Intranet managers must understand a wide range of standards, protocols, formats, and software systems. They must also know how to fit all the pieces together to provide a useful system. This book describes the general concepts and requirements of an intranet and takes a quick trip through various relevant formats and systems. It does not supply the in-depth knowledge that an intranet manager would need, but it does give many useful URLs that lead to more detailed information.

The first four chapters lay the groundwork. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the way intranet documents can support the operation of an organization. Chapters 2 and 3 concentrate on security and protocols, covering the basic ideas of firewalls, encryption, protocols (including TCP/IP, FTP, and HTTP), and client/server systems. Chapter 4 describes email and explains how it can be used to help business processes.

The next four chapters deal with authoring and the generation of documents. Chapters 5 through 7 cover basic HTML, including information about links (URLs and addressing), and provide advice on document design and graphics. Chapter 8 introduces HTML forms and the use of scripts and databases to generate documents on demand.

The final three chapters look at document management, metadata, the use of SGML for large documents, and models for controlling the growth and complexity of an intranet. The book is completed by an appendix listing all the URLs mentioned earlier in the book with one-line descriptions of what can be found there.

The book is generally easy to read (though I would have preferred it without its sprinkling of slangy phrases such as “wannabe geeks” and “if you gotta have ’em”). It sits a little unhappily between the needs of a relative novice and those of an experienced programmer. Although the author explicitly makes the point that the book does not try to provide all the answers, it would have benefited from more concrete details and examples. For example, although the use of CGI is explained in general terms, no CGI scripts are shown. Similarly, although the reasons for using SGML are clearly explained, there are no examples of SGML. As a result, readers who are not already familiar with the protocols and formats described are likely to be left with rather hazy impressions. They may also be puzzled by unexplained references to such things as MIME and uuencoded files.

In spite of these problems, the book provides a good overview of the issues involved in intranet management and a clear picture of how the various bits and pieces work together to make up a complete system.