Amazon.com Review
Poor Richard's Web Site takes the approach that there's more to building a Web site than learning the ins and outs of HTML. It's a good premise, given that so many programs are now available that hide the complexity of creating Web sites. However, just as knowing how to push a button on a camera doesn't make one a photographer, a working knowledge of Microsoft FrontPage doesn't make one a Web master.

Author Peter Kent begins this book with a question that isn't asked often enough: Do you need a Web site? Kent's skepticism is of the healthy variety, making readers carefully consider whether developing an online presence is beneficial for their businesses. His approach is refreshingly nontechnical (for the most part, at least), offering up commonsense advice on how to find a host and how to create and promote your site.

If nothing else, Kent is definitive in his opinions. He's a staunch believer in using Web hosting firms, for example, and fancy multimedia enhancements do not impress him. His advice can be a bit too rigid at times, however. He abhors using .net or .org domains even if .com isn't available for your chosen name, noting that people expect the .com tag. (If this is so, how does he explain the success of Headhunter.net?)

Kent's somewhat cranky tone resembles that of a crusty, gray-haired professor dispensing advice that comes from hard-won experience. It can get grating over the course of 400 pages, but it's also the splash of cold water in the face of many would-be Web developers who need to keep their efforts in perspective. --John Frederick Moore