iWeb ’09 finally addresses this issue with the introduction of FTP publishing. In addition to MobileMe and exporting to a folder, you can now add a complete set of FTP criteria, specify a specific upload directory, and use SFTP or even SSL. This is certainly no substitute for clients like Transmit, but as far as iWeb’s K.I.S.S. approach goes, FTP publishing is one of the best moves Apple made to finally make iWeb an appealing alternative to all those new Mac users who don’t need MobileMe.
This addresses what I’ve always found to be the weakest link* in iWeb’s chain; unbuckling iWeb from MobileMe will open iWeb up for many more users.
*My other big complaints – messy HTML and huge images that aren’t compressed well for web usage – are still around.