Free CGI Scripts

A static web page that you view, read, and then click on an icon to read another page runs off a basic HTML structure.  It is for all intensive purposes an Internet billboard.  To create a more dynamic and interactive web site that allows your user to input and receive information, shop online, locate your business on a map with driving direction requires the addition of CGI Scripts. And free CGI scripts are the way to go.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and its incarnations – CGI Scripts, CGI Proxy, and CGI-bin – are not strictly a computer language but rather the intelligent mediator that allows HTML and other programs to play nicely.  So rather than a language, CGI is lines of code usually written in Perl or PHP (although compatible with other languages) that communicates with script and the web and the user.

An HTML command simply requests a document from the server, but a CGI link accesses and runs a program from the server that handles a specific request. For example, your user clicks on an icon for the location and driving directions to your business.  A CGI script is accessed from the server and displays an HTML that allows the user to type in a zip code for directions and a map from this specific location. After the addresses are submitted, the CGI accesses the server again to execute the program.

The CGI can complete several complex tasks at once.  It can return the user request for a map and directions, another program can track the zip codes from where you are receiving these requests for marketing and research, another program can email the map and directions to the user upon request, and so forth.

The main idea to the CGI script is that each of these functions runs off a program from simple to complex that is located on the server not embedded into the HTML document.  It may be displayed as HTML but CGI creates a go between so that the server can store and access the program.

The great part about CGI scripts are they are extremely useful, they increase the ease and usability of your web site ten fold, they are easy to install, they can be downloaded for free from providers all over the web, and you don’t have to be a computer programmer to have a great web site.

The tricky part is that CGI scripts do require server access.  If your web host is not willing to comply you’ll have to look at other hosts who can support CGI programs. Be aware that most free web hosting providers do not support CGI scripting.

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