Who Killed the Webmaster?

riddlermarc · 30 Jan 2007 at 09:22

Back in the frontier days of the web–when flaming skulls, scrolling marquees, and rainbow divider lines dominated the landscape–”Webmaster” was a vaunted, almost mythical, title. The Webmaster was a techno-shaman versed the black arts needed to make words and images appear on this new-fangled Information Superhighway. With the rise of the Webmaster coinciding with the explosive growth of the web, everyone predicted the birth of a new, well paying, and in-demand profession. Yet in 2007, this person has somehow vanished; even the term is scarcely mentioned. What happened? A decade later I’m left wondering “Who killed the Webmaster?”

.. continues here:

http://blog.rightbrainnetworks.com/2007/01/28/who-killed-the-webmaster/

Some very relevant points raised, an interesting read

A very valid point about the rise of the CMS as a direct influence..

Dj_Jestar · 30 Jan 2007 at 10:24

.. they became "Web developers and/or designers" because "Webmaster" sounds like it belongs in He-Man.

[/discussion]

riddlermarc · 30 Jan 2007 at 11:06

Dj_Jestar said:
.. they became "Web developers and/or designers" because "Webmaster" sounds like it belongs in He-Man.

[/discussion]

I think it was really on the slide by the time they had that fool on Big Breakfast that was the "Web Master".. didn't really help methinks

Dj_Jestar · 30 Jan 2007 at 11:19

haha, I remember him.

*extends arms in a slow motion to form a W with hands/fingers*

iCraig · 30 Jan 2007 at 12:31

The name has just changed. The term: web designer/developer, is rife.

Sirrel Squirrel · 30 Jan 2007 at 12:40

iCraig said:
The name has just changed. The term: web designer/developer, is rife.

It makes it sound more like a professional job than some geek sitting in their room being a webmaster using magic to create websites.

iCraig · 30 Jan 2007 at 12:57

Agreed, it is a professional job.

The 13 year old sitting at home in front of Publisher and outputting their clip-art and flashing backgrounds to HTML isn't a web designer. Despite the basics being available for anyone to try with a net connection and a bit of software, there is—fortunately for people like me—still a learning curve and a skill-set behind it, like any other profession.

Much in the same way that somebody who can change a tyre or the oil in their car, isn't a mechanic.

paulsheffII · 30 Jan 2007 at 13:46

First AOL site was in Publisher and had a shockingly compressed TVR Cerbera gif on it.

You would have thought I might have improved by now...