Appendix A -- Whatís on the CD?




Appendix A
What's on the CD?


The CD-ROM bound in the back of this book has been carefully prepared
and researched so that you'll have various tools and examples
to help you enhance your Web pages using CGI scripting. The entire
CD has been linked with HTML Web pages so that you can access
it via your favorite browser (there's even a browser included,
in case you need one). You'll find that the Web pages often have
links to the software programs on the disk, the graphics files
and examples, and to actual sites on the World Wide Web (you'll
need an Internet connection to use these).

Starting up the CD is simple. From within your browser, load the
file loadme.htm. The first page will lead you to the next pages,
whereupon you can choose what you'd like to see next.

Keep in mind that many of the programs you'll see on the CD are
beta versions, meaning that they're works in progress-functional,
but not with all the bugs worked out or all the features active
yet. We offer them so you can sample what their technology has
to offer and, if you're sufficiently tantalized, you can download
the latest version from the Web. But first, cut your Internet
connect charges by using the version on our CD.



NOTE


Many of the programs on the CD are shareware, offered free for a period of time so that you may evaluate them and decide whether you would like to use them. If you find one you like, you can register with the software company, pay a fee, and receive a
fully working version and possibly other perks. Please respect the efforts of the software authors who have toiled over hot monitors late into the night to bring you quality programs at reasonable prices





We've organized the material in such a way that each program mentioned
by the authors is found in a directory numbered after the chapter
in which the reference to it first appeared. Some files may appear
more than once if referred to more than once in the book.

You'll find links to other programs that may not have been mentioned
in the book and were included because we felt they would help
you develop the other aspects of a Web page in which a reader
might become involved. A few of those programs are as follows:

Perl. This is one of the preferred programming languages
for CGI scripting.
Counters. The CD contains the WWW Counter and digits,
and WebPage Counter.
Robots. If you want to perform a Web search, you can
use SurfBot and MOMspider.
HotDog HTML Editor. We've included HotDog for one simple
reason-it's one of the best and easiest tools for creating and
managing Web pages. The program you'll find on the CD is the standard
version, which is upgradable to the professional version (click
the link to Sausage Software for more information). It's solid
and reliable and will serve you for years to come. Upgrade it
to the professional version, and you'll not need another HTML
editor for quite a while.
PaintShop Pro. Many shareware programs are available
for manipulating graphics, but almost none can create graphics
from scratch. PaintShop Pro is a fully featured paint program
that excels at image manipulation, making it the program of choice
for making your Web page graphics. Registering the shareware version
will get you even more capability.
Map This! Those lovely image maps you see on others'
Web pages are quite a pain to control unless you have a program
such as Map This! It's an excellent utility for setting up the
links from different areas of your image.
WebForms. The creation of a Web page form can be a
daunting task without a program such as WebForms, which makes
it simple and easy.
Java Development Kit. This is a must-have should you
decide to get into Java programming. The JDK includes the Java
applet viewer as well. Mac and Windows versions can be found on
the CD.