Client -> web server communication

[Looney, James B]

I'm trying to understand how to write an app that runs on my local
machine, and talks to a hosted website to get access to the MySQL
database I have stored there.  I've read a few articles on Basic
Authentication, so at least that part I partially understand (I plan on
having username/password pairs to access the data).  What I'm really
fuzzy on is how I actually communicate with the website.  I suppose the
real question is what is the interface I need to use in order to talk
between my local client and the website?  Generate HTML pages containing
the data I want?  Can I use my own messaging scheme to pass databuffers
back and forth?  

I've tried searching for this in the mailing list and elsewhere, but
don't think I'm hitting on the right key words to get the information
I'm looking for.  Could anyone direct me to a possible answer?

Thanks,
-JB Looney
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