I need dynamic pages without PHP or a database. What are my options?

Can you use IIS/ASP.NET? You could easily host it on someone's workstation.

I don't really know where to start. I'll just pick a few topics and ignore the rest. - What means "fancy server-side stuff"? - Of #2, "Is there any possibility we could squeak by with some fancy javascript saving to txt-based files within the webspace?" Your idea is rather nebulous, but I'm going to guess "no." You lack the idea of "save." I say use something external. There's a bazillion password-protectable free Wiki hosts on the 'Net. At least those will write something to disc that your web browser sent. - You lack locking on your page-writing scheme. If I start to add X, you start to add Y, I save X, and you save Y, do you have only Y?

Nasty situation, but could you just write some VBA into the excel sheet so that it spits out an appropriate HTML page at each save? It's just going to be a bunch of print statements, nothing too tricky.

If you use javascript, it means the processing is being done by the client. That, in turn, means that the client can change your javascript and subvert your system. (It's easy to do with certain client side proxies, such as "Proxomitron".) Javascript thus gives you exactly zero security and maximum vulnerability for the malicious to hack your system. On my server I've enabled server-side scripting. It doesn't require PHP or SQL or anything like that. However, it does permit me to run UNIX shell scripts, which means I have the full programmable power of the Bourne shell at my disposal -- and that may well be powerful enough for your needs. As an example of how I use that, I have some private pages which only I access which process and filter my server logfile in different ways to see who's been using my server, and for what. For a while I also kept a visit-counter using a shell script.

Back in the late nineties, before I understood how to use server side technology I built what are in retrospect absurdly complex dynamic systems that operated entirely client-side using Javascript and cookies. If you think of the cookies as your database and chuck the idea of using the Excel file you could certainly do this. Create an HTML version of the printer queue, storing the form fields as people input them (as "chips" in a cookie) via Javascript and give everyone access to the computer running that webpage via a terminal like VNC, or just have them interact with the web page directly through that physical computer if they're co-located.

You probably need to learn abouthttp://www.codeproject.com/soap/xml_spreadsheet_to_csv.asp. Doing all this on the client-side though, is a fundamental mistake. If you have access to ASP/.NET or a *NIX shell, for the sake of your sanity, use it. Speak to your people in I.T. Otherwise, I think you're pissing into the wind.

"A wiki or something like Bugzilla would be great but all these content management systems require server-side action. Is there any possibility we could squeak by with some fancy javascript saving to txt-based files within the webspace?" Can't you use a hosted wiki? You need need to have this information in a database (even if it's hosted outside your 'corporate environment') of some sort, not text files. You're approaching a 2007 problem with a 1983 solution.

Could you just install an HTTP-server-based tool on your workstation, and get others in the office to access the web app there? It's pretty easy to install, for example, Ruby on Rails, with a standalone server. Maybe avoid running it on "standard" HTTP ports (80, 8000, 8080). That would get you around any restrictions on what can be installed on servers. Of course, if IT locks down your workstations too then this won't help. You might also be able to do something with the capabilities that IIS (included with Windows) provides out of the box. I think it can run CGI scripts, which you could code in just about any programming language (maybe even a batch file!)

Can't you use a hosted wiki? You need need to have this information in a database (even if it's hosted outside your 'corporate environment') of some sort, not text files. You're approaching a 2007 problem with a 1983 solution. Welcome to the corporate world (actually Higher Education). It feels like I live in 1983 sometimes. The knowledge base would contain confidential information, therefore it needs to remain internal to the network or I'll really have the security guys on me. Hosting on my computer seems a likely solution. Only downside would be the need for my computer to be on 24/7 or put a dedicated box in my office for it (both easier solutions than trying to get the IT guys to budge, and I'm in the same department as them).