Problem with forms

Hi there, i come from a background in ASP, and have now moved over to PHP as well. I understand that queries are handled like regular variables in PHP. My problem now is that i cant make use of form-elements after they have been submitted. I use "POST", but it seems that the elements from the form is not available. If a form element is named for example "headline", i should be able to accsess this by using the variable "$headline" right? In ASP you use request("headline"). Is this a configuration setting or something? Please help Robert Ryan Union Design