Active Server Pages provide web developers with an exciting way to create dynamic web sites. Unlike HTML, Active Server Pages allow you to take the next step in creating exciting and interesting websites.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) has been around ever since the web browser first appeared all those years ago. HTML went from strength to strength until you really could not do any more with it. Active Server Pages (ASP) take over from where HTML left off in providing the web site creator with the tools and functionality to create rich and truly interactive websites.

ASP is not the only technology that allows you to create these interactive websites. Allaire has also appeared with a technology called Cold Fusion, however, to many, ASP is voted the technology which produces the most rapid results and more importantly it is much easier to learn.

So what are the differences between ASP and HTML? ASP is basically a scripting language that utilises VB Script. You can mix VB Script with HTML to produce web applications that offer an extra step in interactivity. The scripting language (VB Script) is processed by the server and not rendered by the web browser as HTML is. So HTML is very limited because the web browser must do all the work.

When you program a website with ASP, the programming is executed by the server not the web browser. This gives you increased performance and most importantly allows you to do much more.

So what can you do with ASP? In a nutshell Active Server Pages allow you to create dynamic forms that can return informative feedback to the user. You can access Databases via ASP, enabling you to sort database results and add new entries. You can update existing content on a website, and you can also remove content. Another excellent use of Active Server Pages is that you can even customize your website depending on which user is viewing it.

HTML is great and it will always be needed but you are very limited in what you can do with it. You have all seen websites that have nice graphics and are nicely formatted, but this is all static stuff. ASP gives us a whole new technology which, when used correctly, you can use to implement some truly amazing features like shopping cart systems, information databases, mailing lists, latest news and customized feedback forms.

Let's take a look at the Beginners Online Workshop site. It is connected to a central database that extracts information on demand. This article has been pulled out of the database by using ASP, and with a mixture of HTML, it is presented on your screen like this. We use the formatting of HTML and the power of ASP to deliver this article.

There are actually three elements to writing an ASP pages. Firstly, we need the text to display. Secondly, we need the HTML tags to format the display. Lastly, we need to have ASP statements to process the results. The display that is shown on your web browser depends on what the ASP statements process.

The ASP statements are very much like Visual Basic, in fact, VB Script is a cut-down subset of Visual Basic. So if you already know Visual Basic at an application level, moving to ASP will be a quick and painless transition.

So what do you need to run ASP on your website? Most importantly your website host will need to support Active Server Pages. There are plenty of service providers popping up each day, however in some cases they can be expensive. Probably a 30% increase in your hosting cost can be endured. Thankfully, prices are really coming down as competition is becoming greater. I recommend shopping around for a host because prices do differ and it can save you money by just spending a little time looking around.

The reason why prices are higher than standard hosting is because Active Server Pages require NT hosting to run. NT Hosting is more expensive than say UNIX hosting, so this is something to remember.

To write ASP pages, you don't need to have an ISP host your website. Thankfully, Microsoft have produced a product called Personal Web Server which allows you to explore and work with ASP on your home computer. This is ideal when writing your website at home until it is time to launch it. When you are ready to launch you know jolly well that in most cases it will work almost straight away across the Internet. If you are hunting Microsoft's website, try looking out for the NT Option Pack 4. There are both NT Workstation and Windows 98 versions available for free download. The size of this download is a little large so you might be better ordering the CD from Microsoft's website.

If you are a Netscape fan and you are wondering if Active Server Pages will work then you’re in luck. Active Server Pages are processed by the Server so whatever the ASP spits out, you are sure to know that your web browser will display it.

So in summary, ASP is looking really good for the Internet. You can get results with the minimal amount of fuss and with the Net becoming a big place, it seems that dynamic sites are the order of the day. In the next couple of weeks we are starting a tutorial on ASP on the Beginners Online Workshop website. Look out for it.