Preserving the legacy of Matt's Script Archive and the golden age of CGI scripting for future generations.
WorldWideMart.com is a fan-maintained archive dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of Matt's Script Archive (MSA), one of the most influential collections of CGI scripts in web development history.
From 1995 to 2004, Matt Wright's Script Archive was the destination for webmasters seeking free, functional CGI scripts. Before WordPress, before modern web frameworks, Matt's scripts powered millions of websites with basic features like contact forms, guestbooks, discussion boards, and visitor counters.
In 1995, Matt Wright began creating and sharing free CGI scripts to help webmasters add interactive features to their websites. What started as a small collection quickly grew into the most popular CGI script resource on the web.
During the late 1990s, Matt's Script Archive became the go-to place for web developers worldwide. Scripts like FormMail, Guestbook, and WWWBoard were installed on millions of websites, enabling features that are now taken for granted:
The most widely-used form-to-email script. Made contact forms accessible to everyone.
Let visitors leave messages and sign your site. Social interaction before social media.
Web discussion forum that created communities before modern forum software.
Like many software projects, MSA scripts faced Y2K challenges. Matt Wright released patches in December 1999 to address date handling issues in several scripts including Countdown, Counter, TextClock, and WWWBoard. These updates demonstrated the commitment to maintaining working solutions even as the web evolved.
As web development matured with PHP, MySQL, and new frameworks, the need for standalone CGI scripts diminished. By 2004, the original Matt's Script Archive had completed its mission, having served the web development community faithfully for nearly a decade.
The scripts from Matt's Script Archive represent more than just code - they're artifacts from a time when the internet was changing from static pages to interactive experiences.
These scripts demonstrate fundamental web programming concepts: form processing, file handling, data validation, and user interaction. They're excellent learning resources for understanding how early web applications worked.
Before modern frameworks and CMSs, these scripts let millions of webmasters add dynamic features to their sites. They made web development accessible when it mattered most.
The guestbooks, forums, and counters created by these scripts were part of web culture in the 1990s and early 2000s. Preserving them helps future generations understand how people connected online before social media.
We maintain this archive as a tribute to Matt Wright and the countless developers who used these scripts. While the original site is gone, the legacy lives on here.
What We Do:
- Preserve original documentation
- Provide modern, secure implementations
- Maintain working examples
- Document historical context
- Support the developer community
This archive is maintained by volunteers passionate about preserving web history. If you have memories, screenshots, or documentation related to Matt's Script Archive, we'd love to hear from you.
No, this is a fan-maintained archive dedicated to preserving the legacy of the original Matt's Script Archive. We provide documentation, modern implementations, and historical context for these classic scripts.
Yes! We provide modern, security-updated versions of classic scripts. While the original Perl CGI approach has been largely superseded by modern frameworks, these scripts still work and are great for learning or nostalgia projects.
The original site was active from 1995 to around 2004. As web development evolved, the site gradually became less active. This preservation archive ensures that the documentation and scripts remain accessible for historical and educational purposes.
Our modern implementations include security updates and best practices. The original scripts were created in a different security era. We document both the historical versions and provide updated, secure alternatives for modern use.
We welcome contributions including bug fixes, documentation improvements, historical information, and screenshots from sites that used these scripts. Please visit our contact page to get in touch.