[mtmomma]

I was looking for a forum building program/software. I have never tried to build a forum before & thought it might be fun to dabble in. :)

TIA,
MtMomma

[Eric]

Originally Posted by mtmomma

I was looking for a forum building program/software. I have never tried to build a forum before & thought it might be fun to dabble in. :)

TIA,
MtMomma

Let's get some details rolling in and maybe we can help.

What kind of forum? What kind of audience? Free or paid hosting? Looking to spend some money on this? What kind of code experience do you have?

Tell us a little more and I'm sure the suggestions will start rolling in. :)

By the way... WELCOME!

[mtmomma]

Right now my site is parked free. I own my own domain but later on plan to pay for hosting.

I want to have a forum for marketing, idea's & Internet based income information.

I would like to have something so self made business people can share idea's & help each other better improve their websites & stuff.

I have basic HTML know how & would have to study up on building the forum. LOL

I would like to find a free software to use, then later on upgrade if I need to.

Thanks for the help.

Oh yeah with the net forum I also want to have a cooperative area. So people can maybe get a few things started ( Herbs, Clothes & etc...) If they wanted to just save money or use it to resale. & any info they have on what companies are OK & what ones aren't.

[m3talc0re]

I suggest getting better hosting than GoDaddy's hosting service. Try (mt) Media Temple - Web Hosting Services

Hire a designer because the current layout you have there isn't cuttin' it.

For a free forum software, I suggest Simple Machines - Home of SMF: Free PHP and MySQL forum software or phpBB.com :: Creating Communities or MyBB - Home

You can usually find a theme close to what you're wanting online for free or you can find a theme to buy from some sites for the more popular forum softwares. Then have someone or yourself change things to your liking. If you can't find one close to what you're wanting, you may have to pay someone to make you a theme.

Also, a side suggestion is for you to get with Lisah and talk to her and maybe you two can make some sort of parenting (mothers mainly) network since she has a site about breast-feeding. Maybe she'd be interested in something like that...

[Dana]

aWelcome MTmomma!
Great advice, M3talcore :)


We also have a sister site (www.smfusers.com)for those using smf forums where you can share info/advice, etc.

Glad to have you here and good luck with your business venture.

We also have a sister site dedicated to html (HTML Users - Index) that you might find helpful too.

Welcome again & what a great business idea!

Dana
(a slightly crunchy a/p mom, herself)

[ebittner]

I would say that the best thing to do would be to code a nice front page in html and then create a nice footer and header for the whole site in php. It is much like html just a bit different. Then include either phpbb or SMF in the header and footer. You have to edit a few files to do this I can tell you which ones if needed.

Then you can just use your header and footer files to add any feature to the site and make it look like it is nicely intagrated into the code.

[mtmomma]

Originally Posted by m3talc0re

I suggest getting better hosting than GoDaddy's hosting service. Try (mt) Media Temple - Web Hosting Services

Hire a designer because the current layout you have there isn't cuttin' it.

For a free forum software, I suggest Simple Machines - Home of SMF: Free PHP and MySQL forum software or phpBB.com :: Creating Communities or MyBB - Home

You can usually find a theme close to what you're wanting online for free or you can find a theme to buy from some sites for the more popular forum softwares. Then have someone or yourself change things to your liking. If you can't find one close to what you're wanting, you may have to pay someone to make you a theme.

Also, a side suggestion is for you to get with Lisah and talk to her and maybe you two can make some sort of parenting (mothers mainly) network since she has a site about breast-feeding. Maybe she'd be interested in something like that...

Yeah I'm going to be redoing the layout of the site, I just haven't had time yet due to many house problems going on. LOL To many repairs in that area this week.

I'm a member of the site you are talking about :) I'm Mt.Momma over there. :)

[thebookish]

For a testin period try to have a free forum software like SMF, you should see how it would work out. And yeah you, lissah and dana should make momy party, sure you would make a good team and work a lot of things out :)

[Ajay]

Close your eyes, and get hold of SMF

[ScottHughes]

I use phpBB for my forums. It's open-source, so it's free. And, many mods are available.