What Do I Need To Learn?

[Kernel Sanders]

Hy Everyone :KS

I want to start up my own website, and for it to have an associated forum, pretty much like this one.

However...... the extent of my computer knowledge (as some of you know) is knowing a great deal about Windows XP Pro SP2, and being able to build computers...... and thats about it...... :oops:

What would I need to learn to be able to do what i'm proposing?

Thanks again for all your help! :D

John :)

[lordfoul]

You don't need to know anything if you use a site like Bluehost (http://www.bluehost.com/) with its built in website/forum building features.

[OffHand]

http://www.phpbb.com/

[Kernel Sanders]

http://www.phpbb.com/

Do I need to learn anything to install that? Or is it a GUI install?

Thanks!

John :)

[T700]

Do I need to learn anything to install that? Or is it a GUI install?

Thanks!

John :)

No, it is not entirely a GUI install. Yes, you will need to learn quite a bit. It is not hard, but you really need to watch what you're doing with forum software. Forums are big, juicy, targets for every script kiddie on Earth.

Here's a link (http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=faq) that will give you a look at the basic install process.

If it seems too much right now, you might look at things like Yahoo groups or the like. Very good functionality and not much in the way of a learning curve.

Paul

[reacocard]

here's what i used:

a nice html tutorial: www.yourhtmlsource.com
(covers everything, HTML, XHTML, CSS, javascript, etc. very easy too)
a great free web host: www.t35.com
(one ad, unlimited file storage and bandwidth (500kb max filesize), php, ftp)

[Kernel Sanders]

No, it is not entirely a GUI install. Yes, you will need to learn quite a bit. It is not hard, but you really need to watch what you're doing with forum software. Forums are big, juicy, targets for every script kiddie on Earth.

Here's a link (http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=faq) that will give you a look at the basic install process.

If it seems too much right now, you might look at things like Yahoo groups or the like. Very good functionality and not much in the way of a learning curve.

Paul

Interesting reading! :D

Thanks for all your help!

John :)

[~LoKe]

Since when does a *nix user recommend PHPBB?

SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/), for the win!

[Randomskk]

You might wanna look into some other forums as well - I've found Simple Machines to be VERY good, and use them for all my forums.
Depending on how you plan to host it, though, there may be restrictions.
A few places offer free PHP hosting (you usually get an advert on the page), or you can pay for a nice server, and this can be really cheap, so may be worth looking into - www.1and1.com offer hosting from a few USD a month.

Setting up most forums is very easy, and I've found Simple Machines to be really good like this, it's all GUI unless you do anything advanced.

For the website itself, using a CMS may be a very good idea. These are automated systems, often in PHP, which make it easy for you to add and delete and edit content, change themes and all that, but give you a nice layout and are very easy to use.
A great place to learn about them is www.opensourcecms.com, which has an online demo of all the major ones. I personally like Joomla a lot.

edit: damn, LoKe, you beat me to it! :P

[chickengirl]

a great free web host: www.t35.com
(one ad, unlimited file storage and bandwidth (500kb max filesize), php, ftp)

I don't know if they've changed this since I used them, but if you block their popunder ads, they put a gigantic uncloseable ad right on top of the page. The management has also stated that they have no moral qualms with serving ads that use ActiveX to download adware onto viewers' computers. I got out of there pretty damn quick! :shock:

Here's a good almost free web host: http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/

[OffHand]

Since when does a *nix user recommend PHPBB?

SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/), for the win!
Since it is a solid open source forum, free to use.

[reacocard]

I don't know if they've changed this since I used them, but if you block their popunder ads, they put a gigantic uncloseable ad right on top of the page. The management has also stated that they have no moral qualms with serving ads that use ActiveX to download adware onto viewers' computers. I got out of there pretty damn quick! :shock:

Here's a good almost free web host: http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/
it's true that if you block the pop-up they give you a pop-under, but there is a "close window" button on it, so it's only marginally more annoying than a standard pop-up, and once it's been closed, it won't pop up again for a while, even if you go to a new page. and honesty, activex? IE now has some protection against this, and browsers like firefox or opera are immune.