CGI Web Hosting - 3 Essential Scripts for your Business
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John Michaels July 11, 2006
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If there's one thing that people love it is a web site that has plenty
of automated features. Sites that are highly interactive tend to get
the most traffic and generate the most business for the companies that
run them. Automated features can also play a "behind the scenes" role,
making your site easier to use, run smoothly and allow for things like
online sales and password protection. There are many ways to get this
type of automation into your site, but all involve either client side
or server side scripting.
Scripts are written in programming languages specially designed for the
web, and there are several languages that are commonly used. Most
client side scripts are written in Java which is still one of the best
web programming languages around. Some functions of a web site must be
completed via server side scripting, however, and the most commonly
used languages for server side scripting are PHP, PERL, and CGI. PHP
and PERL are newer languages and are gaining a lot of popularity, but
there are still plenty of features that can be scripted in the
granddaddy of web scripting languages, CGI.
Shopping Carts
No online sales site would be complete without a functioning shopping
cart and most of the best ones have been written in CGI script. CGI web
hosting is great for shopping cart scripts because it interfaces well
with most databases, including the popular MYSQL and MS Access
databases, it can be utilized on Windows, UNIX, LINUX, and MACOS
servers with equal ease, and can be easily configured for sales tax and
shipping cost calculations. Some newer shopping cart scripts are being
written in PHP and PERL, but most of the functioning carts on the web
are in good old CGI web hosting scripts.
Password Protection
Many web sites require some sort of registration and entry of a
password for the user to access the site's features. This is done for a
number of reasons from simply a desire to track visitors for marketing
purposes to allowing postings on message boards and ensuring that users
have paid any required fees associated with use of the site. The
automated registration process and user name/password issuance can be
written with CGI scripts and many of them have been.
Form Managers
Have you ever wondered how the forms you fill out online are handled?
In most cases, they're handled by CGI web hosting. When a user fills in
that form and hits the "submit" button, a CGI script takes over and
sends the data in email or writes it to a database where it can be
accessed later by the site's administrators.
These are just a few of the uses for CGI scripts on today's web sites.
There are literally hundreds of others and if there's something that
can be done on a web site, it is something that can be done with CGI.
PHP and PERL may be gaining a lot of popularity for various reasons,
but CGI was with us first and it isn't going anywhere. As long as there
are web sites, CGI web hosting will remain king. |