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20 October 2008
Posted in
Comms
While Phil was busy redeveloping NZMac.com, I decided to redesign my site. I had a few options so I decided to look at the merits of a number of apps for web development. Note that these apps all have different ways of going about the same task and all have their merits.
iWeb '08
{xtypo_rounded_right2}Installation & Documentation
Ease of use
Value for money
Price approx
$109 NZ or free with every new Mac
Software/Hardware Requirements
733MHz G4 or higher processor (iMovie requires Intel Processor)
512Mb RAM
3GB HDD
DVD Drive (DVD Writer for use in iDVD)
Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
QuickTime 7.5 or later
Internet access
Available from
{{applestore}} and
Buyers Guide
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I'm going to come out straight away and say "I love iWeb '08". It is very quick to develop a really nice looking website with it. With the HTML Snippet feature, you can increase the power of your pages by being allowed to add external code (code that iWeb hasn't written for you). However there are a few curses with this app.
While HTML Snippet is a handy feature it doesn't work as well as it should. Each piece of code is a separate file created and stored in separate location to the actual page you're editing. This can effect the way some of the code works. For instance Google Analytics doesn't work properly nor does code for the likes of Technorati and other similar services. HTML Snippet is however good for adding games, widgets (from say Widgetbox) and various Javascripts or embedded applications including YouTube videos.
iWeb '08's ability to do theme changes on the fly is both a blessing and a curse. It makes it quick to change the template but it doesn't respect changes you have made for alignment very well, meaning some of the changes you wanted to keep will look bad or disappear altogether when applying a different theme. Still, if you were wanting a simple restart then this is a very handy tool indeed.
iWeb's integration with the other iLife apps makes this an extremely powerful tool. You can create pages that utilise iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand explicitly or merely drag and drop them into your normal Blog page. It's so simple a 2 year old can do it so it might be a little difficult for adults...or Windows users. ;-)
iWeb's power comes from the Inspector which covers everything from page size, site protection, photo sizes, text flow, adding comments, box sizing and positioning, and other properties. It's reminiscent of Pages and is the reason it makes this app so powerful. Using iWeb really is like using a word processor / desktop publishing app.
There are some things missing from iWeb and hopefully the next version of this app will address these things.
iWeb has no ability to save themes that you have created yourself. Considering the time you would have spent getting things just right, this is a pain. There is a workaround of course. Simply get things right and then duplicate everything from there. The downside to this method is that any changes made later need to be manually copied to each page that has been created. This is a pain when you've got a lot of pages.
iWeb also lacks code editing which makes it a pain. I've mentioned HTML Snippets but that is a poor replacement for down and dirty code. With code editing, the limitations of HTML Snippets would be removed and iWeb would become the web editor that will kill Dreamweaver. Whether or not Apple wants to go down this route remains to be seen, but code editing should be added.
Like I said, I love iWeb. It is a nice platform for allowing people who don't know HTML to build very stylish and powerful websites ready for Mobile Me.
Sandvox
{xtypo_rounded_left2}Installation & DocumentationEase of use
Value for money
Price approx
$49(US) Regular Edition
$79(US) Pro Edition
Software/Hardware Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5
Available from
www.karelia.com {/xtypo_rounded_left2}
It's difficult to compare Sandvox to iWeb because there are two versions of Sandvox and each version is equivalent to different versions of iWeb. For example the Regular version is pretty much the same as iWeb 1.0 whereas the Pro version is equivalent to iWeb 2.0. The Regular version is just a means of creating Blogs, Photo Albums, Movie Collections etc whereas Pro version includes an HTML Snippet feature called Raw HTML. Pro does also have Code Injection which allows you a bit more control over code but it is still not a code editor and doesn't even come close.
I really really want to like Sandvox because I've heard good things about it...but to be honest I don't see the point. Yes you can publish to other sites which is a feature iWeb doesn't have on account of it being designed for Mobile Me, but one feature doesn't make a full-on replacement for iWeb.
Sandvox's theme chooser is very similar to Rapid Weaver's and the templates are very similar. To be honest, the templates are nothing flash. They are standard WordPress style templates and are pretty boring compared to iWeb's.
Like iWeb, Sandvox makes use of an Inspector but it's not as extensive as iWeb's one. By comparison it is minimalist at best and not very useful at all.
Sandvox does have iWeb's Widget inspired predefined code. These come in the form of Pages, Pagelets, and Collections.
Collections are how you create a blog or photo album/photo blog. Each blog entry is actually a new Page and each page can be a different style.
Pagelets are the Widgets which include Raw HTML under Pro and page counters, RSS feeds, etc. Pagelets is more advanced than iWeb but a lot of them are done in other ways under iWeb.
Sandvox does have a lot of potential but in all honesty there isn't a lot that distinguishes it from iWeb which chances are you already have. It costs $127(NZ) for something that is the equivalent to an application that is part of a package of 5 apps for $20 less. This is not very good value for money.
I fall far short of saying don't buy this package. For my needs it doesn't come close to satisfying me and personally I feel I wasted $130, but if you post to other sites and need a fast graphical editor then Sandvox might be your thing. That being said though...
Flux
{xtypo_rounded_left2}Installation & DocumentationEase of use
Value for money
Price approx
£40
Software/Hardware Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
Available from
www.theescapers.com
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If the name makes you think of Back To The Future and the Flux Capacitor in the Delorian then stop it. Stop it now.
Flux is the most interesting app in the list. It is an XHTML orientated editor (iWeb also creates XHTML pages) here with heavy reliance on CSS editing as well. It is the most powerful graphical editor in this list and has the abilities to be added to.
