JavaScript

CGI Scripts | PERL Scripts | PHP | Server Side Includes (SSI's)

Javascript is the language which controls things like changing images as your mouse moves over them. I've included it here because there are many times you could use a JavaScript instead of a PERL script. It is primarily a "Client Side" function as opposed to one which is served by an application on the server (server side). Usually the visitor's browser is the application which enables the Javascript to work.

There is a way to serve the javascripts from a library (which sits in your directory on the server) to perform repeated functions on a website. The file's extension is .js and once implemented it is placed in the browser's cache making its re-use much faster. A .js library* is used throughout this manual.

(*Note: some version 3 browsers may have trouble with this method)

Javascript functions tend to be faster the all the others, but are limited when it comes to database or application support on a site.

There's a lot about JavaScript on the web so its not gone into much in this tutorial. Here are a few sites that are worth visiting if you are interested in obtaining or learning about JavaScripts.