Web Design & Development Guide

Webmaster

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The webmaster (feminine: webmistress), also called the system administrator, the author, or the website administrator, is the person responsible for designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining a website.

Webmaster as a profession

Webmasters are practitioners of Web communication. Typically, they are generalists with HTML expertise who manage all aspects of Web operations. On a smaller site, the webmaster will typically be the owner, developer and/or programmer, in addition to the author of the content.

On larger sites, the webmaster will act as a coordinator and overseer to the activities of other people working on the site and is usually an employee of the owner of the Web site, hence webmaster can also be listed as an occupation. If the webmaster is hired by a larger Web site, or promoted to the position, they could do things from web design, to project management, or employee supervision. The range of activities to be undertaken by a webmaster may be estimated using the concept of Website scale.

In the early days of the use of the term "webmaster" (a take-off on the term "postmaster", the administrator of an e-mail system), this role encompassed all aspects of planning, coding, production, and user interface. The webmaster may have many of the duties of an information architect, including ensuring site usability, user experience and menu taxonomy.

However, since the late 90s, this type of webmaster role was typically only found working on small Web sites that could be managed by one person, or in environments where there was not a great deal of role definition. The current model tends to be more team oriented with a website manager or online producer leading a team consisting of web developers, designers, programmers, QA lead, Adobe Flash developers and often at least one usability expert or a UI/UE team. In established web development companies, especially those existing since the 90s, the term webmaster may be used by senior officers of the company, and may include usage such as "Webmaster-in-chief."

A broader definition of webmaster is a businessperson who uses online media to sell products and/or services. This broader definition of webmaster covers not just the technical aspects of overseeing Web site construction and maintenance but also management of content, advertising, marketing and order fulfillment for the Web site.

Core responsibilities of the webmaster include the regulation and management of access rights of different users of a web site, the appearance and setting up web site navigation. Content placement can be part of a webmaster's responsibilities, while content creation is typically not.

Typically, the webmaster is the agent who reads user feedback and complaints about site functionality.

See also

• Web design
• Online producer

External links

• World Organization of Webmasters
• Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table
• Webmaster Forums at the Open Directory Project
• National Association of Government Webmasters
• Webmasters Forum and Resources

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This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.