Academic Web publishing is a complex and difficult challenge. It is not surprising that most universities find it necessary to provide different types of Web publishing infrastructures for their constituents, such as conventional, do-it-yourself Web and database services, as well as template-driven solutions that include portals, course management systems, and content management systems. Even with these options, there are still important areas of academic Web publishing that lack complementary software. In particular, many individuals and small groups find it difficult to create and maintain customized Web sites and databases that fit their unique requirements. In this article, the author discusses the issues that preclude individuals from using existing software to produce highly customized Web products. He then describes a system (UM.SiteMaker) that was developed to addresses these issues, and identifies the expected and unexpected outcomes of its use at the University of Michigan (UM). (Contains 1 figure.)