Book offers advice to volunteer Web managers
Howard Lake | 19 January 2004 | News
“The Accidental Webmaster” by Julie Still is full of practical advice to the many people who create and maintain Web sites for voluntary organisations in a voluntary capacity.
The 205-page paperback is written for an American audience but should still prove useful to UK charities’ Web managers, particularly those new to the role or at the smaller charity.
A lot of the content could apply to almost any Web site, covering considering domain names, the duties of a Web site manager, establishing policies for the site, and some of the various technical issues involved, including naming files and structuring a site. It’s far from exhaustive, missing out for instance explaining why there are two different file suffixes for a standard Web page, .htm and .html. But there is enough practical advice, such as the chapter on Marketing and Feedback which discusses the various statistical information available to Web site managers, to make it a worthwhile read.
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There is a section “Fundraising on the Web” (note no mention of fundraising by e-mail), but it is not very extensive or detailed.
Most chapters end with a list of recommended reading, and there is a five-page bibliography at the end.
Overall Still delivers a practical book that offers a good introduction to the novice Web site manager.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.