Noob with a lot of questions

[ORANGE SS]

Hi folks,

I am new to all of this. I'm not a computer guru in any sense of the word. My biggest concern is, will I be able to do this. Do I need to know any type of code to make this work? It might help to know I will be purchasing VBulletin. Is this hosting system user friendly to folks that are computer challenged?(lol)


Thank you in advance for any info.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by ORANGE SS

Hi folks,

I am new to all of this. I'm not a computer guru in any sense of the word. My biggest concern is, will I be able to do this. Do I need to know any type of code to make this work? It might help to know I will be purchasing VBulletin. Is this hosting system user friendly to folks that are computer challenged?(lol)


Thank you in advance for any info.

No, you don't need to code. Just relax, follow instructions, and look for the right answers.

IMO, the biggest obstacles for noobs are self-fulfilling tech-phobia and approaching things inside out (deciding how to do something before figuring out what they want to do).

HG has great support and this forum (the sections you can't see until you get an account) is very helpful.

[ORANGE SS]

Thank you so much. It's a little intimidating looking into all of this. It's kind of like living in a fish bowl. You can look out and see peoples mouth move, but you can't understand what they are talking about.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

Yes Hostgator and Cpanel (your control panel for your new webspace) are very user friendly. Vbullitin is also very simple to install.
As posted above, no you do not need coding skills, however if you intend on having a busy forum with mods or any type of change to the forum system itself, yes you will need php, mysql and html basic coding exp.

[ORANGE SS]

Originally Posted by REVOLUTIONS inc.

Yes Hostgator and Cpanel (your control panel for your new webspace) are very user friendly. Vbullitin is also very simple to install.
As posted above, no you do not need coding skills, however if you intend on having a busy forum with mods or any type of change to the forum system itself, yes you will need php, mysql and html basic coding exp.

Recommandations for any sites that teach the necessary codes?

Last question for now. I plan on purchasing Vbulletin, my domain name is with GO DADDY and I want to go with you folks. What is my first step, to make this a smooth transition.

[GvilleRick]

Originally Posted by ORANGE SS

Recommandations for any sites that teach the necessary codes?

Last question for now. I plan on purchasing Vbulletin, my domain name is with GO DADDY and I want to go with you folks. What is my first step, to make this a smooth transition.

There is no need to transfer the domain registration, you can just change the nameservers at GoDaddy.com to the ones given in your email that provides the access information once the account is set up. I would suggest leaving the registration where it is for now and concentrate on setting up the site. Once everything is working correctly you can transfer the domain registration if you want.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

For your domain name you don't have to do anything except change the DNS once you've signed up with HostGator.

For Vbullitin installation is easy in just a few clicks.
Coding is only necessary if you wish to make changes to the coding itself by installing mods or customized templates and so on.
Some good beginner sites that teach the basics are:

http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/...sql_intro.html
http://www.php.net/
http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/
http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/cpanel/mysql.htm

Also make google your best friend and do some searches for mysql, php, and Vbullitin's support forum is a good source of info for matters related to the forum scripting.

[ORANGE SS]

Thank you.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

Squirreled by GvilleRick. lol
I'm from S.C. too. Pickens

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by GvilleRick

I would suggest leaving the registration where it is for now and concentrate on setting up the site. Once everything is working correctly you can transfer the domain registration if you want.

And you may not want to. Many HG customers use Godaddy and other non-HG registrars.

There are very good reasons to keep domain registration separate from where those domains are hosted.

[gwyneth]

Orange SS, don't be scared, and don't worry about "coding" yet. Wait until you decide you want to do something (like add a vBulletin mod) and then follow the instructions. At that point you may need to ask questions and find more information.

But if you start querying Google for php and mysql info at this point, you'll just get frustrated--needlessly.

[striddy]

@Orange SS, firstly welcome.

Many people without any form of "coding" or programming knowledge have made earned a good living from their blogs, forums, etc. Don't bother spending time learning code until you have a need for it.

I didn't spend time learning how my cars' engine was put together just because I wanted to drive the car. (hope you follow my drift)

Instead spend your time learning as it relates to what you want to achieve. In other words, you mentioned you wanted to have a vbulletin forum. So spend your time learning about vbulletin. Things like, how to install it and how to maintain it. Look for this information on vbulletin's website or forum and ask questions as you need to. I am sure people are only too glad to help.

