Starting Scripting

Even though you may never write a script in your life, if you have a website you will invariably come across scripts.

This series of articles like the others in the starting series is designed not to make you a scripting expert but to give you an understanding of scripting, how to use it and when it is used.

At the end you should be able to understand how to install scripts into your web pages and on your web server.

Understand the difference between client and sever side scripts, and understand when you may need to use a script yourself to accomplish something on your site.

One of the first terms you come across when people start talking about scripting is dynamic web pages. So we are going to start by looking at what they are and how they compare to the more familiar static web pages.

Static Web Pages

The web is made up mainly of Static web pages. Static web pages are pages (written in HTML, XHTML) that remain as they were, unless manually changed. Static pages are ideal for pages that don't change very frequently, as when they are changed they must be uploaded again to the website.

 Static web pages tend to have either a .htm, .html or .xhtml file extension. Both the he starting HTML/XHTML series and make a web page series takes you through creating these types of pages.

Dynamic Web Pages

A dynamic page is one that changes or is created when it is requested and can contain up to date information that wasn't available when the page was first created. The information normally comes from a database and could be product /price information or anything that changes periodically.

Providing Dynamic Web pages

Dynamic web pages are pages that are created essentially by small computer programs. These programs can be written in a variety of scripting languages (JavaScript, VBScript, Perl, Php, ASP) which can be run either on the client (web browser) or the server (web server).

The ones that run on the web browser are called client side scripts and those that run on the web server are called server side scripts.

Client scripting and server scripting serve different purposes and are often used together in a web page. Client scripting is mainly used for browser special effects and form validation. Whereas server scripting is used for accessing online databases, provide forums, feedback forms etc.

Scripting Overview Video

Related Articles and Resources:

• Starting HTML
• Starting JavaScript
• Starting PHP