Scripting
Custom interactive website applications rely on scripting for their functionality.
For example, if a user is looking for a particular set of information, a PHP script on the server could query a MySQL database and generate a custom XML data object; the visitor's browser could then quickly retrieve different portions of this file with AJAX calls as the visitor interacts with the page. This eliminates the need for the entire page to reload, making the user experience more enjoyable. The visitor need not be aware of the technology involved: all she needs to know is that your website is snappy and intuitive.
Server Side Scripting
At Basementia™ we author server-side scripting in PHP, a hypertext preprocessor which functions in many server environments; most of the popular Linux hosting systems already have the parser installed.
PHP is a flexible server-side scripting language which can be used to parse input data, read and write cookies, query a database, and perform calculations, and to then output a customized HTML web page based on the resultant information.
Client-Side Scripting
JavaScript is a client-side scripting language, meaning the script runs within the visitor's browser window. The advantage is enhanced interactivity. For example, JavaScript can detect the size of the browser window, and modify the layout accordingly; although some of our fellow web designers would find this example conceptually abhorrent on principle.
One disadvantage is that JavaScript may be turned off by the visitor; and that some browser implementations of the scripting language may follow divergent standards. Thus while JavaScript offers a great deal of enhanced usability, it is not appropriate for every website application.
AJAX
AJAX is a popular buzzword for one type of JavaScript enhanced usability. AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. Strictly speaking, the term is used to describe web applications which retrieve information from a certain type of structured file dynamically, based on user requests, and then update web page content without reloading the entire page, thereby saving on server bandwidth and reducing page load times for users.
ActionScript
Flash objects sometimes require their own internal scripting. These scripts are written in ActionScript, a proprietary language of Macromedia. For the most popular uses, our portfolio includes demonstrated samples of work that employs the ActionScript language and techniques.
