Mac OS X is a web powerhouse, both in terms of its web-serving capabilities and wide range of web browsers from which to choose.
On the server side, OS X's understated Personal Web Sharing is powered by the ubiquitous, flexible, and industrial-strength Apache web server. Just click the Start button (System Preferences Sharing Services) and you have a full-blown web server at your disposal. By the end of this chapter, you'll be serving up dynamic content, running CGI applications, scripting PHP pages, and putting together server-side include-driven pages with the best of them. We'll also show you how to control access to your web site, honing what visitors can and cannot see.
You want browsers? OS X has browsers splendid enough to put the 1990s Netscape/Internet Explorer browser wars to shame. Numbered among the top contenders are Microsoft's Internet Explorer, default browser through Mac OS X 10.2; Safari, Apple's brand new ultra-fast, super-sleek entry threatening to replace IE as OS X's browser-in-the-box; and the Mozilla variants, most notably Camino (formerly Chimera), built just for Mac. Then there are the microcontent browsers, catering to quick searches and syndicated news reading ? daring to take content outside of the browser. This chapter introduces you to the pick of the litter.