The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers, such as HTTP or Web servers. When you would like to have your Web Site perform an interactive function, such as take information from the user, or provide information which is variable depending on certain conditions, you would write a program or script using the CGI standard.
The most common use of CGI scripts, is for use with forms. If you wish to add a form to your site, then you need to write a CGI script to tell the web server what to do with the information sent in by the form. These scripts can be written in any language that that the web servers computer can understand. Most people use C, Perl or write shell scripts. InfoStreet supports all these.
It is beyond the scope of this page to tell you how to write forms and scripts. Please look at Infostreet's World Wide Web Help! for that information.
Instant Web Sites
are a service of
InfoStreet Inc.
CGIs are easiest to set up for Expert
level Web Weavers.
If you consider yourself at the Expert level
and would like the details on how to hook
your finished CGI scripts to your
site, click here.
