taking over as webmaster of someone elses site

[nomav6]

I have a meeting with some ppl tomorrow about me taking over as webmaster of their site, the webmaster that they currently have is not doing her job, she was supposed to update the site atleast once a month and it hasn't been updated in over 6 months so they're looking elsewhere.

My biggest concern is that they want to keep the same domain name, will I be able to do that?

Will I need to do the whole site over from the ground up for copyright reasons?

On more thing, they have a forum on the site already will I need to get a new forum I will I be able to still keep up the one they have, I dont know much about forums as of now, so hopefully I'll be able to keep it up the way it is.

Thanks for the help

[SuperSmash]

I think that in terms of the copyright stuff, it depends on if the site is copyrighted to them (as made in an agreement by them and the previous webmaster) or if it is the copyright of the original webmaster. If it is the latter, you should either contact the previous guy, or rebuild the site.

As for the forums, you should be able to keep the one that they currently have, just get the administrator user's name and pass, and change the pass (to keep the previous guy out). Then you can create your own usernam and give it administrator priveleges.

Oh, and the domain name thing, just get all the names and passwords that they have regarding the administration of the website (you might have to contact the previous webmaster, as the people you are talking to might not know wat they're talking about and what you need). You probably can get them to contact the other guy if thats what you/they want. As long as you get the ftp information and the password to the administrator control panel, you should be able to keep everything that they've currently got.

Alternatively, you could move the site to another hosting service probably, and point the domain name there, just copy all the directories and databases and such and make sure that all the directories etc. are identical. Don't take down the old site until you are positive that everything is working properly at the new one. My recommendation though would be to keep whatever service they currently have.

Hope this helps!

[ian]

My biggest concern is that they want to keep the same domain name, will I be able to do that?

Well if things were done right, your client, the owner of the site should have full and complete control over the domain name. This should not be a problem. You will only need ftp login and password details to update the site etc If they wish to change hosting, just get the owner of the domain name to change the nameservers.

Will I need to do the whole site over from the ground up for copyright reasons?

Well the owner paid for the work that they had done, so unless there were special conditions in place to the contrary, and providing that the previous web designer was paid, then the current design/content can continue to be used. I just wouldnt use a copyright at the bottom which in any way misleadingly passes the site design off as your own.

On more thing, they have a forum on the site already will I need to get a new forum I will I be able to still keep up the one they have, I dont know much about forums as of now, so hopefully I'll be able to keep it up the way it is.

You should be able to continue with the current forum. Just make sure to install the latest updates so that it is secure, dont neglect that area.

[nomav6]

thanks for the help guys, you've answered all my questions, I'm sure more will come up so I should be posting some soon lol.