You have no need at this stage to waste time learning irrelevant php or mysql code as you "may" never need to know it. If you have the need, then spend the time learning it.

Good luck.

[elbmek]

me and code are like Nixon and the Pope, none campatabilus. I have had sites online for 10 years now and still know sod all about codes and dns routes or anything like that. I can tweak html when I want to but nothing major. I do what most people do, put all their trust in their host to run things correctly and securely. So far - null problemo as the Terminator said to the actress. I use a third party FTP uploader and Frontpage (wysiwyg) to set up pages.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

Don't discourage poeple from learning codeing.
If he is going to run a forum and a website he will need basic html knowledge.
And you need to understand basic forum structure to do things like mods, adding a simple smilie takes basic bbcode knowledge.

[ORANGE SS]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will stop putting the cart before the horse. I still want to look into the coding stuff too. I have to know what I'm getting myself into. I am going over to VBULETIN to make my first purchase.

Question. Should I configure VB the way I want it, before coming over to HG???

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by ORANGE SS

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will stop putting the cart before the horse. I still want to look into the coding stuff too. I have to know what I'm getting myself into. I am going over to VBULETIN to make my first purchase.

Question. Should I configure VB the way I want it, before coming over to HG???

It needs to be installed on a server to be configured. Even if you had a current hosting account elsewhere that you are about to dump, it's easier to install it once and tweak it. It also makes the transfer to HG less problematic.

So, if you don't have a current forum membership base, there's no gain in installing it elsewhere if you've decided to move it. If you do not have a current hosting account elsewhere, it's a moot point (unless you have a home server, which I'm betting you do not).

[ORANGE SS]

This is all new new new to me. I guess you folks will be my first stop. Hopping over to purchasing now.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

Come by anytime for support.
As you can already tell the peer support group here is top notch and always willing to help.

[ORANGE SS]

You folks are truly great. So now what, I did the deed and signed up. I also purchased VBulletin. Do I need to wait for HG to get up to speed and before I can download VBulletin??

[gwyneth]

Does your vBulletin purchase provide online installation from its site to yours? If not, download the package and unzip it. Read the installation instructions (usually something like install.txt and readme.txt). You will also need an FTP program (if you have full forum access see this thread: FTP help resources and downloads .

If there is online installation, it should guide you, but you'll have to set your nameservers and (perhaps) wait until the domain name has propagated.

Have you gotten your Host Gator welcome email?

If so, the first step is to set the nameservers at your registrar to the two provided in the email (something like nsXXX.hostgator.com and nsXXXhostgator.com).

Further questions should be asked in the shared hosting category.

[ORANGE SS]

How do I gain full access to the forums??

[slapshotw]

Follow the instructions on the sticky thread about getting in touch with Wesley.

[REVOLUTIONS inc.]

Originally Posted by ORANGE SS

You folks are truly great. So now what, I did the deed and signed up. I also purchased VBulletin. Do I need to wait for HG to get up to speed and before I can download VBulletin??

No, all you need is your welcome e-mail from HG.
Once you have this you will have full access to your webspace even though the domain name has not propagated yet.
Installing Vbullitin is very simple, follow the basic steps lined out by gwyneth and you will be in business in no time.
If you do not want to use a FTP program at this time (which i do suggest you get one soon and learn how to use it) you can still upload and install your forum in one click useing your cpanel uploader.
Once you DL the vbullitin zip file use your upload feature in cpanel to upload the zip file then unzip it in the desired loction and veiw the install documentation and a few clicks later your done.

If you need help creating a mysql database reply to this thread and i or someone else will promtly give you the proper steps.

[Abomination]

Originally Posted by ORANGE SS

You folks are truly great. So now what, I did the deed and signed up. I also purchased VBulletin. Do I need to wait for HG to get up to speed and before I can download VBulletin??

I JUST went through all of this.

Some tips, assuming you have access to telephone the usa from the uk

• Hostgator has some awesome phone support before the storm ("Ike") and in a little while they will again if you need them.
• Although "SmartFTP" and "File Zilla" are booth often recommended use FileZilla, it was WAY easier for me to figure out. File Zilla works just like a PCs file system, under SmartFTP I could not figure out how to mark all files in a directory to move, could only move a folder which cost me much time.
• The simplest things trip me up and for that reason have found vBulletin phone support invaluable compared to their forum.
• If you cannot do vB phone support at least use the vB ticket system as opposed to the forums if you need vB Jelsoft support.