HTML 4.0 fill-out forms

Unlike most HTML work, using a fill-out form requires programming: you must write a downstream CGI script to process the data from the form. This means that you must either be a programmer, or hire one. The programming can be done in any language that can evaluate environmental variables, and the programmer must understand how CGI scripts work (see the section Relevant URLs, below).

The interface between a form and the CGI script that handles the form is conceptually simple. When the user clicks on the Submit button on a Web form, the associated CGI script starts running, and receives the contents of the form as a set of (name, value) pairs. Each name designates one of the elements on the form, and the corresponding value describes what value the user has selected for that form element.

Forms design itself does not require programming, but the forms designer must coordinate with the script programmer on the exact set of names, and what the values mean.