CGI on The World Kiosk

Every World Kiosk Web Site comes with its own private cgi-bin. If you don't know exactly what this means, don't worry, it's an advanced application. The short answer is that the cgi-bin represents the ability to run various software programs on your web site to make them more powerful and easier to use. The cgi-bin is the answer to a lot of questions World Kiosk customers ask. For instance...

A couple of days ago, a Kiosk customer wrote in asking for advice on how to streamline certain processes dealing with mailing list management. For those of you who don't know, mailing lists are managed through pieces of standard email sent to majordomo with commands, passwords, and email addresses in the body of the message. It can be a bit complex, especially if it's something you do only intermittently, so we're sympathetic.

Now, the short answer is that you set up the different processes in a form on a web page, have a CGI script pull the data out of the form, have it send the mail to majordomo, and voila. The long answer, however, is where is that CGI script?

Although I haven't found a pre-packaged script yet, here are my principle resources, and I think you'll find them helpful as well.

CGI For The Total Non-Programmer
http://www.webteacher.com/perltour/
Just because you're a non-programmer doesn't mean you're a non-person!

Selena Sol's WebWare Column
http://www.wdvl.com/Authoring/Scripting/WebWare/
The great mass of public domain scripts seem to do just about everything. Here are the answers to many of the most popular Kiosk questions: how do I run my own bulletin board?... how do I manage a database on the web?... how do I let people search my web site?... and how do I get started in the first place!?

AWSD CGI Scripts
http://awsd.com/scripts/
World customer Adam Gaffin (the power behind Boston Online) turned me on to this library of useful and cheap Perl scripts. Most of these utilities are shareware, and registration fees run from $25 to $50.

Adam has two of these applications running now: WebBBS -- a web-based bulletin board system -- and WebAdverts -- a system for maintaining a set of rotating banner ads. Other interesting items from this library include WebCal, an interactive events calendar and scheduling tool, and WebSearch, a search utility that runs on your web site.

Please get back to us with feedback at kiosk@world.com if you install and run any of these items.