A server-side scripting language enables information that is stored on a server to be accessed and processed in a specific way. A database is a common example. The server script is usually imbedded in the HTML of a webpage and is used to request the server to carry out scripts which query information on the database. The scripts run before the HTML of the webpage is loaded, then the information is sent back to the browser or client as a normal HTML webpage without the scripts showing up in the source code.

A client-side scripting language on the other hand is run on the browser instead of the server. It runs its scripts after a webpage is loaded. It allows a user to manipulate elements and content on a web page dynamically; therefore, it is very useful for things like simple games or checking the validity of inputs on a form.

With server-side scripting the results of the request or query are sent back without the client having access to the database. Activities like processing credit cards, adding new information about users to a database on the server and finding information from a third-party site can be executed on the server-side. This is a more secure way to handle the data than storing the information locally on the website. The user must wait for the server to process the requests and scripts and return the results as HTML. It is then loaded as a webpage on the user's side. This parsing and exucution of the code is done immediately on the server; therefore, speed is not really a problem.

With client-side scripting there is no need to request anything from the server; however, these scripts have to be downloaded before they can be executed. For this reason developers often embed them at the end of their HTML source document so that the rest of the page can render and speed up perceived load time. Once the client side script is loaded it can run without further requests from the server. These scripts change elements on the page immediately causing the user’s experience to be enhanced. However, the information stored on the local site is more vunerable than that stored on a server.

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