Forms are everywhere on the Web. Answer a survey online, buy a book at Amazon.com, sign up for a magazine subscription and you are filling out a form. To see a quick example of a form, look at this screenshot of a simple form for ordering the Sunday StarTribune. A form consists of 2 seperate parts: an HTML Shell and a dynamic script. You are viewing the HTML shell, or more accurately the GUI(Graphical User Interface) of the HTML shell. Writing the HTML code for a form is much like what you have done thus far in this class. You can create nice looking shells using the forms chapter of our book.
A form usually consists of radio buttons(Start Delivery), text boxes(most of form), check boxes(not pictured), and pull down menus(not pictured). All the information is stored on the user's computer. The form is usually completed by a submit or enter button. When the user hits the button, a coded message is sent to a CGI or ASP server which reads the coded message and sends it to the web author. Messages can be directly deposited in the author's email inbox or collected and sorted by a database. The server that receives the messages can be the same server that the HTML is located on, but does not have to be.
So, the shell of the form is relatively straight forward. CGI Scripting, usually using the Perl language, is more complex and another topic we will talk about tomorrow. ASP or Active Server Pages is a Microsoft product that also allows dynamic webpages.Note: An easier way of allowing your users to interact with you is a simple email link(mailto: link). No CGI/ASP server is required as it is client to client. The disadvantage of course is there is no form to guide your user. If, however, you would like to use forms in your web page but have no desire to learn CGI/ASP Scripting or your web server does not allow scripting(Some don't because of security concerns), there is another option. You can sign up with a public form hosting company. Some charge you a small fee, but most just add advertising to your form. Listed below are some sites that will host forms for you.
JotForm is a newer one that has form creation software also
Freedback works pretty well, but make sure you sign up for the Free Personal Site choice. Has advertising.
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