My first computer was an IBM 170 or 360 something like that.

My next computer was a DEC PDP-8 L or M with a front pannel key toggle that told it how to use a teletype slow paper tape reader, and then finally an E with a high speed paper tape reader, then a magnetic tape reader, and finally a disk drive.

I had already considered the options you mentioned for initializing the program.

That two program approach works better, in my opinion, with Xampp and a PC. It is easier to work with and less prone to errors.

Modifying that WWWBoard program has been a nightmare! But, the worst is finally over. It now automatically moves from program to program and then back to the html file without getting confused.

The WWWBoard problem with the Web page not updating when a messages is posted was corrected by substituting a Redirect command in the code instead of having the Web page ask the user if he or she wants to see his or her post etc.

That Redirect option took about 3 hours by itself just to learn how to get it to work.