<p>I have a very basic question. I have created a local (mysql) database in my system. I would like to know what would be the best option for a front end. I had used html before and want to try out something new. I might also add some perl code in between for some computational work. Kindly help me in this regard..</p>

To let others to access and update the database, I recommend OpenOffice Base

 - It is Open Source and cross platform
 - It produces a nice(ish) user interface QUICKLY (if you have to make your own webpages it is a nightmare)
 - On top of the server side permissions (who can UPDATE, DROP, SELECT...) you can put some other client side restrictions
 - It allows to make, save and share custom QUERIES, FORMS (either to read or to update tables)

You can start <a href="http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Connect_MySQL_and_Base">here</a> to see how to connect Base to mysql

I have just started using it. I am in a large(ish) group of biologist that will need to update different tables (about samples, DNA preparation and so on) so that such information can be used by me and another bioinformatician for analysis. Also people in the lab need to retrieve information and I think this is the way to go. Happy to help more (and share link on documentation that is sparse) if you go this way

If you want a nicer user interface (don't like mysql client) you can use <a href="http://wb.mysql.com/">MySQL Workbench</a>

I use it mainly to keep an up to date EER model, but it is much more powerful than that