shoutout box

I browsed through the many thrads about shoutout boxes, but they all are in php! So I searched google for a cgi one but you need perl for it! I have no idea what perl is, and I'm pretty sure that geocities doesn't support it. Is there any shoutout box of ONLY cgi? (I plan on switching hosts with php and stuff like that but I need to apply and show a finished site first.) Also, is there any image preloader with a bar that shows time left that someone here might recommend?

Look at www.hotscripts.com for all the scripts you will ever need.

CGI is just an acronym for Common Gateway Interface. It allows a server side executable to be run on a server so that an http document can retrieve dynamic information. So.... that means you have to write a program to execute. You need a programming language to do that. C++, Perl, Etc.... CGI isn't a language in itself. I am not that into this stuff, but I think PHP and ASP and better for these kinds of scripts. I think people are getting away from using CGI based web sites. But correct me if I am wrong.

Well I found one thats hosted and seems good, but the default colors don't match my site. How would I create my own template with photoshop? (I'm pretty sure it's CGI because when I looked at the template source, it was CGI)

Like marble just said, there is no such thing as a CGI programming language. It's probably in PERL or something.

To change the look of the script, you will have to read thru the source of the script and understand how it works. You might be able to adjust the colors with CSS, if that is what they used to control the layout. Or you might have to modify the HTML. The readme file that came with the script should point you in the right direction.

Most of those shoutboxes, etc. have a default html page or style sheet. You can usually find it in there somewhere.
I think what you are confusing is CGI scripts are not always refered by their native language, but by the fact they are a CGI script.

What is the link, maybe one of us could look at it and show you where to alter the style?

Nvm, I am using the php version from powerful squid. It's soo much simpler to use. The only problem is, I erased the contents of shout.txt and now whenever I click "shout" on my shoutout box it says "You did not enter any information" even though I did.

Mmm, the ever versatile (and often mangled, tortured and twisted) mo0impulse shoutbox. :p

If you had not edited any of the source code aside from deleting the text from the shout.txt, then there might be something wrong on the server side. Everything should be working normally unless the host you're on is getting bi-tchy about PHP. Check the CHMOD of the shout.txt or check to see if the paths are correct in the .php files (which I think are correct else it'd be giving you runtime errors instead).

I chmod'ed it but it still gives the same error.. The webhoster says its running php 4 and the paths are all right

Well you use geocities right now, since your not paying either way try www.quickfox.com or was it quickfox.tk ? anyway its a free server that offers php also. Cgi is just a system hog and out of date.