References to Ideal Basics of HTML

It is useful to be aware of other web associated technologies once you have learned the basics of HTML. A brief summary with references to ideal beginner's books follows.

1. CGI
If you wish to install software, then a knowledge of CGI and the CGI-BIN is very handy.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) allows communication between a site visitor and the site, via the browser.

It is CGI therefore that allows interactive operations such as forms on web sites, live surveys, shopping carts, search engines.

2. PHP
PHP is short for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.

It is one of the various server-side scripting languages with which to write CGI programs, others are Perl, C/C++, Java.

Click here for Simple PHP.

3. Javascript
Javascript is a client-side programming language used particularly to create special effects on your web pages.

So it can create rollovers, splash screens, colored scroll bars, flashing and highlighted text, pop-up windows, mouse over effects. It can also validate forms, display date information and provide password protection.

As a comparison:

- A CGI script resides on the server and interacts directly with it, so a CGI program can run with any browser.

- JavaScript is run by the web browser, which limits its functionality to only things that the browser knows about.