For anyone who isn’t a computer programmer, website scripts can look pretty daunting. However, they’re what make a website come to life. Those pages of code are what translate into a high-quality user experience.

Scripts are a list of commands, written in textual form, that allow for dynamic interactions to occur on a website. They’re written in scripting language, which is a programming language that is able to be interpreted and executed.

Put in even simpler terms, scripts are pieces of code that are written to accomplish a specific task. They’re incredibly useful and essential to delivering the dynamic user experience that we’re so used to today.

For example, imagine that your cosmetics business has been collecting collecting email addresses and tracking recent purchases. You decide to have a coupon for a makeup sale but only want to send it to customer who is likely to use the special offer. This will help save printing and mailing costs. Well, the simplest way to accomplish this is through a script that checks the recent purchase history of customers and provides all email addresses of customers who have recently made a beauty purchase on your site. Soon enough, you target customers will receive that coupon, which will keep them coming back.

Because scripts are a written set of commands in scripting language, they’re able to be easily edited through any basic text editor. Scripting languages vary, including client-side scripting, which allows users to physically see the scripts. Server-side input are scripts that only allow the user to see the end result of the scripts.

Client-side scripting includes HTML, CSS, XML, and JavaScripts. Those are made up of everything you see on your web browser. They’re used to create a framework for how your website content is organized, and how it appears on the page. All those graphics and fonts you see have been created from client-side scripting codes.

Server-side input includes PHP, Python, Per,l and more. These are the back-end of the operation, when a user actually begins to interact with a website. They populate loading pages and drop down menus, depending on what the user specifically inputs. Only the user sees the results of what they’re clicking, as result of the interpretation of these scripts.

As you can see, scripts are vital to the operation of a website. They’re the brains behind the whole operation that contributes to the user experience, not to mention they save you time and money. Look into using scripts if you aren’t already!