[thelist] show of hands...

[the head lemur]

> My contention is this: Proper web publishing requires a TEAM of
> multidisciplinary people working together. Single developers need to be
god
> to cover everything ...

Then I am God....and so are a large number of the members on this list.
Your assumption with the lead of 'Proper' web publishing requiring a TEAM
has little basis in reality just by numbers alone.

"Web publishing" is anything you can get to show up in a browser located on
a computer that can be addressed by either IP address or URL. Nothing more.

Building webpages is not rocket science as the numbers of pages,(over 4
billion at last estimate) attests. Which is why the majority of 'web
publishing' is personal rather than commercial in nature. From coding with
notepad, homesite, frontpage or flashMX, the arcane and hidden world of HTML
is not. From viewing source code in your browser, to saving pages on your
computer, the web and the people who spend a lot of time here have pretty
well ripped the emperors clothes off and have published and linked just
about every 'secret' and trick to get stuff to show up in a browser. Client
side and Server side.

> I mean have you ever, since starting being single in-house, actually made
a
> website that covers all areas of proper web publishing adequately?

For 5 years, full time, as my day job. I make the payments on my house,
cars, petfood, groceries and all the other things that make my life
comfortable.
As for 'Proper" and  "adequately" that is an area that will vary depending
on the developer skill set and client needs.

Is Proper webpublishing;
W3C Doctype coding with validated pages, alt tag descriptions, and a correct
parsing tree for those who use CSS?

Is it a 300MB Flash presentation of increadible depth and color range that
looks great on a 32bit color depth display with 128MB of video memory
running on a 266MHZ FSB Machine?

Is it tagsoup generated WYSIWIG code with rollovers and popups?

Is it a framed databased driven site that has no pages that are accessible
as a url that can be spidered for inclusion in search engines?

Is it designed to provide the client a return on his investment?

What exactly is "adequately".

 Is it the promises make by the market weinie to a client that cannot be
accomplished within the scope of the project, that manage to be built so far
beyond scope and budget that the project is abandoned because of project or
scope creep?
Is it the meetings?
Is it the eyecandy?
Is it the mockups?
Is it the testing of the site under conditions different than your machine
at your house?
Is it testing for display and usability?
Is it checking for W3C valid coding?
Is it checked on more than one version of a browser?
Is it submitted to search engines?
Is it providing the client with a site that provides them with the
opportunity to make money?

> ... how do you guys handle your projects so that the stuff you miss gets
> caught when you're the sole developer?

How exactly would you determine if you 'miss' something?
Nevermind, it is a question like "are you still beating your wife".

Being a sole developer allows you to be a salesman, bookeeper, promoter,
accountant, bill collector, computer repairman, secretary, software tester,
user, researcher, a business, a form filer, taxpayer, graphic artist, search
engine user,  and marketing director. You will also need to understand how
your *client* does business from raw material to finished product,
competition, market share, promotional aids and liabilites, due diligence
for site creation goals and methodologies, what information the client needs
to make a sale, providing that information in a form that can be acted on.
You will also need a basic understanding of contract law, copyright, fair
use, slander, libel, fraud, browser technology, servers, server software,
business insurance, just to name a few things that are part of the biz.

The you get to sit down and do some web publishing:)

As far as missing things goes, you call in evolt or webdesign-l. There is no
finer or honest method of getting feedback than from a group of folks who do
what we do for a living and will find things from tags to text that you
thought was ready for manufacturing.

the head lemur
News: http://www.lemurzone.com/news/
Interviews: http://www.lemurzone.com/pixelview/
Standards: http://webstandards.org
Community: http://www.evolt.org