HTML - Server sided & Client sided. Can somebody give me a quick outline of........?

Question

what it is that they are and what they do. I have a web site, a good one, a diploma in HTML, with a good grade, and a good understanding of CSS. I'm learning PHP but I still don't know what server and client sided whatevers are. Please explain somebody. A TU to all genuine helpers. Thanks.

Answer 1

CLIENT-SIDE …supports interaction within a webpage

Client-side scripting enables interaction within a webpage. The code required to process user-input is downloaded and compiled by the browser or plug-in. An example of a client-side interaction is a rollover (typically triggered when choosing a navigation option).

Client-side scripting languages include JavaScript.



SERVER-SIDE ...information is sent to a server to be processed

With server-side scripting, completing an activity involves sending information to another computer (server) across the internet. The server then runs a program that process the information and returns the results, typically a webpage.

Search engines use server-side processing. When a keyword is sent, a program on a server matches the word or phrase entered against an index of website content. (To complete the same search as a client-side process would require the browser to download the entire search engine program and index.)

Server-side scripting languages include ASP and PHP.

Answer 2

There is one simple way to differentiate server-side languages from client-side languages. Client-side is what the user--the client--can see happening. Server-side is what happens behind the scenes.

For example, if you have a form that a user can enter information into, that is client-side. They know that they can enter information into the form. When they hit submit, the server takes the data and does something with it, but the client doesn't know what, so it is behind the scenes.

Server-side languages are a lot more powerful than client-side ones, but they are used for different things.

I hope that I at least made the waters a little less muddy.
Alex

Answer 3

There's two computers involved in each web page viewing incident: the computer sitting here on my lap, and the computer somewhere out in the world that sends the web page to me.

I'm the client, and the sending computer is the server.

A client-side program, is shipped, un-run, like javascript, as part of the text of the web page. It gets executed on my computer. It's not allowed to read or write files. It has limited knowledge of other files (unless the person who wrote the javascript "hard-coded" this knowledge into the javascript). The client-side program uses the power and speed and time-of-day and browser characteristics of MY computer.

A server-side program executes on the sending computer. It may know about files and databases and stuff stored there. It doesn't depend on what type of browser I have. It doesn't depend upon whether I have a peeyuunee computer or a souped up behemoth. It sends its results AFTER it does its figuring or it may react to something I send to it, and send it on, somewhere else. It is, my agent, my path, my "waiter". (But I don't have to give it a tip.)

Answer 4

In a nutshell all it means is whether the code runs on the client or the server. If it runs on the client there is some downloading, involved to some degree.