iWeb from 2009 onwards has the ability to publish your website directly to an ftp server. This means that you don’t need a .mac account to publish your iWeb site.

If you have iWeb 08 or earlier it’s not built-in, but you can still do it, read this previous article on how to publish via ftp from iWeb 08.

Firstly, you will need to purchase a web hosting account with FTP access where you can upload files to the internet. This will usually come for free from your ISP and be included with your normal internet access package, just like email is included. Your ‘ISP’ is your internet service provider. They are the person you pay to get on the internet. If you only use free wifi then you’ll need to purchase a web hosting account from someone like bluehost.

You will need to find out some technical details from you ISP or web provider before you progress. Don’t be scared off by the funny names. They are actually quite simple. These are the details of where your webpage will be stored.

You will need 3 things.

FIRSTLY, the address of the ‘ftp server’ for where you want to put your website. If your website is ‘dubbo.org’ then it will be something like ftp.dubbo.org. (It may be something more obscure like ftp.your_name.members.your_isp.net)

SECONDLY you will have a username and password with it that you will need. Your username may be your email address or it may be something different.

THIRDLY you will also have the name of the ‘directory’ which is simply the place your files will be stored on the website and it will be something like this: ‘/public_html’. If you don’t know what this is, ring and ask your ISP.

You will need to know all these 3 things before you proceed. It’s no use guessing them.

If you don’t know them you need to ring ask your web provider who you are paying for your web hosting what these details are. In summary you need (1) ftp server address, (2) username and password and (3) remote directory name (or remote folder name).

How to Publish the iWeb Site.

Make and edit your website in iweb. In iWeb click your site name as follows:

You are selecting not a page in the site but the site itself – in this case “Macintosh How To.”

When you do this you will see a page full of setting appear in the main window.

Under ‘Site Publishing Settings’ select Publish to ‘FTP Server’ as follows:

Underneath is a second box of settings. This is where you put in your ISP settings as follows:

These are  the settings we talked about above from your ISP.

Fill them all in and press Test Connection. This will do a test upload to make sure all the settings are correct.

If it works you are set to go – when you publish your site it will now publish to your website rather than to iWeb.