A quick look at your local bookstore’s Internet section will tell you that there are quite a few commercial packages out there for building web sites. What those books often fail to mention is that many of the world’s most popular web sites were built using freely available tools, and run on free operating systems (OS). They also tend to be served up by Apache, the world’s leading web server, which is also free.

I don’t think this omission is due to some vast commercial software conspiracy; there are plenty of books about Linux, one of the free OSs in question. In fact, the success of Linux has drawn much-needed attention to the Open Source software movement, and in turn helped to make this book possible. If anything, the problem is lack of information about free tools, and misconceptions about Open Source solutions.

My goal in writing this book is to make you aware of the amazing richness and quality of Open Source tools for building web sites. I’m not selling anything (other than the book) and I won’t profit from your buying decisions. While I will encourage you to consider the advantages of a free OS, chances are good you can use these tools on a commercial OS you already have.

I should also point out that this is an idea book, not a comprehensive reference about any particular programming tool or operating system. As part of the task of making you aware of what products are available and what you can do with them, I’ll encourage you to look at online resources and other books for more detailed information.