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Scripting Languages
As the leading web hosting company in the UK, providing choice to our customers is one of our driving factors. A good example of this is the scripting languages that allow our customers to use in conjunction with their hosting packages.
What Are Scripting Languages?
There are two main categories of scripting language - either client or server-based. They are designed to describe attributes and functions that can be interpreted by browsers to produce a Web page.
Client-side Web scripting started off with hypertext markup language (HTML), which was a static scripting language used purely to describe how a page would look. You can use HTML, for example, to position a headline, and decide which colour it will be.
Server-side scripting came from a desire to offer dynamic data. Processing everything on the server means that you can give everyone a similar experience of your website, while making allowances for different display types.
Are There Many Different Types?
Put simply, yes there are! Which you use is dependent upon your own experience, what you need to achieve, and the tools and applications you may use to help you along the way. For instance, if you just need a simple email script, you could use a free CGI-Script, from a site such as Matts Script Archive.
However, if you want to process complex queries and build your pages based on user preferences or permissions, then you may be better exploring ASP.net, PHP or CFMX.
Which Ones Do Hostway Support?
Hostway supports many different types of server-side scripting, because we want to offer you the broadest range of tools to build your website. Here is a list of the most common types we offer, and the platforms that they are available on:
Language |
Description |
Platform |
ASP |
Active Server Pages; takes input from a web page, interacts with server objects such as a database and renders it into HTML for display in the browser. |
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ASP.net |
ASP.net is the next generation of Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) ; it supports code written in compiled languages like C++, C# and Visual Basic. |
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PHP |
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor; an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. It is compatible with many different types of databases and is now in its 5th incarnation. |
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CFMX |
ColdFusion MX 6.1 lets you build Internet applications and Web services to connect to corporate databases. Flash interfaces are supported, as are XML and Web services. |
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Perl 5 CGI |
Common Gateway Interface; enables applications to interpret scripting languages, carrying out different functions as a result, such as sending an email. |
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XML |
eXtensible Markup Language; XML was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is. XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document structure, and therefore create your own mark-up style. |
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Python |
Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language that is simple and powerful. It has modules, classes, exceptions, and dynamic data types. |
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How Can I Use Them?
Customers that would like to add PHP to their hosting plans or to their server can do so via the Website Tools section of your Site Control Panel. All other languages are pre-installed on the web servers, so all you need to do is ensure that the code is correctly inputted into your webpages.
Choosing a Hosting Plan / Language
If you do need any help with choosing the right platform and scripting language for your website, then please feel free to contact the Sales team, who will be pleased to offer impartial advice on the solution that will be best for you.
Can my hosting solution grow with my needs?
Yes of course - you can either add additional features or upgrade your hosting plan easily and can be done via your webhosting Control Panel. Additionally, we will support all languages described above across both shared and dedicated services, so if your site needs a dedicated server, you do not have to make changes.
We offer a 30-day money back guarantee with all our email and shared web hosting plans. Please do contact our sales team by e-mail or call free on 0808 180 1880 from within the UK or +44 (0)207 538 8000 from outside the UK.
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