CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. CGIs are often used to gather data from forms and to allow the web user to interact the web application dynamically. The actual CGIs can be programmed with Perl or other programming languages, but Perl is the preferred language because it's supported by the CLAS computers and it's a highly scalable language. The English Department registration is run using CGIs.
The examples below have already been designed and configured to be used by anyone by following the directions with them. For actually creating CGIs a lot is involved, especially security concerns. If you're interested in writing your own CGIs, please see the books in the IMAGE Lab and please ask for assistance.
Examples: