1- how much important Javascript is for webpage development. 2- what about VB script. (which one to prefer) 3- and is there any alternative for any of the above Abdul Naseer Ansari Afghanistan

The answer is "it depends". For a static site you may not need javascript at all. However, for complex sites and web-applications JavaScript may very well be a necessity. I will alwas use JavaScript to help with form validations (i.e. ensuring a date value is entered into a date field), but will also validate on the server-side. However, whenever possible a good developere will ensure that his site will work even if the user has JavaScript disabled. But, there are something that just can't be done without it. Now, with VBScript, it depends in what manner you mean to use it. As a client-side implementation I would say that you should never use it because it only works in IE. There are a few exceptions such as if the site is for use in a company intranet where the browser will be consistent. VBScript, is more ubiquitous as a server-side implementation in an ASP environment. It all comes down to what you want to do. If you can't do what you want with pure HTML & CSS, then you will need to start looking for alternative technologies. Michael J

well, thank you very much for your valuable information. Here, I woul like to clarify a little bit more, I have actaully done HTML and CSS now I want to know more about webpage development I may need to develop both statistiacal and interactive websites. I have studied javascript a little bit but I have yet to reach a comprehensiver source to help me understnd it completely I shall be very thankful if you could guid me in that regard. finally I would apprecial if u tell me what is PHP technology. Thank you very much for your cooperation Abdul Naseer Ansari Afghanistan

If you want an interactive site, then JavaScript can be of great use. It is very difficult to know whether you need JS or not without a specific functionality example. To see what different things JavaScript can do I would suggest going to a site that provides free JavaScript code - most have working examples. PHP is similar to VBScript. It is a server-side language used for developing interactive sites - especially those utilizing databases - like this forum. Michael J