Trimming the size of iWeb
By paul | February 9, 2006
When you installed iWeb, you may have noticed that the application tops out at just over 630MB. That’s a bit large. But, thanks to this tip, from Mac OSX Hints, you can safely trim iWeb down to just over 100MB.
iWeb’s massive size is primarily due to the alternate language files inside the application. For some reason, Apple chose to give each language it’s own set of templates… even though most of the files are the same for all the templates. Unless you plan on running your OS in more than one language, you don’t need all the extra files.
To get rid of the extra files, just follow these steps.
- Select the iWeb application in the Finder and go to File:Get Info (cmd-i)
- In the resulting info window, turn down the languages arrow
- De-select all the languages you don’t use and close the window
- In the Finder, right-click (or control-click) on the iWeb icon and select "Show Package Contents"
- Open the "Contents" Folder
- You’ll notice a folder called "Resources Disbaled", this folder contains all the language files you just turned off. You can now safely delete the contents of this folder. However, you may want to back up these files to CD, incase you ever need them again.
That’s it! You just reclaimed over 500MB of drive space.
Tip: Although this was written for iWeb, this procedure works with many other applications as well.
4 Comments
Alice on February 9, 2006 at 4:45 pm.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Awesome tip! I was wondering why it was such a gigantic application.
Dave Murdock on February 12, 2006 at 7:40 am.
This is a great tip, but there is an easier way than opening the package and it does the same thing. In Command-I on the application, in the Languages area, just select the language you don’t want and click the Remove button.
Roy on February 12, 2006 at 10:17 pm.
This is an excellent tip — does it work with other apps too? I will try it and see.
paul on February 13, 2006 at 9:02 am.
This way works as well. I didn’t mention it because this method doesn’t give you an opportunity to back the files up to CD, incase you need them for some reason. I’m a big fan of backups ;)