Introduction
	A simple way of interacting with clients that visit a web site is to allow them to sign a guestlist and leave some comments. A guestlist form and custom CGI can be designed to facilitate such a task.
	Installation
	To install the comments form and CGI on your Virtual Private Servers you will need to do the following. Install the Guestlist and Guest Entry Form You will need to download the Guestlist HTML source and Guestlist Entry Form HTML source and store it somewhere in your ~/www/htdocs directory structure. The Guestlist Entry Form can be customized by simply changing the values assigned to these variables: MAXENTRIES is the number of entries that will be displayed in the guestbook. For example, if MAXENTRIES is set to "100", only the latest 100 entries in the guestbook will be displayed. If MAXENTRIES is set to negative or zero (or not included in the form at all), no entry restriction will be applied. PATHNAME represents the pathname of the guestlist file relative to the ~/www/htdocs directory of your Virtual Private Servers. For example, if your guestlist file was named guestlist.html and was located in a subdirectory guest of your ~/www/htdocs directory, you would set PATHNAME to be "/guest/guestlist.html". If the file guestlist.html is located in your ~/www/htdocs directory, you would set PATHNAME to be "/guestlist.html". ADDRESS should be set to the e-mail address where a copy of guestlist entries which include a return e-mail address are sent. Be sure that the variable name (MAXENTRIES, PATHNAME, PATHNAME, etc) for each input field in the Guestlist Entry Form is not altered. Install the Guestlist CGI Connect to your Virtual Private Servers via Telnet or SSH and issue the following command. % vinstall guestlist This will install the guestlist.pl and util.pl files into your ~/www/cgi-bin/library/guestlist directory. Customize the Appearance of the Guestlist CGI Two subroutines in the util.pl file are used to print out header and footer information. These functions are print_header_info and print_footer_info. Feel free to modify these functions such that the CGI outputs pages that are in synch with the motifs of the rest of your site.
	More Information
	If you are unfamiliar with the <FORM...> HTML element, or would like to learn more about forms, the following URL is an excellent resource: NCSA: Fill-Out Form Support