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Entirely New

Started by Bio-Booster, May 22, 2007, 08:14:52 PM

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Bio-Booster

I am entirely new to the whole concept of...obtaining a domain name/setting up forums. However I recently come in control of a guild in an online game. It is my wish to start up a forum site where we can post and converse and keep records, but in all honesty I have almost no idea where to start. Ive done a few google searches on things like "Basic Website Set Up" "Purchasing a domain name" and the like, but I'm having trouble finding a good place to start.

I realise thats a lot to ask of someone, but if anyone could offer me a tip of where to start or possibly has a link to a guide/faq someone has already created on this subject I'd be most appreciative.

Im not even sure I need a domain name, A guild mate has a few domain names saved in her name we can use, in which case Im still lost as the whole process of downloading a forum (are they even called programs? templates?) and uploading them to a URL is entirely over my head. I tried checking out the basic installation guide provided on the webiste and needless to say I was confused >.<

Again any help on the subject would be appreciated.

Gary

Well first to set up your own forum, you will need web hosting we have a Hosts and Hosting board on this site that you can check out and find some pretty good prices if you're willing to pay, there are a couple of free ones too.

Some hosts come with free domains when you purchase a certain plan others don't, if the one you've selected doesn't, then you'll need to buy the domain desperately and then point the name servers to your host which they should give to you.

Once your domain's name servers have resolved to the host (for .com's is a couple of hours in my experience .co.uk's take a couple of days). Most hosts place a default file that comes on when you purchase the hosting so you can tell that it's successful.

Once you've got all that done, you can download SMF which is on the download page of this site. You will want the FULL INSTALL package for 1.1.2, which archive file you want is up to you, but I recommend .zip. :P Once downloaded, extract it's contents, and then upload all the files to your webserver, once uploaded point your browser to install.php and then follow the instructions. You can find more about installing SMF on the Doc Site

-ALM
Gary M. Gadsdon
Do NOT PM me unless I say so
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Bio-Booster

Thanks much ! got it all figured out ;)
I ended up going with a free hosting service, oddly enough after the hours I spent trying to figure it out on my own, a very simple solution provided itself >.<.
Thank you much for your advice.

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