Setting Up a Web Site

First, let's define our terms: A webmaster is a "person who manages a web; mediator between web authors and system administrator - ensures that applicable standards such as HTML validity and link liveness are met, optimises the web architecture for navigability, takes editorial responsibility for the content, quality and style of the site; finds, creates and installs tools to create web content and check consistency; develops and enforces the house style; liaises with graphic artists; provides first level user support.."

Perhaps you have in mind more a 'web designer' - someone who creates web pages but leaves much/all of the technical support to the system administrator.

People become webmasters for a variety of reasons.. Some are pushed, some are pulled. I often read in mailing lists or newsgroups "Our company decided it needs a website and as I know how to switch on the computer I've been volunteered to create it. Help!" OTOH people like myself are fascinated with the technology and become webmasters for fun.

It requires an analytical, detail-oriented mind; a capacity for organising abstract concepts and an ability to tenaciously attack problems and boldly seek out new information. A starship commander perhaps, or at least, the engineer. Artistic types tend to be less suitable and would be better as web designers, but still some technical savvy is indispensible for web designers.

The advantages to setting up a website are clearly, as a means of communication with some specified target audience, e.g. to express personal existence; to help market and advertise a product; to disseminate public information; etc. You can do it yourself or outsource. DIY allows greater control but demands more resources. The disadvantages are primarily the drain on resources, easily underestimated.

How to become a webmaster? Learn HTML and optionally other technologies such as CGI, JavaScript etc. Either teach yourself from books and sites like WDVL or look for courses. Set up a practice site and seek feedback and constructive criticism. Validate the HTML.

The costs are highly variable, depending on many factors, e.g. the quality of staff allocated to it - but often the costs are grossly underestimated. Costs arise from training, software and equipment, development time, promotion, etc.

The most difficult part for most people is realising that the web was not designed as a DTP system - trying to get HTML to layout pages exactly as designed, rather than as logical structures with informational architecture. They sometimes end up putting their message into graphics alone, creating problems for search engines, the blind, etc.

The easiest is learning sufficient HTML to create something. HTML is remarkably empowering and easy to get started with, which is why it has been so succesful. But after a short time, most people focus on visual aspects such as exact layout, instead of the more abstract issues of navigation, usability, accessibility, etc.

To get started, you need a text editor and telnet and/or FTP connection to a web server suffice (if the server is remote rather than in-house). An HTML editor is the typical next step, or even a site management system.

Skills you need include several, probably not all found in one person. "A good site isn't built only by brilliant programmers, or by talented graphic artists, or by lucid content authors, or by insightful managers. It will be built by their synergy, each one respecting the contributions of the others, and feeding off it for the inspiration for their own creativity. Building the web is a collaboration at all levels."

From http://Stars.com/Authoring/Design/

Tools needed: As above ("getting started"), plus graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop (expensive) or Paint Shop Pro (not). There are many tools now available, but in fact much can be done without spending vast amounts of money. Interestingly we use very few tools - basically just graphics programs though we're fairly graphics-lite, and a home-grown HTML pre-processor (ht) which generates most of our pages from simpler flat files. This is an unusual approach, lying somewhere between 'manual' and 'HTML editor', and it works very well for us. We're programmers and are happy gluing everything together with software.

An HTML validator is useful. A links checker get more useful as your site grows.

Programs would you recommend? As above plus others such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver (for DHTML) and a links checker (very important for bigger sites) e.g. Xenu.

How much time does it take to get started? Again, variable.. good staff, maybe a couple of weeks/months..

How much time does it take to maintain a Website? Lots and lots! We have 1,200 pages and a mirror site and really it needs a full-time person to just maintain it, but we all chip in (1 full-time and a couple part-time) while doing other tasks such as creating new content, looking after authors, business management etc.

The biggest hurdles to setting up a site are lack of knowledge and experience. HTML is easy to get started with, but it's now a big language and has spawned CSS (style sheets) which is becoming more important to know; also scripting..

Over-ambition to be 'cool'..

The biggest hurdles to maintaining it are too much ambition to be 'cool' and too little reflection on managing future growth, from the beginning. Like a city that was never planned, just built around some spectacular monument - if nobody can find their way around, the monument might not be judged worth the effort to go and see. A well-planned city can evolve.

Final advice -- KISS. Many try to create 'cool' sites, and really succeed only in irritiating visitors e.g. with long d/l times, and creating maintenance headaches. Aesthetics is not unimportant, but save some time for thinking about the structure of your site - esp allowing that it's likely to grow beyond just a few pages - and navigation, usability, accessibility etc. Learn to validate pages and don't fight HTML - go with it.

Website Translation

by Robert Hopkins, Jr., President, Weblations.
Are you ready to go global with your website? This indispensible primer for webmasters, authors and owners shows you what's involved in translating a website to foreign languages. Covers all the issues: marketing, technical, project management and translating itself.