Server-Side Programming

Programming in webpages can occur either on the servering computer that sends the page out to the world or it can occur inside the webpage itself. They are called server-side programming and client-side programming respectively. Examples of client-side are Java, Javascript, Jscript, ECMAscript, VBscript, Flash, ActiveX and Shockwave. Because these are programs, they run on your desktop computer inside your browser. Some of them have the ability to run outside of your browser. That is, they run on your native operating system. This is very dangerous since their function could be to format your hard drive. Because of this problem many companies setup firewalls and filter out such programs before passing the page on to the desktop computer. Even if your target market is consumers this blocking of your page by companies can be a problem. Many employees use their work web-connection during lunch to shop and do personal research.

Server-side programming's output isn't blocked by firewalls since all the processing happens on the host server. Nothing runs on the desktop. Your pages can be dynamically served and still visible to all. As described in Object Multi-Publishing, CompoundDoc has many features that allow it to change the webpage dependant on the request from the client browser. Zope was built to serve pages dynamically (assemble the pages from objects when the page is requested).

Another advantage of server-side programming is the elimination of frames in webpages. Frames were created to allow different areas of the screen to change and scroll without changing or moving other areas. With server-side programming and the new XHTML 1.1 standard the same effect can be achieved. This is advantageous since search engine crawlers and handicapped browsers have difficulty reading a page with frames.

When a server-side program is changed it can be setup to change all the websites on that server or just the pages in one site. This is how CompoundDoc works. If the programming is inside the page (client-side) such a programming change is more time consuming and thus more expensive to implement across multiple pages and sites.

If the server-side programming is inside an object in Zope the security is greatly enhanced (see Security).

Lastly, server-side programming allows smaller pages to be sent across the Internet. Your website customers don't have to wait as long for your site to download. Simply the program doesn't have to be sent with the page. Since only a small portion of users have fast internet connections this is important. It is suggested that a page should load in no more than 14 seconds and most users will abandon the page if it takes more than 30 seconds.