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iWeb and macOS Sierra Compatibility

iweb-dead

As you may already know, Apple has recently released the new MacOS Sierra Operating System (10.12) to the general public. If you’re thinking of upgrading and also have iWeb installed on your computer read on…

Is my hardware capable of Supporting macOS Sierra?

macOS Sierra can only be installed on the following Macs with a minimum of 2GB memory and 8GB storage space free…

  • iMac (Late 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)

If your Mac is older than those listed you won’t get offered an update to the new OS if you run the App Store.
As well as the above hardware compliance you’ll need to have one of these Mac operating systems installed…

  • OS X El Capitan v10.11
  • OS X Yosemite v10.10
  • OS X Mavericks v10.9
  • OS X Mountain Lion v10.8
  • OS X Lion v10.7

Is iWeb compatible if I upgrade to macOS Sierra?
So far it’s early days for the new OS, but reports coming in from various sources, including our own testing, point to some issues with iWeb such as

  1. The blog post list is too small so can’t be used at all as you can’t see any blog posts!
  2. Intermittent and inconsistent crashing when publishing websites leading to Force Quit scenarios
  3. Images sometimes fail to publish at all
  4. Sometimes code appears on published pages
  5. Lack of support for retina images within iWeb and no Retina display support for published websites.

Conclusions
You can probably still use iWeb on macOS Sierra as long as you don’t mind putting up with some, or all, of the problems listed above. Apple’s new APFS file system, introduced in macOS Sierra, is built for the future as it underpins and unites macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS. However, for legacy applications such as iWeb, it may prove to be the cause of crashes and other compatibility issues.

There’s also the ongoing issues caused by iWeb not being updated, or maintained, for over five years now. Technology moves on so our recommendation is to look out for the upcoming EverWeb 2.0 release. The new version is in beta test at the moment and is expected to include blogging as it’s headline feature. iWeb users will feel right at home with EverWeb’s easy to use iWeb like interface that brings today’s technology with it. We’ll update you on this exciting new release as more details emerge and a launch date is announced!

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4 Comments

  1. Has the source file for iWeb (domain) change in Sierra? I can’t seem to find it under Users/username/Library/Application Support/iWeb

    1. Hi Louis

      The iWeb source has not changed since 2011 when Apple discontinued the product, so no there are no changes to the source in macOS Sierra. The application should still be in your Applications folder and the domain file should still be in the Users/username/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder. macOS Sierra shouldn’t change this… so if it’s missing check for a backup copy.

  2. Also is there a way to download the update for iWeb 9 to 3.0.4?

    1. There are a couple of ways to do this, first is by getting a boxed copy of iLife that has includes this version. Please check thoroughly that iWeb is included in the version you intend to purchase. Also check the version that’s included as well. Please be buyer aware!
      The second route is using a media sharing site to download the update. Again extreme caution is advised due to the nature of these sites offering you free software. Sometimes such sites can come with viruses, malware etc etc so please be careful if you decide to download the update.
      Personally I would stay with the version of iWeb you have or move to something like EverWeb instead now that it’s at 2.0 with blogging.
      Hope that helps!

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