Save time with .Mac personal domains and RapidWeaver
Aug 28, '07 07:30:03AM • Contributed by: acaltabiano
Aug 28, '07 07:30:03AM • Contributed by: acaltabiano
A few days ago I read this hint about using .Mac's new Personal Domain feature with other than iWeb-created sites. While the gist of the hint is right on, there are some specifics that weren't mentioned, and in fact there's another, easier way to accomplish the same feat faster. However, you do need to follow the instructions about turing on the domain feature on your .Mac account, and you do need to set up the steps properly with your registrar.
Anyone who uses another program to create sites (such as RapidWeaver, which I use for mine) knows that typically these sites export into a folder all their own. This creates problems, because your personal domain is not going to be looking any deeper than the Web » Sites folder (which resides on your iDisk) for an index.html file, returning the Apple's "Not found" page instead. You can get around this by moving all the files out of the folder RapidWeaver creates, and putting them all into the Sites folder. The problem this creates is that now each time you export, you have to export the whole site, as technically everything's changed, so you lose out on the smart publishing features.
There's a workaround to get RapidWeaver to export to the Web » Sites folder, however. If you go to the Site Setup panel, navigate to the pane to Preview Site in Rapidweaver, and then Browse for the Site folder under Web on your iDisk, when you go to File » Export Changes, RapidWeaver will export the site (and subsequently the changes any time thereafter) directly to the proper folder without any other subfolders mucking it up.
But anyone who dares do this like I did will quickly find that it's dog-slow, even just updating changes. I have no idea why it's so unbearably slow to export to iDisk, when "publishing" to the homepage.mac framework is pretty darned quick, especially since they appear mere folders apart on your iDisk. But here is where the real tip comes in...
If you want to use a personal domain with .Mac, the easiest way to do it is to publish your site like normal to the homepage.mac frameworks like you were probably doing before, then just open your iDisk and drag the files from the top-level Sites folder to the Sites folder under Web. This process is almost instantaneous (since it's just moving from folder to folder on Apple's Servers), so you get the smart publishing benefits of your web program as well as the upload speediness you're used to, but you can have the personal domain goodness of the new web.mac framework!
The catch (there's always a catch) is that for the "smart publishing" to really work, before you publish the next time, you have to go back to the iDisk and move your site files back to the original location (where the program expects them to be), then after the update, move them back again. It's a couple additional steps, but it saves you many, many, many minutes over trying to upload and export folders directly to iDisk.
I think it's one of those "the simplest solution...." type of situations.
Anyone who uses another program to create sites (such as RapidWeaver, which I use for mine) knows that typically these sites export into a folder all their own. This creates problems, because your personal domain is not going to be looking any deeper than the Web » Sites folder (which resides on your iDisk) for an index.html file, returning the Apple's "Not found" page instead. You can get around this by moving all the files out of the folder RapidWeaver creates, and putting them all into the Sites folder. The problem this creates is that now each time you export, you have to export the whole site, as technically everything's changed, so you lose out on the smart publishing features.
There's a workaround to get RapidWeaver to export to the Web » Sites folder, however. If you go to the Site Setup panel, navigate to the pane to Preview Site in Rapidweaver, and then Browse for the Site folder under Web on your iDisk, when you go to File » Export Changes, RapidWeaver will export the site (and subsequently the changes any time thereafter) directly to the proper folder without any other subfolders mucking it up.
But anyone who dares do this like I did will quickly find that it's dog-slow, even just updating changes. I have no idea why it's so unbearably slow to export to iDisk, when "publishing" to the homepage.mac framework is pretty darned quick, especially since they appear mere folders apart on your iDisk. But here is where the real tip comes in...
If you want to use a personal domain with .Mac, the easiest way to do it is to publish your site like normal to the homepage.mac frameworks like you were probably doing before, then just open your iDisk and drag the files from the top-level Sites folder to the Sites folder under Web. This process is almost instantaneous (since it's just moving from folder to folder on Apple's Servers), so you get the smart publishing benefits of your web program as well as the upload speediness you're used to, but you can have the personal domain goodness of the new web.mac framework!
The catch (there's always a catch) is that for the "smart publishing" to really work, before you publish the next time, you have to go back to the iDisk and move your site files back to the original location (where the program expects them to be), then after the update, move them back again. It's a couple additional steps, but it saves you many, many, many minutes over trying to upload and export folders directly to iDisk.
I think it's one of those "the simplest solution...." type of situations.
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