A role clouded in mystery, a Webmaster is a a very special role in the realm of the Internet.  The mystery really comes from the lack of information and the wide range of skills necessary and variability of requirements to manage websites.  Interestingly enough the 'Webmaster', or Website Administrator has no level of proficiency.  There is no 'Junior Webmaster' or 'Assistant Webmaster',  it always ends in a plural  'Webmasters'. A simple site with little interactivity and requirements of updated content can easily fall into a a simplistic view of a webmaster.  Worse persons who see themselves as 'webmasters' can create an industry wide misunderstanding of web site administrators.  A Webmaster is actually a combination of different roles all rolled into one 'Jack-of-all-trades' master at none.    Master at none does not imply a lack of skill but rather a continuous requirement of honing one's skills at the 'craft'.

At the basic level a Webmaster is an administrative role in managing a 'web site'.  Stepping back for a moment let us look at a web site and what is required to administer a web site.  A web site is a collection of 'web pages' in the plural.  It is possible to have a single page web site and it would still be called a 'web site' and not a 'web page',  different geographic positions in a virtual sense.  A web site has a structure.  It has at the bare minimum a 'home' page or in IT speak a 'default' page.  From there a hierarchy is established for images and other operational files within folders, or 'sub-directories'.  A web site account looks exactly like a folder on your own PC.  Folders within folders that all organize the various components of the actual web site itself.  At the very minimum a webmaster needs to be organized.

Beyond the required organization a webmaster needs to know how to transfer files, back-up web files and restore web files. Specialized 'tools' are required for web site administrative duties. An FTP client, DNS tools and other more specialized applications all require a skill level to operate. If the webmaster can't find the files he (or she) uploaded than there is a big problem beyond 'lost' files. A broad knowledge of web server operating systems like Microsoft's IIS and the open source Apache web server for Linux (and yes Windows..) so that basic administrative functions can be accomplished.

A webmaster should be able to code HTML and edit HTML files along with understanding page formats like .ASP and .PHP and how they work in relationship to a database.  Most web sites are run using a database and a 'template' which builds the web pages of the site when 'asked' to by a visitors browser.  This allows for global (or attribute based) page formatting so a large site can look consistent across it's many pages.  Database management has become more and more another important skill a webmaster requires. Database applications come in several different flavors with Microsoft SQL server and MySQL being the largest install base. A database needs maintenance and upkeep too.  Tables need to be re-indexed and old data needs to be purged to optimize performance and operation.

There are many other specialized skills that come with experience and a pursuit of knowledge.  This is a brief outline of the basic skills required to be a 'Webmaster'

image source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glenirah/4376553184/