Monday, January 9, 2012

My First Website - Webmaster Forums

By Lucia Baker


Learning web technologies is not a big deal--anybody can do it. To create the first website you need no special knowledge. Many beginners start with some tutorial and after short preparation they have a working site. Creating a blog or personal website is the first step--it is up to you what plans you have and what you are willing to learn. The beauty of the web and websites is that all the information, resources and knowledge is available--on the web!

Maybe the most important tool you will use is the web search. Most likely you will use Google because it returns relevant results for any search query. This way you can find the answer to any question. If you are a beginner you will sooner or later encounter some problem.

Participation. A good forum will have a fairly good number of participants. That's participants, not members. And I say this because many forums can get people to join but have difficulty getting them to post. Make sure any forum you join actually has participation.

Diversity of rooms and threads. Another way to judge a webmaster forum is the number and diversity of rooms and threads offered. If a forum only has one or two rooms or topics about which it offers for discussion, then it likely won't get people to participate. But if it offers a variety of topics for discussion including some fun rooms, then it will be a much better forum and more fun and engaging.

The essential qualities to look for in an efficient webmaster are intelligence, enthusiasm for web technology, exceptionally good communication skills, thoroughness and an eye for detail, integrity, ability to be an efficient team player, courtesy, professionalism, experience in web development and finally knowledge of Perl, UNIX, HTML, CGI and JavaScript.

Trolling is perhaps the most popular. A good forum will have measures in place to take care of people who use the forum for annoying purposes. And it will be able to control spam. If you get involved in a forum that is full of spam, it won't be fun for anyone. Ease of navigation. Webmaster forums have to have the basics down or they're just not worth considering. Navigation is one of those basics, the fundamentals of the Internet. Make sure the forum is easy to enter and move around in.

Frequency of posts. Good forums will have people who respond quickly to urgent needs and questions posed to the community. Moderators are there to keep the forum civil. But if you have an emergency, then the moderators must understand that a prompt answer may be necessary. Frequency of posts and responses is critical to running a good webmaster forum. Not all forums are created equal. Some are great. Some are bad. But most are somewhere in between. Judge a webmaster forum by these criteria and join only the very best.




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