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Agree with what's gone before, here's my 2p: First things that spring to mind (in no particular order) are: 1. At any level below the 'top level' (i.e. college-wide web manager) the post of 'web manager' is an added-on responsibility rather than a post in itself. It's often given to the person who is perceived as being the most 'IT-savvy' (which might in itself mean they are already plenty busy enough) and hence while this person can often make the site function, they don't necessarily have the time and/or skills to make it a 'good' site. 2. Web is seen by some as the answer to all their problems - expectations of 'management' summed up in: "I've seen xyz-feature at abc's site - why aren't we doing this?" "Could we have more animated images please - I rather like those. I've found this little dancing envelope..." "Surely it's a simple thing to maintain a web site?" - without being willing to devote time or resources. Often there is pressure to design pages/sites which are pleasing to 'management'/ heads of Dept/Institution rather than those which will aid the user most. 3. Justifying expenditure on new/improved software and hardware - especially if the web manager has 'coped' using Notepad and a 486 in the past. 4. Trying to balance development - between 'webheads' and those who can't or won't prepare info for www (both Depts and individuals). 5. Coaxing concise web-friendly information from people - not just the full 10,000 words of their brochure/prospectus. 6. Persuading anyone apart from the webheads that in the future online info will be as important as printed media (what's your web budget vs. your publicity/marketing budget?) and should be up to date. Persuading the webheads that web servers do break down sometimes... 7. Trying to maintain *some* order out of web-publishing anarchy - achieving a look-n-feel which means that users (a) know where they are without having to decode the URL and (b) don't have to re-learn how to navigate every time they visit a new page. 8. Establishing a group with responsibility for the web - almost always seen as empire-building rather than starting a collaborative effort. Persuading potential members of that group that time spent on this is a worthwhile investment. 9. Enabling staff who run screaming from the room at the thought of "HTMhelL" to publish their pages without the results looking awful/being unusable. 10. Why are we putting stuff on the web? Is it so we can point to it proudly or are people using the information? apologies for length i. #$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$% Ian Usher, Computer Support & Webmonger [w] http://i.am/i.usher/ Department of Geography, [e] [log in to unmask] University College London, Chandler House, [t] +44 (0)171 504 4290 2 Wakefield St., London, WC1N 1PG, U.K. [f] +44 (0)171 504 4293 #$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#$%#<><$%#$%#$%#$%#$% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%