Dave 'Fargo' Kosak: Be flexible, and focus on one talent that you can do really well. For me, I write, I try to spend as much of the day as possible writing. But, I can also code HTML, I can edit images, I can even code flash. If you're looking for a job in the website biz, it's good to have a specialty and a lot of other talents to use. Smart copanies will value people like that!
Frans P. de Vries: I learned the basics of HTML and Perl, but my skills in those are still rather limited (as witnessed by my humble homepage, www.gamers.org/~fpv/
. More importantly, I learned a lot about hundreds of games, where to find information on them, how the gaming industry works, how to write news stories, and related things.
Adam 'Barak' Perfect: Well, I was brought in to design the site so that was the main skill that got me working on the site. I've since done a re-design which is what you see now. Being a personally-funded site, we didn't have the money to shell out for a big messageboard like UBB so we tried a couple of the free ones, although it was at a time when the free messageboards weren't great. After some unpleasant experiences with UB2k removing posts randomly and Phorum not being that great, I started to learn PHP and write my own forum system. Learning PHP has been a valuable skill in running the site as I can understand what Jenkz is doing with the great backend system he wrote and I've been able to give haloplayers a free cool messageboard (end plug hehe).
Anthony 'Rayn' Maio: I had to really expand my knowledge of HTML. Previously, I didn't have to worry about the portability of my page designs since I was only doing small personal pages, but when you have a much larger audience you have more to consider. Things like browser compatibility and resolution can be problematic; HTML is unbelievably fickle from browser to browser. I also needed to learn about actually server administration and maintanence and web coding.
Brian Clair: Wow, that's a good question! For myself and AVault, I developed most of the skills/procedures along the way - never be afraid to try new things. Overall, though, I would say that writing ability, HTML programming, creativity and just general organizational skills were key. It's also important to be able to relate to those you're writing towards.
John 'Rizzuh' Jensen: Obviously HTML and just good writing skills, which I still don't have.
Louis Wu: Basic design sense, a good grasp of HTML, some scripting stuff (perl and a mac/nt program called MGI)... marginal competence with Photoshop.
Rob 'Keltic' Shea: It seems like the most important skills would be the programming and design skills, but really, just as important as those are the leadership and management skills. Proving Grounds contains some of the most advanced code I’ve written to date, but it couldn’t happen without a dedicated staff of admins. So working with them and having them work together, is what really makes the site successful.
Tyler 'TySoft' Lott: Well you need good writing skills. I had to adapt my own style to the website-style / news writing, however. You do need some average HTML knowledge - even for things as basic as news.
Joscha 'fraGGle' Dzielak: First I did my site only in html. Everytime I added a news item I had to download the newspage, copy the last news into the archives, add the new news to my site (with Dreamweaver from Macromedia - a great program!) and upload the page again. Then I discovered SHTML and CGIs which were a big help. But the scripts never worked the way I wanted so I learned how to use php and mysql. Now my daily job is to develope scripts with php and databases.
Matt 'Acrappa' Martinez: I needed to learn HTML and get some familiarity with JavaScript and CSS. I also needed to get semi-proficient with PhotoShop. Most importantly, I needed to realize that different browser/computer combinations/moon alignment will factor in your site's display.
Ben 'Hypn0tik' Tamler: Well I was lucky to have Flagg and Matador as teachers. They taught me all I needed to know about running a busy site such as TU. And I have a great staff to help make sure things are up and running 24/7.
Manveer 'Eidolon' Heir: Biggest thing is not letting people's flames in e-mail get to you. No matter what you give a game, someone is going to be pissed off. Not everyone loves a game. Also, the ability to lube up three men with AstroGlide with one hand -- that is invaluable. Those of you kiddies who don't know how to do this, ask your parents to take you to get some AstroGlide or KY... practice on a banana or something. It's worth it.
Final Thoughts:
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