Web page authoring tool

An authoring tool (102) can be used by an author, who may or may not have programming experience, to create complex input forms for the Internet. The authoring tool (102) provides visual components that permit an author to build both the layout and functionality of the input form without writing any programming code. The author can select an input field to be inserted in the input form from a list of input types. The author can then customize the visual layout and appearance of the input fields and can incorporate dynamic behavior into the input form by associating events, actions and error checking with each input field. The authoring tool (102) also provides a preview frame (206) that interactively shows the author the appearance of the input form, as the author is building the input form. Finally, once the author is satisfied with the input form that is being created, the author can use the authoring tool (102) to generate a file or web page (104) that is executable on the client side by any web browser (206).