Getting Tricky

There are a number of ways you can enhance the presentation of your web pages with dynamic or interactive services. The include server side includes, CGIs and Java applets.

The simplest of these methods are server side includes. These let you quickly and easily include information about the number of hits on any given web page, when the web page was last modified and dynamically insert files into a web document.

Server side includes are functions built-in to the server, and so they are limited to whatever functions the server provides.

CGIs are a way of extending the functions of your server by using external applications which conform to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification. There are hundreds of CGIs you can use with your NetPresenz server, CGIs which can provide a web interface to a Database, automate mailing list subscription, gather survey information... the list is long. Example CGIs are demonstrated, and some links to find more are given.

Two sections follow the introduction to CGIs- Perl CGIs and Frontier CGIs. These sections outline how to set up and install Perl and Frontier, and how to get CGIs written in these languages to work with NetPresenz.

Missing files are a common problem on web sites, broken links look unprofessional and are agravating to the end user. Missing files support in NetPresenz lets you respond with varying degrees of intelligence to the problem. NetPresenz has quite advanced missing file handling routines which you can use to your advantage.

Finally, Java applets let you provide true interaction at the users end. By serving a Java applet to your customers you are giving them software they can run on their machine- whether their machine is Macintosh, Windows or Unix.

IMPORTANT: These pages need to be viewed as they are served from NetPresenz. If you are reading this page, then you are probably using NetPresenz: if not read the warning page.

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