Group test

Replacements for the late, lamented iWeb

Apple’s iWeb was a decent little program that made designing websites super simple. It didn’t do much, but then it wasn’t supposed to. It was about making website building as easy as Pages or Keynote by removing all the pain from designing a website. Unfortunately, Apple never seemed too keen on iWeb, and when development officially stopped in 2011 iWeb users were sad but not surprised.

One of the reasons for iWeb’s demise was that more and more people were publishing using web-based platforms: Google’s Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr, social networks such as Facebook and so on. They all have their place, but dedicated desktop web publishing software has advantages that they don’t. You have more control, you get much faster performance, you can often do a great deal more with your design and content, and you can get stuff done even when you can’t get an internet connection. And as we’ll discover here, they often deliver a much nicer experience, too.

Apple might not want to make web publishing software any more, but many firms are happy to carry the torch – and in many cases in ways that are very Apple-y. The programs here are very different from one another, but all promise to do much the same thing: give you the tools to get what’s in your head onto the internet. Whether your site is personal or political, for a club or a company, at least one of the apps here should deliver the perfect combination of style and substance for your particular project.

We’ve explored six apps here: RAGE Software’s EverWeb, The Escapers’ Flux V, Softpress’s FreeWay Pro, Realmac’s RapidWeaver, Karelia’s Sandvox and Intuisphere’s WebAcappella. We weren’t just looking at ease of use (though that’s important), we also wanted to see if they offered the kinds of advanced features and customisation iWeb didn’t. Let’s put them through their paces.

Web design apps give you more control, faster performance and often deliver a nicer experience too