use CGI;

$query = new CGI;

# start the html output

print STDOUT $query -> header();
print STDOUT $query -> start_html ( -title=> "Message board.cgi", -BGCOLOR=>"yellow");
print STDOUT "\n<h1><align=center>PUT YOUR TITLE HERE</CENTRE></H1>\n";

# retrive info from the html form using he param function
# e.g

$people = $query ->param ('people');

# do this for all your variables

# design some failsafes using perls regular expressions so that
# if nothing has been entered in the message box they get a warning 
# message

if ($message !~/\w+/)
{
print STDOUT "<P> you have not entered a message\!\n";
print STDOUT $query -> end_html;
exit (0);
}