Website Design Help...

[blacksquirrel950]

First of all, after downloading Apache (and setting it up) I have NO idea how to use it. Any tips?

Second, I was inspired to make a forum from PhpBB like CS does. It says you need MySQL. I downloaded it, and I (yet again) have no idea how to use it. After downloading it, a box that is similar to what you see on Command Prompt and PHP pops up. One second later (before you can do anything with it) the box disappears.

After getting MySQL up, I downloaded PhpBB and (yes) I DON'T KNOW HOW THE HECK TO SET IT UP. Yes, I realize that I could mess around for five hours trying to figure it out, but I don't want to do that!

And yes, I DO have the latest version of PHP on my computer. But yet...how do you use it (again)? Or is it just something you download to make sure that your computer can recognize the PHP file?

[Nick]

You're really jumping in at the deep end there. Setting up these things individually is very difficult, especially if you don't know what it is that you're setting up. Luckily, there are packages which will set up Apache (a web server) MySQL (the database), PHP (a plug-in for Apache that allows it to run .php files) and more with a single step. You should uninstall the programs that you installed separately. XAMPP is one of the packages that is worth a go:

This is the download page: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
You want this file: http://www.apachefriends.org/download.p ... taller.exe

There should be documentation in there, which you *will* need to read to get started.

Even then it is quite tricky to get started. It's often easier to just use a server on the web which will have all of these set up for you already. http://www.000webhost.com offers free hosting with features comparable to a pay-host. It'll offer all those features that you're using and more.