Customer Reviews

The Accidental Webmaster

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This book is for the non profit webmaster, whether a paid staff member or a volunteer, and his or her supervisor. Designing web pages, fundraising online, and negotiating better hosting rates from an Internet service provider are among the topics that Still discusses in her book. What makes this book effective is Still's direct experience as an accidental webmaster. She describes in concise, non-technical language how she built and enhanced the website of a small hiking group in her community. She knows firsthand the unique challenges that nonprofits face, and as a result, her book stands out from the crowd.

The price tag of this standard-size paperback is weighty and may limit its acquisition, but anyone serious about becoming webmasters - particularly those who have stumbled upon their position by chance - will find The Accidental Webmaster packed with practical tips and applications for managing different types of sites; from political and nonprofit group sites to informational and family sites. Tips on modulating a web list, marketing and design issues, and web site performance provide many practical applications for new web masters.

This is a really useful resource for people who find themselves in the position of having to build and manage a web site. It's particularly useful for people designing and maintaining web sites for non-profit or volunteer organizations, or for those of us who are self-employed and are webmasters by default. I've managed my own web site for 6 years and still found a number of useful tips in this book. Highly recommended for anyone who becomes a webmaster by accident!

This is a useful and helpful book, but if you are an accidental corporate webmaster like me, you can't apply much of the book to your work.

The book assumes knowledge of Dreamweaver or other programs. If I had picked up this book when I first started, I would not have known what to do. The For Dummies series is much more helpful in this regard.

It also assumes you have some freedom to be creative, and some of us do not. Sometimes anything resembling "fun" is not acceptable on a corporate site.

I did find the idea of ego surfing a useful technique, but this book seems more geared toward small businesses and non-profits.

In this well-crafted, well written book, Ms. Still gives some solid advice on creating and maintaing web pages for organizations. As Ms. Still's title suggests, many come to the role of "web master" inadvertently. This book serves as an excellent guide for both the novice and the experienced user.