Programming

Ultimately, if you want to do anything interesting on the web, you're going to have to learn some programming, or find someone who knows some. There are two types of programming or 'scripting'; the two words mean pretty much the same thing. One is called 'client-side' because the programs or scripts run on the client computer. The client is the computer visiting the site, i.e. your computer. The other is called 'server-side' because - can you guess? - the programs run on the server. The server is the central computer that all the clients visit to fetch the pages that make up your site. The server 'serves' those pages up.

JavaScript is a good example of client-side programming. It lets you do all sorts of things to the user's computer such as open browser windows, move things around the screen and respond to user actions, like clicking on a button.

But the really clever stuff happens on the server, using languages like PERL, ASP or ColdFusion. With server-side programming, you can buy and sell CDs over the web, book airline tickets, deliver football results to peoples' phones and other useful stuff.

Of course you can do quite simple things with server-side scripting too. One of the most common uses of Perl you will see on the web is to provide a contact form that lets visitors send you an email directly from your website. When the user submits the form, a Perl script on the server takes all the information they've entered, formats it into an email and sends it to the web master. Something like this is pretty easy to set up; you don't actually need to know any Perl, you can just upload a script (just as you would your HTML files and images, and change a couple of lines so it knows where to send the email to, and so on).