Even if many jobs can be handled with Javascript, an HTML page is not really dynamic till it is interactive.
This can be accomplished using the so called Server Side Scripts as ASP on Windows servers or
PHP on UNIX/Linux servers.
Implementing these scripts will make the contents of the HTML pages sent to the user's
browser dependant of the actions of same user. This way communication with dtabases like
MySQL will be possible.
ASP is
(almost)
solely found in the realm of Microsoft, whereas PHP is an open, free concept like MySQL,
and accordingly both are implemented under Windows too. The last mentioned fact is a
very big advantage for the user who wants to have PHP and MySQL support for his
website, as all development can be done offline. Furthermore PHP is much faster than ASP.
If you encounter a page, that loads very slowly, then try to see if the extension is
.asp. Chances are good.
For use in development on my Windows XP machine I have installed an Apache Web Server, that can be downloaded here. PHP was downloaded from PHP.NET and MySQL from MySQL.COM. Administration af the database is done with phpMyAdmin, that can be downloaded from PHPMYADMIN.NET. A description of the complete setup including Apache can be found here. Another possibility is to use EasyPHP.
Many sources of information on and help with PHP can be found on the Internet.
Among those are the already mentioned
PHP Builder,
The PHP Resource Index,
Website Tips and
WeberDev. A very good book on the subjects of PHP and MySQL can be found at
Amazon. For detailed information you can of cause download
the two manuals for
MySQL and PHP.