Upcoming Projects and Scripts

A historical look at planned CGI scripts from 1997.

A snapshot of web development roadmaps from the early internet era.

Historical Context

This page originally listed scripts planned for release in 1997. Due to time constraints common in solo developer projects, these releases were delayed. This preserved page offers insight into how web developers managed expectations and communicated with their user community in the pre-GitHub, pre-Agile era.

"Development has been busier than planned lately with limited time for the scripts. These dates are a couple months early at best. Hopefully you understand."

About Project Roadmaps

In the 1990s, independent developers maintained their own websites to communicate with users. Unlike modern platforms with issue trackers and automated notifications, developers would manually update HTML pages to share their plans and progress.

Solo Development

One developer managing an entire script collection with limited time.

Community Feedback

Feature requests collected via email and comment forms.

Realistic Expectations

Honest communication about delays and time constraints.

Originally Planned Projects (1997)

WWW Statistics Program

Estimated Release: July 1997

Planned Features:
  • Server Side Include for page tracking
  • Integration with graphical counter
  • Access log parsing script
  • Formatted HTML statistics output
  • Company logo integration
Never Released Superseded by AWStats, Google Analytics
WWWBoard 3.0

Estimated Release: August 1997

Planned Features:
  • Multiple message boards with one script
  • Users can edit own postings
  • Newer, updated look
  • Search functionality
  • Complete rewrite over 2.0 ALPHA
  • Many new features
Never Released Superseded by phpBB, vBulletin
Guestbook New Version

Estimated Release: September 1997

Planned Features:
  • Fixed date subroutines
  • New configuration options
  • Bug fixes
  • Improved compatibility
Partial Updates Released Guestbooks largely obsolete

What Actually Happened

1997
Development Slowed

Time constraints prevented planned releases. Minor updates and patches continued.

1998
CGI/Perl Cookbook Published

The CGI/Perl Cookbook was published, shifting developer focus from scripts to education.

1999-2000
PHP Rises

PHP 3.0 and 4.0 emerged as easier alternatives to Perl CGI, shifting web development paradigms.

2000+
Security Patches

FormMail and other scripts received critical security updates. NMS versions created.

Legacy
Historical Archive

The Script Archive is preserved as an educational and historical resource.

Modern Equivalents

The features planned for 1997 are now standard in modern tools:

Planned Feature (1997) Modern Equivalent Examples
WWW Statistics Program Web Analytics Google Analytics, Matomo, Plausible, Fathom
Access Log Parser Log Analysis Tools AWStats, GoAccess, Elastic Stack (ELK)
Graphical Counter Real-time Dashboards Google Analytics Real-Time, Cloudflare Analytics
WWWBoard 3.0 Forum Software Discourse, phpBB, Flarum, Reddit, Discord
Multiple Message Boards Categories & Channels All modern forums support this natively
Edit Own Postings Standard Feature Universal in all modern platforms
Search Functionality Full-text Search Elasticsearch, Algolia, Meilisearch
Guestbook Updates Comments Systems Disqus, Commento, native blog comments

How Project Roadmaps Work Today

GitHub Project Boards

Modern open-source projects use GitHub Issues and Project boards:

  • Issue tracking with labels and milestones
  • Public roadmaps and project boards
  • Automated release notes
  • Community contributions via PRs
  • Discussion forums for feature requests
Modern Tools

Teams use specialized tools for project management:

  • Jira - Enterprise issue tracking
  • Linear - Fast issue tracking for teams
  • Notion - Roadmaps and documentation
  • Trello - Visual project boards
  • ProductBoard - Public roadmaps
Example: Modern GitHub Roadmap Setup 
# ROADMAP.md

## Q1 2025 - Foundation
- [x] Core authentication system
- [x] User dashboard
- [ ] Email notifications
- [ ] API rate limiting

## Q2 2025 - Features
- [ ] Real-time collaboration
- [ ] Third-party integrations
- [ ] Mobile app beta

## Q3 2025 - Scale
- [ ] Multi-region deployment
- [ ] Enterprise SSO
- [ ] Advanced analytics

---

**Note:** This roadmap is subject to change based on community feedback
and business priorities. Follow our [GitHub Discussions](link) for updates.

Modern roadmaps are living documents that update automatically as issues are closed.

Lessons from the 1990s

What Worked
  • Honest Communication

    Admitting delays builds trust with users

  • Feature Previews

    Sharing planned features generated excitement

  • Community Feedback

    Comment forms helped prioritize features

  • Incremental Updates

    Smaller patches while major versions delayed

What Was Challenging
  • Solo Development

    One person managing everything limits capacity

  • Date Estimates

    Specific dates set expectations that couldn't be met

  • No Version Control

    Git didn't exist; collaboration was difficult

  • Competing Priorities

    Work/life balance affected side projects

Frequently Asked Questions

The WWW Statistics Program and WWWBoard 3.0 were never released. The Guestbook received some updates but not the major version planned. By the late 1990s, PHP-based alternatives like phpBB (2000) emerged, and web development shifted away from Perl CGI scripts toward PHP and eventually full-stack frameworks.

As a solo developer maintaining popular scripts used by millions, time constraints were significant. Additionally, the CGI/Perl Cookbook was published in 1998, shifting focus from script development to education. The rapid evolution of web technologies also meant priorities changed as PHP and other platforms emerged.

Before GitHub and modern project management tools, developers used: static HTML pages (like this one) updated manually, mailing lists for announcements, README files in download archives, personal blogs, and newsgroups. There was no standardized way to track issues or accept community contributions.

The planned statistics program would track page views via Server Side Includes (similar to how Google Analytics works with JavaScript today), record access to a log file, and include a Perl script to parse the logs into formatted HTML reports. This was before web analytics services existed - everything was self-hosted and manually implemented.

WWWBoard 3.0 was planned as a complete rewrite with: multiple discussion boards from one installation (like modern forum categories), user editing of their own posts (revolutionary at the time), built-in search functionality, improved security, and a modernized appearance. These features are now standard in all forum software.

Modern best practices include: avoid specific dates (use quarters or "soon"), communicate early and often about delays, use GitHub milestones that can be moved, maintain a public changelog for what shipped, engage the community in prioritization, and consider if features are still needed as priorities evolve.

Web analytics: Google Analytics (2005), Matomo, AWStats. Forums: phpBB (2000), vBulletin, Discourse (2013). Guestbooks: became obsolete, replaced by blog comments (WordPress), social media, and services like Disqus. The entire CGI/Perl ecosystem was gradually replaced by PHP, Ruby on Rails, and Node.js.

This page is a time capsule showing how web development worked in the 1990s. It demonstrates honest communication with users, realistic project management challenges, the evolution from CGI to modern frameworks, and how feature expectations have changed. It's valuable for understanding web history and the origins of tools we take for granted today.

Related Resources

WWWBoard 2.0

The version that was released, predecessor to the planned 3.0.

Guestbook

The guestbook that received incremental updates.

Contact Form

Where feature requests were submitted.