Repairing iWeb

For the past two days I've been troubleshooting a problem with iWeb, and thought that I'd post my problem (and troubleshooting steps and solution) here so that other people who experience a similar problem can diagnose and remedy the problem.

Problem:

I had used iWeb to toss together a quick placeholder site for my girlfriend's new domain without any incident a week or two ago. A few days later I went back into iWeb and was unable to add new pages, or create a new site. While the options to do both actions were available, clicking on them neither added a new page, nor created a site.

(Unsuccessful) Troubleshooting:

(1) The first thing that I did was shut down iWeb, drag com.apple.iWeb.plist in /Users/<youruser>/Library/Preferences to the desktop and reboot the computer. Once it started up again I launched iWeb. Upon launching I was presented with the .Mac splash screen and, when entering the program proper, ran into the same issue that were listed in the Problem section.
(2) Next, I again quit iWeb, and moved all of the files in /Users/<youruser>/Library/Application Support/iWeb/ to the desktop. I rebooted the computer and once I logged into OS X again, launched iWeb. I was presented with the .Mac splash screen and, once I got past it and into the program, I was unable to create a new page or site. This difficulty differed from that listed in the Problem section, however, because the options to create a new page or new site were greyed out - I wasn't even given the option to try creating them.
(3)Next, I quit the program and reinstalled iWeb. I experienced the same problems as in (2).

The Solution:

Ultimately, I ended up just dragging iWeb to the trash can, and then reinstalling the bundled software that came with my Macbook. I can now open iWeb, and use it with full functionality again. All of my other iLife applications also work, and I haven't had to register my iWork suite again.

Note:

The solution that I outlined results in you losing all of the sites/pages that you had previously created in iWeb. This isn't an issue for me, as I only lost a placeholder, but it may be an issue for you. This said, since you still have the old domain.site file on your desktop (assuming that you performed step (2) in the Troubleshooting section), you might be able to use the iWebSites program to resurrect your prior sites. I haven't tried this, however, so try this at your own risk.

Hope someone finds this helpful!

 

Thanks for putting this up here. You might want to send Apple an email and tell them all about it.

 

I hadn't thought of that *grin*

Email has been sent - thanks for reminding me!