The location of HTML documents depends on the particular web server installation. Typically, HTML documents live in a special directory or sub-directories of that directory. The actual location of that directory can vary, but is often /var/www/html.
The web server may be set up to allow HTML documents to be placed in other locations including a sub-directory of your home directory generally called public_html.
At Birkbeck, you need to follow the instructions to create a WWW directory in which you will place your web pages.
<html> <head> <title>My form</title> </head> <body> ...HTML goes here... <form action='URL-of-CGI-script' method='post'> ...form elements and HTML goes here... ...don't forget the submit button!... </form> ...more HTML goes here... </body> </html>
Depending on the configuration, your URL-of-CGI-script may have to start with http: or https:. If one doesn't work, try the other!
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| <input type='checkbox' /> | Creates a tick box. You must specify a name= tag and a value= tag. If the checkbox is clicked, the name/value pair will be sent to the server when the submit button is pressed. |
| <input type='radio' /> | Creates a radio button. You must specify a name= tag and a value= tag. Radio buttons are grouped together by giving them the same name – only one of these can be selected at a time. The one name/value pair will be sent to the server when the submit button is pressed. |
| <input type='reset' /> | Creates a reset button to clear the form. No other attributes need to be set, but the value attribute will set the label on the button. |
| <input type='submit' /> | Creates a submit button to send the form to the web server. No other attributes need to be set, but the value attribute will set the label on the button. |
| <input type='text' /> | Creates a one-line box in which text can be entered. You must specify a name= attribute and should include a size= attribute to specify how wide the box is. It is also useful to specify a maxlength= attribute to specify the maximum number of characters that can be typed. |
| <select> | Creates a multiple choice pull-down menu or a scrolling list. You must specify a name= attribute. The size= attribute specifies the number of items to display (i.e. The number of rows shown) – if 1, then a pull-down menu is shown rather than a scrolling list. The multiple='multiple' attribute allows more than one item to be selected from a scrolling list. The actual options are specified in <option></option> tags which follow the <select> tag. The end of the list is indicated with a </select> tag. |
| <textarea> | Creates a large box in which text can be entered. You must specify a name= attribute and should include cols= and rows= attributes to specify the size of the box. You must also include a </textarea> closing tag – any text between the opening and closing tags will appear as the default text in the box. |