newbie needs help

[dokdealer]

Hi. I registered my own domain on namecheap and now I wanna open my own forum.

I'm really ignorant in this field and I need to ask you some questions before buying a forum software.

- My new forum should linked to my subdomain and NOT to my domain, which will be a normal website with a link to the forum. Is all this possible? Another questions is: how can I create a subdomain?
I asked this to Namecheap forum, they told me that I need to have a hosting before creating a subdomain.

- As a newbie, I would need a ready-made forum, very simple to complete. This is the reason why a forum should be paid from users. However I read here that I need to install several things:

• PHP: 5.2.4+
• MySQL: 5.0+
• PHP extensions: MySQLi, GD (with JPEG support), PCRE, SPL, SimpleXML, DOM, JSON, iconv, ctype
• PHP safe_mode off

To be honest I know nothing about all this, what can I do to get things more clear and easy?

thank you

Gio

 

[Claudio]

Hi. I registered my own domain on namecheap and now I wanna open my own forum.

I'm really ignorant in this field and I need to ask you some questions before buying a forum software.

- My new forum should linked to my subdomain and NOT to my domain, which will be a normal website with a link to the forum. Is all this possible? Another questions is: how can I create a subdomain?
I asked this to Namecheap forum, they told me that I need to have a hosting before creating a subdomain.

- As a newbie, I would need a ready-made forum, very simple to complete. This is the reason why a forum should be paid from users. However I read here that I need to install several things:

• PHP: 5.2.4+
• MySQL: 5.0+
• PHP extensions: MySQLi, GD (with JPEG support), PCRE, SPL, SimpleXML, DOM, JSON, iconv, ctype
• PHP safe_mode off

To be honest I know nothing about all this, what can I do to get things more clear and easy?

thank you

Gio

Sign up on Hostgator cheapest plan and point your domain to Hostgator DNS. Their hosting plans have everything installed. They have cPanel which is a control panel that comes with all the basic stuff you need. You will just need to create a database and upload XF files.

 

[dokdealer]

No this is not what I want to do. I created my domain today and don't want to migrate, just want to link my sub-domain to a forum service. But thank you

 

[Paul B]

We can't provide specific support if you are unlicensed.

Once you purchase a license you will be able to post in the customer forums for support.

 

[dokdealer]

I'm sorry, I will never buy your license if you don't clarify my doubts before. This looks pretty obvious!

 

[DEZero]

A domain is just your name on the internet, you need a host such as hostgater to put your forum file into, from there you can make a directory like /community to install your forums

 

[dokdealer]

Thak you DEZero. I believed the only reliable forum software were Invision power, vBullentin and Xenforo. Following your suggestion i should created a community starting from Hostgator, shouldn't I?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Domain names and hosting are two separate things. When you buy the domain name, that's all you have - the rights to the domain. As in thisismydomain.com.

You then must find a service to host the website. So you have to purchase a hosting package, and then associate the hosting package with the domain name you just purchased.

Then, once your hosting is set up, you will have a place to install XF.

 

[DEZero]

I'd look around, hostgater wouldn't be my first choice for a hosting service

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

...and no, you don't necessarily need to get them both from the same place. You can buy your domain name from many places, and then host it anywhere you want.

 

[dokdealer]

OK, some forum providers such as Invision Power provides also the hosting that's why I did not understand. Don't you think it would be much easier? Thank you all for explaining me all this stuff

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Sure there are all-in-one providers, it doesn't mean they're any good at all of them, of any of them. GoDaddy hosting for instance - great, if you like constant server errors.

 

[dokdealer]

so what do you advise?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Depends on how active you think your forum will be, and what you want to do with it. For a small and relatively low activity forum, just about any shared hosting will do. When you grow out of that, you might bump up a package to something a little bigger. So find a host that will upgrade you without a hassle down the road.

 

[dokdealer]

Once I find a good hosting I need to pay for a forum software as well. Am I right?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Well, only if you want a forum I guess at least for an XF one. Well worth it IMO. I have 3 XF licenses now, purchased first one less than a year ago. Started on VB 2 years ago.

 

[dokdealer]

ok...last question. What's the best hosting service in your opinion?

 

[BassMan]

I'm very satisfied with XenForo too. Been on phpBB before.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

What's the best hosting service in your opinion?

You're going to get a lot of opinions on that one!!!

 

[MQK8]

Like someone said you don't have to get your domain at the same place as your hosting, you can simply add your domain to your hosting. Once you purchase a hosting plan you will still have the task of installing the Xenforo software. If you're a newbie like I was that was above my skill level. When I first started I got a shared hosting plan for about $4.00 a month at Arvixe Hosting and they will even install your Xenforo for you. There's many hosting companies out there where you can get a shared hosting plan fairly cheap and that's all you really need when you're just starting out.