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Thread ID: 51492	2004-11-22 10:41:00	What else can HTML do?	Kenshin (2501)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
295060	2004-11-22 10:41:00	Hi, I am a noobie learning to build a simple website. I have been reading online tutorials on HTML and can now do the basics in HTML. Now, it seems to me that all HTML is, is a language with tags that define the formatting and layout of texts and images on a webpage. Is this correct?? Can it be used to make a forum? what about a poll? If not, what scripting language should I learn to make those things?? cheers!	Kenshin (2501)
295061	2004-11-22 10:50:00	HTML is essentially just a formatting language. It can pass data to scripts, it can retrieve data from other files with includes (sorta) but thats about it. Learn PHP. As with any scripting language, once the script has done the funkiness (grabbed from a database, calculated something, etc) it still has to create the HTML to display it in.	ninja (1671)
295062	2004-11-22 11:31:00	In a nutshell, PHP etc is the "backend". The HTML is then created/generated "on-the-fly" depending on said paramaters to give you your HTML web-page. You can make some pretty nice sites with _just_ html though!	Chilling_Silence (9)
295063	2004-11-22 11:44:00	It counts as a markup Language.....typically for presentation. the likes of ColdFusion has Cold Fusion Markup Language so to assume Markup languages are static may not always be the case, things aren't always standardised e.g. a text file with the right processing environment could turn into a program or 'dynamic' as well GGgenerally in a quick non exact summary, which could go into books, there is Static an Dynamic Languages [Definitions get much more complex than this when exact but thats sort of overwhelming at first] Static usually doesn't change whereas dynamic does. HTML now days may come in the form of XHTML [XHTML is supposedly sort of like an imtermediate preperation standard before XML or extensible markup language becomes more common, some people argue against that however] Llater support for HTML includes style sheets [CSS files Lookup topstyle lite [Free] ] that can try to seperate the actual content from the style to make for a more efficient system e.g. less work to maintain. Here is a basic breakdown: www.creightonbrown.geek.nz there is no complete guide to stats, by research you will find more potentially as time progresses, as many of us i assume may happen to also face as a 'practical' decision In short yes PHP is an option, as are other language, you could look not only at the language itself but the partiality of what surrounds it. I use to think i wanted to do ColdFusion MX as my primary language but it seems the cost for that market is high and outside what i myself practise... also i assume that different markets exist... for a hobbyist to start Writing Java Server pages and do well at selling them may be statistically not as probable as say if they were to use PHP or ASP* *This assumes that SUN Microsystems report that with JSP projects 70% of them are more than 1 million dollars and because of such cost they would be at a different level of skill or professional knowledge than that of what may be a statistical normal project such as PHP. This post could probably go on with whole sorts of intracicies but i think i will stop there for now... i dont really want to start writing heaps and start going into technicial matters... i remember when i started out... someone would say highlighy technical stuff about languages like FORTRAN and because of different knowledge bases only so much knowledge is compatible at a given time frame, partly.	Captive (3159)
295064	2004-11-22 15:24:00	XHTML has replaced HTML as a standard, see w3.org for more information, XHTML however has not replaced XML. The basic implementation of HTML was to be able to show documents, flyers, have information accessible worldwide, it was a few smart people who found ideas and other ways to use it but they also discovered it's limits and that's when they found a need for dynamic content. XHTML designed templating is where money is to be made, if you're good with graphics and have an ability to layout pages, then you could be selling designs overseas (US) for around NZ$3000, well that's from a professional web designer who visits me. This is really a key thing to sites, showing a consistent layout and being able to implement dynamic content within the template, if you cover all these fields and the design, colours etc are good, then you could find XHTML still valid in todays world. PHP is just a backend or addon to cater for dynamic abilities which was not introduced into HTML else a lot of specifications would have needed to be changed and I don't think they would have wanted this, because they were still perfecting the HTML at the time. Depending on your needs, PHP would be my choice overall for adding dynamic content, but for large scale websites, then Perl/CGI might be the better choice. You will find a lot of professional web designers can create Content Management Systems (CMS), you should also know that if someone requests this they can expect to pay from $1500 and upwards. Cheers, Kame	Kame (312)
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