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: Multisite can't be opened. How do I open it?

A: Mac OS X version 10.8 introduced additional security. The first time you computer is asked to open "Multisite" it shows a message like this:

The easiest way to let your computer know that it's okay to open Multisite is by holding down the control key (or right clicking with a 2 button mouse) and clicking on Multisite. Choose "Open" from the menu that looks like this:

Next you will be presented with this dialog and you can simply choose "Open". Your Mac will remember that it's okay to open Multisite and you won't have to do this again.


Q: In Multisite 3 how do I change the name of my sites?

A: In older versions of Multisite you could name your website from within Multisite. In order to work with iWeb under Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) Multisite is no longer able to change the name of sites, the site names need to be changed inside iWeb itself.

Multisite 3 now pulls the site name out of the iWeb document directly. What you’ll need to do is open the site in iWeb as you usually do and name it from there. The screenshot below of iWeb’s main window shows where the site name can be changed.


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.

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. Remember to always make a backup copy by exporting the site to your desktop first.

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

From inside the Multisite window select the current site and export a copy of it to your desktop. That way if something goes wrong later you still have a full copy of your original site that you can import back in.

Select the site and pick the above toolbar button “Duplicate” to make a copy of the site. Next take the copy and set it as the current site. It should look like this:

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 into Multisite you’ll see the site and pages are now just showing the family content for the family site like this:

Next go back and make your other site the current site and then launch it in iWeb and repeat the process of removing everything but the “Work site” content. It will now look like this:

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 exported earlier and use that.

Once you have separated the sites you can pick one to make it the current site and then use iWeb to edit and publish the site independent of your other sites.


Q: Can I publish to a MobileMe account?

A: Unfortunately Apple discontinued the MobileMe service with the introduction of iCloud. As a result of this iWeb no longer publishes to MobileMe. Instead iWeb publishes through the use of FTP or by publishing to your hard drive and you move the files from there to their final server location.


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 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 its “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 are surprisingly high. Follow this link to contact us.