Flux's graphical editor side is amazing. It is so simple to use and yet so incredibly rich and powerful. With all the display options on you can see exactly where the sections are, relations to various aspects on the page and also styles that are used throughout the document. While this view can be quite daunting as there are makers and lines, and numbers all over the place it is very helpful and can be refined by simply turning off features you don't want to look at e.g. blocks or frames or relations.
Flux uses a site manager to separate sites that you work on. In other words it can handle multiple sites. The Site Manager is a really well thought out design although initially it took me a bit to get used to it. Usage is pretty easy if you're using what's there but it gets a bit tricky to add files and folders if you're not used to it. You need to click the title bar of the window you want to add the folder to then right click (CTRL Click) to bring up the menu for adding a folder. Adding a page or style sheet is easier. Click the title bar and then click the New Page or New Style sheet buttons. Why there isn't a New Folder button is beyond me but it's an aside to a very nicely laid out feature.
Initially you see only one column but when you double click a folder it opens another column with a list of files in that folder.
Due to its XHTML editing Flux is a bit more complex in its code than is a standard HTML editor. Its main aim is AJAX style sites with Ruby On Rails support as well. It also supports PHP and JSP development.
This support does raise a bit of an issue however. The only two options for publishing to at the moment is Home Site or .Mac. There is no FTP or WebDAV which isn't so much of an issue only if you're working on PHP, JSP, or Ruby On Rails sites, but .Mac is useless because these pages aren't supported. Home Site is really reliant on your machine being open to the outside or uploading to an external site using an external file uploader like Transmit or Fugu or CyberDuck. This isn't really an issue and I suppose it makes sense because web developers would use a number of tools to do their development work.
All in, Flux offers the best of both worlds. Flux really is the Dreamweaver killer. It uses standards compliant XHTML code, it has a proper code editor unlike iWeb and Sandvox, and its site manager makes handling files so much easier. Its CSS editor is very powerful and a huge time saver. My only complaint is the lack of ability to upload to FTP or WebDAV but this can be worked around.
Flux is a very new app but what it has at the moment makes me feel paying the price of iLife for this one app is well worth it. Sandvox didn't even come close to offering value for money, but Flux (considering it is taking aim at Dreamweaver) certainly did. VERY highly recommended web development application.
Update: One feature I never mentioned and should have done was Flux's ability to import published iWeb pages. It can't import directly from iWeb but it can import the files created after iWeb has published. iWeb publishes XHTML files and considering Flux uses nothing but XHTML it doesn't have too many issues with these iWeb pages. It's not perfect but it is far better than anything anyone else has done to date.
Coda
{xtypo_rounded_right2}Installation & DocumentationEase of use
Value for money
Price approx
$99(US)
Software/Hardware Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
Available from
www.panic.com
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And now we come to the granddaddy of the lot. If iWeb is the epitome of ease of use, Coda is the epitome of godlike power. Coda is purely a code editor, although it does have a live preview mode.
Coda's ease of use makes it remarkable for a code editor. It utilises a single window and has only 6 buttons in the toolbar to move you around sections.
The first section is Sites which allows you to setup multiple sites. This is infinitely more powerful than Sandvox's one and even better, it uses Transmit to setup FTP, WebDAV, and of all things SVN for versioning which is handy for multiple web developers working on the one site and having a need for code sharing and change tracking. This is awesome power wrapped up in one app.
Next we have the editor. There's nothing really to talk about here as it's just a standard text editor screen with colour coding for the tags and options. This view can be split with the text editor on top or bottom and the preview on bottom or top. This makes swapping views a lot less required and because it refreshes automatically and reduces the need for saving before previewing.
Because you're working directly with code you're going to need reference books to remind you of how to use a tag or attribute etc. Panic thought of this and added the most brilliant feature ever. A full digital copy of the Web Programmer's Desk Reference books for HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The PHP guide seems to be directly from the PHP site so this is very good. This feature alone makes Coda well worth the price. We're looking at $60(US) a book over 3 books making it $180(US) worth of material included in an app that costs $99(US). Outstanding.
Coda is the most powerful editor reviewed here. Yes it is a code only app, so for those who don't know code then this app will have no appeal to you. However professional developers will love this no nonsense, no distraction editor. Its code sharing and tracking features (as a result of subversion support) makes development so much easier than having to work out why something doesn't look right because someone else has edited the code in the meantime. This app is the most expensive but has features that make it 100% value for money including the reference guides.
Roundup
To pick an app out of this list is really dependent on what you're going to be doing. For me the app I wouldn't choose is Sandvox. It simply doesn't offer that much over iWeb to make me want to ditch iWeb and move to Sandvox. I did pay for the Pro version, but frankly I kind of feel ripped off (the free downloadable demo doesn't include the Pro features).
iWeb is really great if you have a Mobile Me account and you don't want to go through all the hassles of learning code. It comes free with all Macs as part of the iLife suite and purchased off the shelf it still ends up being the most value for money.
Coda is fantastic. It is the ultimate coding tool because that's all it does....it works with code. There's no graphical editor to get in the way of your code but it also means that you can produce bad code which may not work on all browsers.
My favourite has to be Flux. It takes a bit of getting used to in some respects but it has everything you need except wider support for different transfer methods. Fix this and Flux will be the ultimate replacement for Dreamweaver. I recommend Flux for its quick development of pages while still giving you the power of code to make the page work for you.
NOTE: This roundup purposely doesn't include Dreamweaver, Rapid Weaver, Taco Edit, Textwrangler, BBEdit, Aptana, or Smultron...which do all or some of the above. I've chosen a spread of various style of editors to allow for various styles of developers. Everything else pretty much fits into one or more of these moulds so there isn't really a need to review all of them. Dreamweaver has been used as a touchstone for these apps because it's the most professional and by far the most expensive of the lot. Because it's so well known there is also no reason to look into this app.