Hosting & Side-server scripts

What's the best choice & what are they?

[yakksoho]

I have a webpage that I have already created, but I need to host it. There are so many hosting plans, but some of the options I don't understand, and I don't want to buy something that isn't right for me.

What's the difference between unix and windows? I'm running Windows XP. Why do differetn hosts have such designations as Unix, Linux, or Windows? Does it refer to the operating system you must be on to use their services? *confused*

I need to make an order form for my site. I already made the form itself, but I need to make a side-server script (?) so that it will send the information to me. Do all hosts provide this? Is it possible to set one up yourself? I don't really understand side-server scripts or know much about them at all...but i think I need a .cgi-bin to make a form?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[dwilson]

Welcome to WW.

Hosts tell about the OS they are running on their servers. It has nothing to do w/ the OS on your computer or your customers' computers. It becomes important when you are using server-side scripting ... which leads to the other half of your question.

A server-side script is simply a program that runs on the server, not on the customer's browser. Processing a form is a typical application of such a script. Many hosting companies charge a little more for allowing scripts than static HTML.

CGI is one way to handle scripting requirements, but it is really more difficult than more modern ods. 2 very popular scripting paradigms are ASP (on a Windows server) and PHP (available on almost any server, but less commonly found on Windows servers).

[yakksoho]

Thanks for the information. Is there a way to make/use a side-server script such as the ones you mentioned without doing it through your host? I'd like to make one, test it out, and then sign up with a host and put my site on the Internet, just to make sure everything is working properly before I launch the site.

Do you know of some good hosts that are affordable, that you have experienced firsthand and can reccommend for my purposes? Thanks again.

[ControlEngineer]

yakksoho,

Are you selling something from your site? Is it downloadable or something you will have to ship? Will you be taking credit cards?

If you are new to web work and web sales, there are some simple and cheap methods to start off with.

[yakksoho]

My site is for a free product, no credit card information or anything is necessary. There's an address form, check boxes and text boxes, and things like that for the different options.

Please divulge any ways to make this form work. I want the user to type in their information, check the boxes they want, and hit the send button, and have that information sent to me.

if it helps i can post my form here. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks for your attention.

[jamesa]

>> Is there a way to make/use a side-server script such as the ones you mentioned without doing it through your host? <<

Only if you're running your own server locally. That's what they mean by "server-side" - it's needs to run on the server. ;)

But there's so many free scripts already written. Do a search for php scripts (or perl scripts, or asp scripts depending on your preferred language and what your host supports). That will lead you to tons of sites where you can find pre-written scripts. Find a script that appeals to you, and follow the instructions to install and configure.

[ControlEngineer]

I believe that Yahoo has a cheap web hosting (not Geocities, you get your own domain name) that includes the ability to create a form that is then e-mailed to you. I don't know the details, maybe someone else here does.