http://www.sajim.co.za/editorial.main.2nr4.asp?print=1


   
  Editorial Vol.2(4) March 2001

Taking a Web site from concept to launch – or even just maintaining and modifying an 
existing site – demands careful planning and designing. This has become a fact of life: every 
Web site, be it for a corporate, academic, or non-government purpose (to name just a few 
environments) fulfils an indispensable role in the life cycle of that particular organization. 
This issue’s peer-reviewed articles cover aspects of Web site management and development. 
The three contributions were delivered at last year’s 2nd Annual Conference on World-Wide 
Web Applications. 

Craig de Beer’s contribution (From Webmaster to Web manager to address new challenges) 
is based on his experiences as Web manager of the Rand Afrikaans University. He argues 
that Web site management in the academic environment is in some ways different from the 
corporate environment. In the corporate environment, a company usually outsources the 
design and development to a Web development firm that often forms a partnership with the 
company and gets to know the company very well. The company then employs a Webmaster 
to maintain the Web site until the next redesign, where the whole process is repeated. The 
site development of an academic institution is similar in principle. The initial design and 
development of the site can be outsourced. Once the design and development is complete, 
the Webmaster continues to maintain the Web site. In this academic environment a number 
of faculties and departments exist, each with its own Web sites, all falling under the 
‘umbrella’ of the institution. This is where the Web manager plays a vital role to supervise 
the development of all these corporate and departmental sites and bring them into function as 
one large network of sites, all working towards a mutual goal. 

The two other articles explore various features and requirements that constitute a good Web 
site. Van Steenderen (Web site management: making a Web site more visible) concentrates 
on some of the techniques that can be used to make a site more visible and therefore generate 
site traffic. Once the overall mission of the site has been decided on, the focus is to get a 
target audience to the site and once they have visited, to keep them coming back. To keep 
users coming back, content is the key. Once the site has been developed, tested and is live 
the next step is launching the site. This can be done through press releases, e-mail 
announcements to current customers, sponsorships, advertising through various media (TV, 
radio, newspapers, magazines, posters and banners on other sites). It is also essential to 
constantly remind visitors to return to the site, for example, via an automatic announcement 
once the site is updated, a regular newsletter and recommendations (for specific products if a 
client’s profile is available). 

A case study on developing a multidisciplinary health care Web site is the topic of the third 
and last article, by Louw (Virtual Health Care Team Website). This multidisciplinary Web 
site offers unique challenges to the developers as it contains complex cases for students, 
practitioners and the public to study health problems of individuals and communities. 
Currently the site contains 15 interdisciplinary cases, representing various health care issues 
and problems. The adding of further cases is in the production stage. 

Pieter van Brakel 
Editor 
pavb@lw.rau.ac.za 

David Raitt 



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ISSN 1560-683X

Published by InterWord Communications for the Centre for Research in Web-based Applications,
Rand Afrikaans University