Web management for beginners: how detailed should I be?
I’m trying to write an outline of key considerations for website managers. I don’t want to blind people with science; on the other hand, the audience in question are people who are paid to be responsible for websites. They really ought to know these things already; how much should I give them?
I don’t want to write reams where there is already plenty of this information elsewhere (which I will probably refer to a lot); I want to produce something that colleagues can skim through very quickly; I want something that will highlight key things that they need to be aware of, but also explains some of those things a little.
I want the document to be clear, succinct, easy to understand; above all, I want people to use it. The problem is there is an awful lot of stuff that I want them to be aware of, and once you scratch the surface this stuff gets very complex.
Things I’ve already identified:
- difference between markup, code, styles and scripts;
- Hosting, server configuration, etc;
- DNS;
- http; ftp; etc;
- awareness of legal responsibilities (re terms and conditions, privacy, accessibility, moderation, intellectual property, etc);
- awareness of standards (re accessibility, markup, etc).
Even this short list is massive in scope.
I’ll try and remember to let you know how I get on.
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Email
Audioboo
Delicious
Flickr
Google
Last.FM
LinkedIn
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Twitter
I’d go with pretty much what you’ve said – a brief overview of each topic, and then a set of links for further reading. Sometimes the most overwhelming thing about learning a new topic is knowing where to start. Putting a few new words into Google gives you billions of things, and if you don’t know the subject yet you don’t know which are any good; so some reliable places to start would help.
Then of course when things change you won’t need to update your document every month too…
Frances
Thanks Frances, that’s helpful. I can see the problem will be knowing where to draw the line.
Michael
I think this is a good list, and I’m hoping you’ll be able to share the final result.
I’d probably add something in about customer/task focus – all the technical comprehension in the world won’t make up for a website that doesn’t understand its users and their objectives.
I also suspect it’s impossible (and inadvisable in this day and age) to not mention the broader web landscape, social media, online collaboration etc. albeit briefly.
Simon
Simon
Thanks Simon,
I will almost definitely publish it somewhere. I’ve also produced one on legal issues, which I published here as an opportunity for people to feed back (I may well have got some bits wrong, or not communicated them clearly enough).
As far as my own work’s concerned this document is part of a wider strategy, which includes mechanisms for addressing user focus and programme goals as well as the broader web landscape. But you’re right, they should certainly be mentioned in this document too: particularly if I’m going to share it.
Michael
I’d say that a knowledge of the filtering policy that exists within the organisation is necessary. There is precious point in pulling in a load of really good images from Flickr, for eg, if the corporate filtering solution then blocks them.
Simon Whitehouse
Very true. For my own purpose it ought to be redundant, as (in theory) all sites should be deferring to the organisation’s overall online communications strategy, and in liaison with the communications team, which in turn should be mindful of – and indeed accommodated by – the IT strategy. But yes, it’s important to understand how the internal IT infrastructure affects web development.
Michael