One bit of CGI that you can do without needing a lot or any programming experience are
Server-Side Includes (SSI). Server-Side Includes are special commands that
you put into an HTML file that the server (the computer on which you page resides...)
"includes" in a page. SSIs can be used to "include" anything from today's date to the date
the page was last changed to a hit counter for your page. Below is a list of SSIs and the
functions they perform.
<!--#include file="filename">
- This includes the contents of a file at the point this SSI is in your document. Any kind of file may be used; it can be text or another HTML document.
Example: <!--#include file="top10.txt">
<!--#echo var="**see below**">
- This SSI displays some bit of information on your page; the type of information is determined by values of var, displayed below.
Example: <!--#echo var="LAST_MODIFIED">
DOCUMENT_NAME - Displays the filename of the HTML document
DOCUMENT_URI - Displays the virtual path to the HTML document
DATE_LOCAL - Displays the local date, which depends on where the server is...
DATE_GMT - Displays the date in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is universal...
LAST_MODIFIED - Displays the date the HTML document was last changed in any way...
HTTP_USER_AGENT - Displays what browser is being used to display the HTML document
<!--#exec cgi="scriptname" cmd="servercommand">
- This executes one of two things. If you use cgi="scriptname", then it executes or runs another script. This is very useful for hit counters and the like. If you use cmd="servercommand", a command will be run on th
e server, like finger.
Example: <!--#exec cgi="counter.cgi"-->
<!--#fsize file="filename"-->
- This displays the size of the file specified.
Example: <--#fsize file="index.html"-->
<!--#flastmod file="filename"-->
- This displays the last date the specified file was modified or changed.
Example: <--#flastmod file="index.html"-->