Hey, I am in need of a little help and was hoping some of you here may spend a little time and give me a helping hand. First off I feel I need to say that I don't know all that much about web design, and would by all means consider myself a beginner. I downloaded the CoffeeCup HTML Editor with the intentions of making a website and it is coming along very nicely due to the fact that CoffeeCup seems to be a great program and very easy to use. My only real problem so far is that I want to add a Guestbook and don't know how to code it. I searched for a guestbook code and found a website that has exactly what I want, but it wants me to do a few things I don't really understand so maybe you can help. So here goes.

The code they provided is:

 
<H1>My Guestbook Page</H1>

<P>Hi, and welcome to my guestbook. Please sign below:</P>

<P>Last post on 
<!-- Do NOT delete this line! --> <!--LASTDATE--> 
<!-- Do NOT delete this line! --> <!--POINTER--> 

<HR>

Sign the guestbook:<BR>

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://www.yourdomain.com:8080/cgi-bin/guestbook.pl/THE PATH TO THIS FILE">

<!-- Delete the words "THE PATH TO THIS FILE" and replace them with the actual 

path to this html file. -->

Name: <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="name" SIZE="30" MAXLENGTH="30">
<BR>
E-mail address: <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="address" SIZE="30" MAXLENGTH="30">
<BR>
<P>Text:<BR>
<TEXTAREA NAME="body" ROWS=15 COLS=60></TEXTAREA></P>
<BR>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="" VALUE="POST">
<INPUT TYPE="reset" NAME="" VALUE="CLEAR">
</FORM>

<!-- Put additional text, like an address or something, here. -->

I inserted it in my body and it looked fine and I read the code and understand that it says to change the path, but worked with that and couldn't get it to work for my situation. Right now in Coffeecup I have my guestbook saved as Guestbook.html.

 
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://www.yourdomain.com:8080/cgi-bin/guestbook.pl/THE PATH TO THIS FILE">

Am I supposed to just add guestbook.html in place of "THE PATH TO THIS FILE" or what? My page isn't up on a domain yet and I don't know how to just leave out the URL and go my saved html file. Could someone tell me what I should put there, because when I type in everything and hit submit I go to a make that isn't recognized. Please keep in mind when responding if you do that I am a beginner and to try and keep it basic if at all possible. Thank you for any help that you may provide.

Emotions05

Also does anyone have a really good website where I can download codes for certain items like counters, guestbooks, among various other items and plug it into my code? If so I would appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Emotions05

Also does anyone have a really good website where I can download codes for certain items like counters, guestbooks, among various other items and plug it into my code? If so I would appreciate it.

I would reccommend searching http://www.hotscripts.com and finding a good PHP one. A lot of scripts these days have an installation built in to make it a lot easier to install.

Emotions05

You can't just use an html file for a guestbook. The page that this form rediredts to needs has to have capabilities of connecting to a database of some sort. This would require php, asp, or some other server technology.

It can't be done by just using html pages...!

A word of advice:
If you're having a guestbook, make sure you get one that hides e-mail addresses, or at least gives the user the option to hide their address. As well as spam bots picking them up, Nigerian scammers like to hang out on guesbooks and harvest addrsses to send scam mailings to. If you've ever seen the word 'mugu' on a guestbook, that's what it is - a Nigerian scammer.
See http://www.419eater.com/ for more info and some funny stories on the subject.

ChipJohns is right, you need somewhere to store each entry. You can either learn one of the server side languages (A guestbook would be a nice simple project to get you started) or you can search the net to find a pre-made one. There's probably loads ot there, many with simple instructions to install.
If you have access to a scripting language but no database, some guestbooks work with text or XML files to store the entries in, although this might not be an idea solution if the guestbook ends up being huge.

Minaki is correct. I have a client who has a guest book. I have had to change the input form to direct to my email and i put in every entry myself. I tried just about everything to keep these guys out and finally through up my hands.

These guys even took the page and copied it. then they altered the coding so that they could change the form to over ride the date input to a hard coded date so that their posts would be burried deeper on the page, hoping we wouldn't notice. They have LOTS of tricks and just don't give up. I have a big message on the pages saying that it is moderated and any spam will not be added. They still bomb it..

If you plan on hosting a guestbook. Plan on having to moderate it. In time, it will start to get bombarded by the Nigerian Spammer...

----

Just as some COMFORT Emotions5. I am a graphic artist and a Web Project Manager. I have no coding experience, other than html, which isn't really considered coding by real programmers. About two years ago I decided to build my own site with Cold Fusion. I did. Now I have no problem using CF for other sites, which I do.

About 2 months ago, one of my seo clients wanted his web site updated. He has a lot of big ideas for it. I told him that I would do it. I bought a book on asp, and MAN! I'm doing it. These guys here have answered a few of my questions and helped with a few of the things I was having troubles with. The thing is I am getting it done. And, this isn't just a couple of scripts. It is going to be a full blown site with lots of asp applications running on it. If I can do it, anybody can. It does take committment. There is going to a page that takes you three hours to code and then you'll realize that because of one little ; it hasn't been working and you'll kick yourself. But you will learn, and it will be worth it.

I have a meeting at the end of the week with an even bigger client that I know is going to require some really heavy duty scripts, etc. I am excited about it. And, I've only been doing this (asp) for 2 months.

Make the decision that you CAN do it Emotions5 and just do it. When you get stuck, come back and ask. it will be a little tough, but, well worth it.. !!
From reading Minaki's posts I am convinced that I might even be able to learn asp.NET...

Step over to the other side..!!