The by product of a web site II

You're a writer, want to become a journalist, have film making in mind as a profession... could you think of blogger or put together a website?

First thing I say to friends, clients and students is do you have either?

Of course the world could do with more websites like it needs global warming.

There's enough, way enough you're saying, that phhrer another one.

But a couple of things.

Call it the long tail or the attraction of micro communities, someone somewhere might just knod their head sagely at your piece of artistry.

And then a friend/contact/lead you never had the day before is old news.

The ongoing debate, and it's still seething; some of the Masters students I lecture to, raise this as well - do you really need a web site? Do you really need to understand CSS and grid designs.

"I'm a journalist... I just wanna write".

There can, I believe be nothing more carthartic than having completed a degree and whilst gunning for that first job building something of yourself.

And, and if you're in the right place at the right time, and that's not chance by the way, but playing the numbers game, you might just impress that potential boss.

And with a whole load of tools on the web, you may not even want to go down the design/css route.

Tamer Al Mishal - a student last year, now a correspondent for the BBC in Gaza is one of my heroes for how to use your web site.

The purists may carp at some of the rawness and lack of design aesthetic here and there, but Tamer knew what he was doing and when you look at it you'll understand what I mean.

He uses the less accepted, but prevalent format of "tables" fo the build, but...

( This year we had online journalists getting deeper into CSS, SEO, RSS, and info architecture see London Outloud and London Alternative)

Apparently BBC bosses at Tamer's interview were so suitably impressed by his web knowledge, VJ skills, and rapidly changing media theory/ethics, and, and that he knew how to sell a story about himself ie PR.

It's shirked by traditionalists and the Brit cultural position is to play this down, but in a very noisy environment as today, you'll want to flag up something you're doing, even if it's a tiny weeny bit.

So