With the development of the Internet , a huge number of new professions have appeared in our lives . They are gaining popularity every day. For better or worse, you can argue endlessly. But you need to know that the webmaster is not a lazy person at the computer, but a creative and talented person.
Profession
In general, it is not easy to determine the scope of opportunities for this specialty. As the name implies, this profession is developing websites. Also, such people can work with corporate applications for the Internet.
But this is only the main position of the webmaster. In addition, he can combine other professions, depending on the size of the team. For example, sometimes he designs or typeset web pages. Maybe something to program or do the work of the system administrator.
Sometimes the webmaster has to moderate the site, work as a content manager. He can become a tech support employee. Recently, the webmaster is also an SEO specialist. As a result, from a simple resource developer, we have grown a multifunctional employee who can help at once on several stages of creating a site.
Development
The very concept has its own story. Naturally, it did not appear from the ceiling. For the first time, the famous Timothy John Berners-Lee mentioned him. This is the person to whom we owe the Internet and what began to appear afterwards.
He talked about the webmaster in one entertaining document. The "Online Hypertext Style Guide" appeared back in 1992. In one of the chapters of this document, the scientist gives some recommendations. In them, he advises the creation of a "mail alias webmaster." This invention should help those who have problems with the server.
As a result, people had to use such a single mailing address, the advantage of which was independence from the name of a person who would be engaged in web development. So, it was recommended to use this word for all private webmasters.
Versatility
Such universality of this profession is not accidental. The fact is that when the Internet began to develop in the early 90s of the last century, websites began to appear. The general availability of the Network allowed anyone to be lazy to create their own resource. But it so happened that the authors themselves became such creators.
So, for the development, moderation, content, support, technical component and much more, one person was responsible. These creators began to be called webmasters. There were no courses then, and people had to try their brainchild by trial and error .
But special training for this profession appeared already when network growth and commercialization intensified. So began to appear special requirements for sites. All this led to the fact that it was not enough to be self-taught. It was necessary to follow certain algorithms. They began to teach this at courses of webmasters.
Doubtful form
Continuing the theme of this profession, we will tell one interesting fact. As we know, in the Russian language there is no female form of the name of the profession. Sometimes, using a specialty in a similar spirit, it acquires a negative color.
But in English there is the word webmistress. That is a woman involved in web development. The word is rather strange, and in fact it is very rarely used in real life, even in English.
Work
So, we will pass directly to the work that specialists in this profession do. First of all, this is website development. But to say that this is their only task is impossible. In addition, web development has many stages that can be performed by different people as well as by a person who has completed courses.
In the process of creating a website or web application, you need to spend time on web design, layout, programming and configuration.
Stages
Of course, phasing depends on the resource itself. But in general, there are several mandatory and frequently encountered steps in this process:
- Creature. This refers to the design process, during which all information is collected and analyzed, technical specifications are developed and the interface is thought out.
- Creative. This is the next step in which you need to think through a creative concept.
- Design. Following is the development of the appearance of the site.
- Detailing. Depending on the specialization of the resource, it is necessary to finalize at this stage all the details.
- Assembly. Next comes the layout and templates.
- Programming. This is not an easy stage, with which a web developer can give the reins to the person who understands it better.
- Optimization. This is another difficult specialty that an SEO specialist can do.
- Tests. Next, you need to test all the functional elements and check their performance.
- Launch. After that you can open the project and activate sharing.
- Support. The last step can last forever, since maintenance is always necessary.
Details
By the above steps, of course, you can offer a more detailed plan. In addition, the steps can be performed in a different order. Everything will depend on the tasks of the resource.
Any private webmaster initially offers to create a technical task. Although sometimes the project manager can do this. In this case, you need to discuss all the details associated with the site.
When everything is prepared, the tasks are scheduled, you can do the design. In this case, contact the web designer. This specialist, based on the terms of reference, makes a layout for the future project. There may be several, using different elements and colors.
Further design requirements come to life. The designer himself can do this, but you can give this stage to the layout designer. Sometimes, with small non-profit projects, you can skip this step altogether. It’s much easier to buy a template and install it on a content management system.
Website development is being completed by testing. In this case, all the capabilities of the resource are checked. After that, usability tests can be conducted that indicate the usability of the site.
After that, you can launch the resource into the world. Again, everything will depend on the goals and objectives. For example, if this is an information site, you can immediately open it and continue to engage in content and optimization. If this is an online store, then before opening it is better to load it a bit with content (at least with product cards), and then deal with optimization.
Requirements
Now the services of a webmaster are very popular, because there are still few such specialists. Especially if we are talking about truly dedicated people. Sometimes this profession can bring money from home, sometimes from the office. It all depends on the desire of a specialist.
One way or another, if you plan to work as a webmaster and are already trained in this matter, then you will have to come to terms with some requirements for this profession.
First, as practice shows, you need to be diligent. A webmaster is an inactive person. He cannot jump up and run. He must always concentrate on tasks.
Also, specialists of a similar profession should have an analytical mindset. You need to understand that with the development of technology, you will have to constantly learn and get acquainted with something new: hundreds of programs, rules and updates. Well, of course, you need to be prepared for the fact that the amount of information is simply immense.
Knowledge and skills
Webmasters can be taught to create websites on special courses. Of course, no one has canceled self-taught, but, as practice shows, people who are far from the whole profession, can hardly master it independently.
During training, you must gain certain knowledge and skills in order to get a job in the company in the future. Be prepared for what will require you to be able to work with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You need to know and understand the basics of the languages PHP, Perl and SQL.
Next, you will need to learn how to work with graphic editors for image processing. Be able to buy and manage domains, as well as use the site management system.
Programs
To work, you will have to get acquainted with a number of programs for the webmaster. You can list them endlessly, in addition, once you get to work in the company, you will most likely use different tools. But nevertheless there is a common in such applications.
First of all, you definitely need a text editor. It doesn’t matter which one you choose for yourself. Most often it becomes Notepad2. Naturally, you need to work with the browser. You must make one of them work in order to install special extensions and save an infinite number of bookmarks.
Next, you need a file manager. As most webmasters say, this is Total Commander, and there is no better option. Next, you need an application to view images like XnView.
It does not hurt to get PicPick. Using the program, you can capture the screen, use a ruler, a magnifying glass, a protractor, etc. You will also need a keyboard switch with text templates.
Among other things, we definitely need a tool for prototyping, building diagrams and flowcharts, working with passwords, web servers. The list can still be supplemented, but it is already selected individually, and may depend on the project.
Services
Well, and finally, it’s worth talking about Yandex. Webmaster. This service is just for the monitored specialty. He has an alternative from Google (Google Search Console). But, as practice shows, it is better to use both services at once. So you can get a more objective picture of the site.
So, the service is represented by a toolbar that helps to evaluate the indexing of the site, customize its descriptions and monitor statistics. This service is fully technical. It does not tell you how users react to content and what they do on your site.
Yandex. Webmaster is aimed at search robots, technical errors, etc. Thanks to it, you can perform resource optimization, view all statistics related to indexing, check the robots.txt file, and analyze external and internal links.
conclusions
This is how it turns out to be universal - a webmaster. It is very important to understand that in order to become a good specialist in this field, you need to constantly learn, practice and earn experience.
To some, this profession seems useless, but it is on the webmasters that the entire commercialization of the Internet rests.