Tips and Tricks for Web Site Managers

Citation

Watts, C. (2003), "Tips and Tricks for Web Site Managers", New Library World, Vol. 104 No. 4/5, pp. 183-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800310476016

This interesting book is a collection of tips and tricks offered by a community of Web developers, brought together by editor Mark Kerr. Whatever level of Web site development you may be at, Tips and Tricks for Web Site Managers can provide some invaluable advice; be that a handy hint to an expert, or “blue flashing lights and sirens and a full emergency team of assistants” for the novice. Those of you who have, like myself, found yourselves involved in the development of a Web site, may well be familiar with the latter crisis scenario. I do not think that Mark Kerr’s book will necessarily lift you out of such a predicament, but reading it before tackling the numerous idiosyncrasies and vicissitudes of Web design may well help you avoid it.

The book begins by emphasising the importance of planning your Web site, and ends with advice on marketing and promotion. In between, Kerr and his contributors tackle design, graphics, quality and accessibility. For the Web site manager this is a good introduction to navigating the “A to B” of Web site development.

Numerous case studies provide insights into good practice. For example, George Row, the Community Producer at Motley Fool UK (www.fool.co.uk), gives some insights into the management of online discussion forums. In the case of Motley Fool UK (a title gleaned from a character in Shakespeare’s As You Like It), the discussions concern the exchange of all manner of financial advice. Row discusses the importance of identifying your target audience, ways of producing functional and appealing design and points out that managers of discussion forums should aim for “leadership rather than control” of their communities.

Simon Crab and David Hart, both Web designers for Lateral, write a case study of their project for the National Gallery (www.nationalgallery.org.uk). The Web site aimed to be “deceptively simple”, with image quality of the utmost importance – understandable, given the class of work on display here. The site was kept simple so that the images of the paintings themselves were not overshadowed by gimmicky navigation or design. Hart and Crab tested their site’s performance and usability on “the lowest common denominator of technology” – a low‐specification PC – to ensure that it would function satisfactorily for all users.

These case studies are mostly useful, and it is helpful to be able to read advice about the development of a particular Web site, and then look at the Web site itself and take a look at the end result. However, these case studies do make up a larger chunk of the book than necessary. More space could have been dedicated to unpicking the tips and tricks provided in the case studies and incorporating them into the main chapters, providing a more generic application for the advice on offer. As it is, guidance that may be useful to all Web site managers gets lost in lengthy discussions of commercial Web development.

One other word of warning for those of you who may find yourselves overwhelmed by the complexities of Web publishing, and rather underwhelmed by the help facilities available: this book is not a technical guide. If you need to learn how to use Web design software such as Dreamweaver, or how to use File Transfer Protocol, do not look here.

Tips and Tricks for Web Site Managers does achieve its aim of providing useful information to both the experienced and the uninitiated Web site manager. The reader who will, I think, benefit the most from this work will have a modicum of experience of Web development, and turn to Mark Kerr’s book as a helpful overview of the many aspects of Web site management.