Chapter 14: Add Interactivity with Forms

Overview

How to…

• Understand form elements

• Create a simple guestbook

• Create a survey form

• Use tables for form structure

• Understand CGI

• Locate and use CGI resources

If you are content with creating a static Web site, such as an online brochure or a family album, and you don’t really care whether your visitors have the opportunity to respond to you, you can skip this chapter without missing much. On the other hand, if you want to enable your visitors to interact with you and respond to your site, you might want to stick around and read about XHTML forms. With XHTML form elements you can add a guestbook, put a menu on your site, add a search engine, create a survey, construct a catalog, develop an order form, and much more. Best of all, forms are easy to create—when you’ve sorted out the various elements involved. The process of getting a form to actually work (deliver information to you) is a bit trickier, but once you learn how to take advantage of the available resources, you’ll soon be creating and using forms like a pro.