For starters name all of your CF files with a .cfm extension. ColdFusion is a lot like HTML in that it uses tags to define many functions, this may make it easier to learn. Look at the following Example:

Figure 1. Form.html
<form method = "post" action = "name.cfm">
<input type = "text" size = "20" name = "name">
<input type = "submit" value = "Submit">
</form>

Figure 2. Name.cfm
<CFOUTPUT>
Hello, #name#, Welcome to my website!
</CFOUTPUT>

Now lets examine it. In name.cfm the first tag you see is a <CFOUTPUT> tag. This tag can be put anywhere in a webpage, it can be put in the middle of an HTML tag it does not matter, what this does if tell the CF interpreter that you are going to display a variable. The variable itself is enclosed in #'s which is how CF marks its variables. This causes a problem in some instances when you use #'s on your website, such as when declaring colors. This is very simple to fix, you can simply move the <CFOUTPUT> tags directly to the sides of the variable as in the following example.

Figure 3. Name.cfm
Hello, <CFOUTPUT #name#</CFOUTPUT>, Welcome to my website!

Or you can simply put a double ## when you need to use a pound sign for another purpose. Finally we see the </CFOUTPUT> tag, and just like HTML you need an end tag for most CF tags.