Hey Guys I really need help in making a forum. I want to have it be like a .com instead of a .something.com even if I have to get the domain. I have been searching everywhere, and I was even starting basic HTML Coding before I realized every other aspect I had to do. I would eventually like to get this done so If you could help that would be great!!!
Ill take a shot at answering this.
First, sure, go ahead and study and learn HTML but dont stress it. You dont need to know any type of markup language to work within your hosts panel or build a forum. But it does come in handy.
First you will need a host. I have to disagree with Godaddy. Popular doesnt mean "good". Do your research. You will find plenty of top tens and if Godaddy is even in them it will usually be somewhere down at the bottom. One that I use which is always in the top three and usually right on top is iPage (
www.ipage.com). They dont offer a cPanel but they have their own designed panel which offers pretty much everything you find in cPanel and at the least everything you will need. Plus thier up time is 99.9% average and they have high speed servers. One drawback is that if you want to pay month to month they only offer year to year at $54 a year. But if you plan on staying up then $54 should not be an issue.
Most hosts offer at least one free domain name. So that shouldnt be a problem. Just think carefully about what you want your domain name to be before ordering as if you get it then decide you dont like it or want to change it you might be buying the second one.
Once you have decided on a host, selected your domain name, and signed up you will now have your presence on the web. The first thing your going to want to do is familiarize yourself with your hosts control panel. Go into the panel. Check out there SQL Database, myphp, file manager, etc. At least scan through the documentation to get some general idea of whats going on.
So you have decided you want to host a forum. Well you have your presence, but you do not need to build a website to build your forum. But, you can build a site if you want to from within your control panel, most hosts offer basic and advanced website builders. No HTML knowledge required. Although I have worked with various markup languages for some time, I use Xara Web Designer Pro for my site. Well, now you will need forum software. I use two. MyBB
http://www.mybb.com/ and phpbb
http://www.phpbb.com/
Both of these are good Forum software programs, of the two I would say the best is phpbb. The good thing about these programs are that they are so popular that there are tons of youtube video's on how to set them up and use them. Once you download and unpack this software, all you really have to make sure you do is set the path to install in your public_html folder under your root directory. On either one you can set your username and password. Once they are installed, the path is simple.
www.yourdomain.com/forum_name
Hit enter and your forum will pop up. Log in as Admin and start building your forum. Many people will tell you how hard it is, but believe me when I say "There is nothing to it". Everything in the forum interface settings is pretty much self explanatory. You will have some issues, like in both of those Forum software that I mentioned sometimes when you set your file permissions to chmod 777 it wont take, if you have good host support, 24/7 you can simply pop up a chat and get their help because its usually a problem with the host.
A few tips.
You do not want to have to keep going back and changing your forum's format. So I recommend looking at some established forums, like this one for example, and using them as a basis for your template.
Set your permissions, but dont over admin or moderate your forum. You want your members to have a good experience and keep coming back and adding more members.
I am not going to tell you to violate copyright rules. But, dont spend a lot of time typing in rules and reg's and this and that. Find something that will suit your needs on those sections of other forums "ASK THE ADMIN OR MODS IF IT IS OK", copy and paste and just change the wording to suit your forum.
If you need any help setting up, just let me know and Ill help you.