Website creation questions

Hello everyone, I'm going to create a forum-based website, and I'd like to know the basics and how-to's if I could.

I know how to run a Vbulletin/phpbb forum, and I might buy a domain soon.

My questions:
-What's the best hosting service?
-What do I need to purchase exactly? A domain? A host? What's the difference?
-What does MYSQL mean? How is that related to a database?
-What programming languages should I learn?

I've googled the basic basic basics, but I was struck to find a world I never knew exsisted, this stuff is huuuuuuuge. I was wondering what kind of computer technology courses would be wise to take before running a website.

Also, another thing, I'd really appreciate it if any professional can add my msn and explain things a bit further, who knows, you might even become a moderator on my new site .

[email protected], thanks everyone & I hope my questions weren't too newby.

I've also posted this in the programming section, sorry to post the same topic twice, but the programming section seems to be slow.

 

-What's the best hosting service?

Shared hosting would be the best for a forum. You're not going to need a dedicated server until your forum grows enormously huge.

As for a specific host, there are many around. Sound are good, some are bad. Researching the right host would be the first thing you should do. Read up some reviews of a host before you use them.

-What do I need to purchase exactly? A domain? A host? What's the difference?

If you're going to make your own forum using paid hosting, then you will need to buy a domain name and hosting. The difference between a domain name and the host is that the domain is the name of what your forum/site will be called. It's where your host will direct to. The "host" is where all your website/forum files will be stored in.

Also, there could be extra fees depending on the forum script you use. If you go with vBulletin, you'll need to buy a license which costs $100 for 1 year, or $180 for lifetime. If you don't want to use vBulletin, you can go with free forum scripts such as phpBB and SMF.

-What does MYSQL mean? How is that related to a database?

It's kind of hard to explain, but MySQL is a program that runs on a server providing the user with access to a number of databases.

-What programming languages should I learn?

For now, HTML & CSS would be fine.

 

Chances are I'll be using phpbb for starters.

Is this mandatory to use?

Thanks, I'll be sure to learn that. I took HTML basics back in school, I'll see what I can do to refresh my memory.

Oh, can you explain what a shared host is further? Thank you.

 

Yes, MySQL is mandatory if you're going to start a forum. The forum needs a database and needs a MySQL database for that.

As for HTML/CSS, learning that would be essential if you want to edit your forum's themes and what not.

As for shared hosting, it's the lowest and cheapest quality of hosting available. It means that there will be other people using the same server as you. No, they won't have access to any of your site or files or anything, but they'll only be sharing the same server that your site is being hosted with.

 

Aha, I see. Are you free right now? Can you add my msn? [email protected]. I'd like to ask you a few more questions

 

To sum up MYSQL it is where values are stored which are later accessed by a PHP script to determine a value. So basically, passwords and tables are stored there beacuse they are safer.

 

Are you going to buy a domain name like .com or something?

Because it costs like 15$ year , not sure.

 

Running a forum doesn't require the need to be knowledgeable in any programming language. You can look up HTML codes pretty much anywhere and CSS is basically unimportant.

A domain is the name of the website which you own. So, once you purchase a domain name for a specified price, you own that internet address. A host is basically where your forum will be stored, or how your forum is kept up. You're host doesn't really matter, you just want to make sure you have enough bandwidth to support your forums.

Domain names are generally cheap; ranging from $1.00 to $10.00, usually any more pricey and it's a rip off. I would recommend buying your domain name from godaddy. I'm not too sure on hosts, but I know that the member named 'Curt' here has a good hosting service- or at least that's what someone told me. There are many good hosts though, so I doubt you'll have a problem.

I suggest purchasing VB as soon as possible because it's much nicer and very easily modded. Not to mention the amount of mods which VB has are voluminous.

 

PHP is a very good language to learn for serverside website related things.