Web Master duties and skills

[jeffross]

I've been given an offer to be a Web Master for a fairly large website. The potential client was pretty vague about any details right now, and my knowledge of that kind of a job is pretty non-existent. I'm wondering what kind of questions I should ask the client with regards to it.

I'll be first to admit that I'm no web guru. (Technically, I only had one class in college "Intro to Multi Media." Everything after that I've learned from books, tutorials, and just diving in and doing.) But I'm confident in my ability to pick up stuff quickly and learn.

Any thoughts on what I should specifically find out more about, or questions I should pose to the client?

[Toon]

Web Master, does that mean designing and maintaining a site or just looking after it?

From wiki: 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.

I would ask exactly what it entails, as if other people are messing with it and you have to fix it, could mean alot of work

[jeffross]

Yeah, I think it will mostly be maintaining it. If people need to add a new page, a new document to download, etc, they would go through me. Although there may be some "design cleanup" as well. The navigation for the site is just horrendous now. And I think it's mostly because they have someone running it that doesn't really know about web design and standards.

And I will be sitting down with the head big-wig to get more info. I just wanted to make sure I came to the meeting with the right kind of questions to ask.

[Toon]

If you get to build from scratch it may be easier in the long run, then it can be coded your way and maintained alot better

[jeffross]

Oh, I can't argue with you on that! Even if they aren't looking to do that, I may go in an at least clean up their code a bit. :)

[aaronr79]

Different people use terminology differently, but I would associate the job "web master" with Linux systems admin - running and maintaining the server, doing development on the site, making sure it works and doesn't fall down. I wouldn't necessarily associate a web master with design.

I don't know though, someone else might have different ideas.

[Liliya]

Originally Posted by aaronr79

Different people use terminology differently, but I would associate the job "web master" with Linux systems admin - running and maintaining the server, doing development on the site, making sure it works and doesn't fall down. I wouldn't necessarily associate a web master with design.

I don't know though, someone else might have different ideas.

I agree with aaron, it can also mean you're handling the hosting and domains, also security and emails, so if something goes down expect alot of stress, charge alot make it worthwhile

[jeffross]

Good thoughts. I'll keep that in mind Aaron and Liliya. Thanks for the comments everyone!