb 1.1.2.
  2. All sites destined for MobileMe must have unique site names otherwise they’ll replace each other as they’re published to the MobileMe server. In iWeb the site starts out with the name “Site”. You need to make sure that each site has a unique name.
  3. When you publish any of the independent sites to your MobileMe account iWeb isn’t aware of the other sites (since they’re independent) so it tells you the link to the site is something like:

    http://web.me.com/[MobileMeAccountNameHere]/

    So rather than using iWeb’s generated email with the simple URL you’ll need to type in your own URLs to send to others. It's of the form:

    http://web.me.com/[MobileMeAccountNameHere]/[SiteName]

    For example, assume you have a MobileMe account name of "abcexample" and the site name is "myOtherSite".

    Then the URL you would be:

    http://web.me.com/abcexample/myOtherSite

Q: I published a site in the past and then lost my hard drive. Can Multisite get my site’s pages back off the server?

A: The unfortunate short answer is that there isn’t a program that can convert a published site back into an iWeb file.

The long answer (as to why) is that iWeb lets you build and edit sites in its native format. Then when iWeb publishes to MobileMe (or to a folder) it performs a one-way conversion into html so that web browsers can view the pages. Unfortunately this conversion process can’t go the other way to get published files back into the original form that iWeb needs. This is why iWeb itself can’t read published files back off of a server.

If you end up rebuilding your web site manually some people have found it helpful to open their website in a browser and then copy and paste the text and pictures back into iWeb. Just don’t publish while you’re bringing pages in or you’ll remove them from your server.


Q: How can I transfer my site from one machine to another?

A: You can move a site from one computer to another. Here’s one way to do that.

Quit iWeb if it’s running and do the following:

  1. In the Multisite window select the site you want and drag and drop it to a folder or choose export from the “File” menu.
  2. Move the exported Domain file over to the other computer.
  3. Drop the Domain file onto the left sites pane in the Multisite window. (Or choose import and locate the file that way)
  4. Make it the current site and launch iWeb. Everything should be moved over and working for you.

Q: I’m running Multisite and noticed that the Domain file has moved. Where did it go?

A: Multisite does move the Domain file out of ~/Library/Application Support/iWeb/ and stores it (and any others you’ll create in the future with Multisite) inside a single document to make things simple. If you’re curious there’s more details here .

When you pick a site in the main window of Multisite you can always choose the “Export” option to save a copy of it. You can also use drag and drop for this if you prefer.

If you later decide you don’t want to use Multisite any longer there’s a feature “Stop Using Multisite” that will put all the Domain file(s) back to the standard location.


Q: Can I move the “Multisite for iWeb Data.mfi” package out of my Documents Folder?

A: Yes absolutely. Quit iWeb and then go to your documents folder and move the “Multisite for iWeb Data” file to where you want it. Bring Multisite to the front and it will ask you to pick out the moved data file. Locate the newly moved “Multisite for iWeb Data” file and Multisite will use it from this new location.


Q: I published from iWeb and something is wrong. Help?

A: On rare occasions when you publish from iWeb it doesn’t seem to work because the server doesn’t have the updated content you expect to see when browsing the site. Sometimes this happens after splitting up your sight and publishing for the first time. It can also occasionally occur on a standard publishing cycle. If this does happen, iWeb has a little known option to easily recover from this situation. With iWeb in front go to it’s “File” menu and select the “Publish Entire Site”. This takes a while to republish all the content (instead of just what changed) but usually does the trick to correct the situation on the server. It’s definitely worth giving a try.


Q: I looked through the FAQ and I still need help...

A: We do all of our support via email since we’re a small organization. The upside to this is that you get help from the same people who wrote the software so the quality of answers is surprisingly high. Follow this link to contact us.





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