Bytemarks
Building Web pages a work in progress

By Burt Lum

There was a time not too long ago when creating a Web site was a relatively simple task. Back in 1994, armed with a few key HTML (hypertext markup language) commands, I was able to build a basic Web site. Once I had uploaded it to my Web server, I felt a sudden rush of accomplishment. There, accessible on the World Wide Web for all to see, was my contribution to the cyberlandscape.

That was back in 1994. A lot has changed since then. It's much harder now to get noticed on the Web. There are literally millions of Web sites vying for "eyeballs," and the art of creating a Web site with the latest bells and whistles has become a very complex task. Businesses, large and small, have sprung up specifically to provide these specialized tasks.

But if you are like me and find it difficult to keep up with all the cool features you could add to your "work in progress" Web site, I have a few recommendations. About two months ago, I did a column on a fellow named Phillip Greenspun. I recently found another one of his sites, the feature here being free services for Web publishers. If you are creating your own Web site and don't have the time to figure out how to program your own comment page or mailing list manager, then you might find this very valuable.

For examples of both features, go to my "work in progress" page. You will notice features such as "add a comment," "view a comment" and "join a mailing list." Each of these features are applications running off a database program that Greenspun manages, specifically Loquacious and the SPAM system. They are both relatively easy to install and give my Palau Web site a collaborative aspect. Loquacious allows a user to post a comment on the Web site while I get notified via e-mail that this event has taken place. I also have administrative control and am able to automatically delete the message if it is inappropriate — very useful features when building an interactive Web community. ;-)

Burt Lum, cybercitizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet, is a click away at burt@brouhaha.net.