Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Karelia: "Lightning has indeed struck twice"
This has got to be
frustrating. In an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Watson/Sherlock debacle, the folks at
Karelia Software made an earlier-than-originally-planned public beta release of Sandvox available.
Sandvox is a super-simple, WYSIWYG web editor that makes web site construction easy and fun. Sound a little like iWeb?
I realize that no one has the exclusive rights to web editors, but the timing here is really unfortunate. From the Sandvox blog:"...some of the biggest limitations of iWeb (.mac only, not pluggable, no ability for HTML content) can become strengths for Sandvox. As we move forward past version 1.0, we will be able to further distinguish Sandvox from iWeb by focusing on features that our users demand that will never be a part of the iLife suite." Competition of this sort usually drives the production of better products. I, for one, am looking forward to what Karelia has in store.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack Beckman said 9:12AM on 1-13-2006
My understanding from Apple's web site is that iWeb is *not* .Mac only, except for the "one button" publish.
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gozer said 9:37AM on 1-13-2006
and some major features like rss
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Kevin Steele said 10:06AM on 1-13-2006
Let's also remember that just because Sandvox was created by Karelia, does not mean that Apple copied it off of them. Apple is known for quite a few original ideas. I think that this is just a bad timing circumstance. I definitely realize that there are some distinguishing features between both and that could sway opinion either way. lets wait and see before tossing around the title of "Copycat".
Just my thought.
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Apple-Discounts.com said 10:20AM on 1-13-2006
"My understanding from Apple's web site is that iWeb is *not* .Mac only"
I can confirm that. iWeb has an "Export to Folder" command that will build your website for you and then save it on your desktop (or wherever you specify).
Following, you can simply upload the site to any web server. Nice!
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spk said 10:36AM on 1-13-2006
Once you've exported, can you also clean up code? Does iWeb give you the opportunity to view HTML and CSS? How is CSS handled - as an externally linked file, or is it embedded in the page?
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Tony said 10:37AM on 1-13-2006
Kevin,
Who said "copycat?"
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Nathan Adams said 11:11AM on 1-13-2006
spk - from what I've read, all the css is inline.
so not the cleanest, if you want to go editing afterwards by hand, but they do validate as xhtml transitional.
As for Karelia - when did they originally announce Sandvox? Software certainly doesn't get developed overnight, iWeb would have been in development for quite some time.
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dalton said 11:11AM on 1-13-2006
It seems like both of these products are remarkably similar to RapidWeaver, no?
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neal Williams said 11:38AM on 1-13-2006
I agree with Dalton. It sounds like Karelia's whining this time. Sandvox, and iWeb for that matter, isn't exactly a revolutionary idea in software.
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Apple-Discounts.com said 11:40AM on 1-13-2006
"Does iWeb give you the opportunity to view HTML and CSS?"
No, the software was intended for people without developer/programmer/coding experience.
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kc! said 11:56AM on 1-13-2006
It is not like Sandvox was all that original to begin with... I mean the idea of a simple, easy-to-use, WYSIWYG web editor has been around for quite a while now, right?
However, I think that Apple should just hire the Karelia folks already! Aside from the obvious good will that it would generate, they are both thinking about the same innovations at the same time and imagine what Karelia brains would be able to produce with Apple resources and bandwidth!?
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Radu Dutzan said 9:40PM on 1-13-2006
You know, Panic said something like that when iTunes came out. now you see where Audion is (in a retirement house)
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Nathan Adams said 12:00AM on 1-14-2006
When Apple was looking to develop iTunes, they went to Panic first. Except they didn't show for their meeting, so Apple went with their second choice - Soundjam.
And Apple did offer to hire the Karelia mob after Watson, but they turned it down.
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Oliver said 5:08AM on 1-14-2006
RapidWeaver (http://www.realmacsoftware) is still the weapon of choice. In the current 3.2.1 version it is pretty stable and doesn't have the "new product" blues like iWeb will have (not to mention the catastrophic Sandvox).
Cheers
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JT said 9:10AM on 1-14-2006
Exporting your site to a folder then uploading it... this sounds awful, especially when rapidweaver integrates ftp. Sandvox templates are ugly, i don't understand what the fuss is all about. iWeb obviously ditches ftp support to promote .mac: that's what's going to kill the app.
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