My very own forum.

[exceedinglife]

Hello all,

               I am working on my own PHP project where I can build myself my own forum just like how this site functions.

I would like to have user accounts and when you log in have a list of bulletin topics that you can choose from and then post your own question or topic and then other users can go to your post and write answers to it. I know there are many forums out there that you can make and set up to use but I would like to have my own so I can customize it any way I want.

Could I get some ideas on where I should start with this. I have been working on a website with a login functionality and I almost have that set up, then my next steps will be making it so users will be able to post topics.

I been doing google research trying to get some tutorials on this but I haven’t found one that is much help. I will be using phpmyadmin database and I plan on writing my sql as mysqli.

Thank you.

[Alex_]

The absolute first thing you should do is create a template that you're satisfied with, as in HTML CSS and Javascript. Backend code (such as PHP) is kind of a time wasting thing to do without a template for a project like you're explaining. At least that's how I usually think about it. Once I have a template ready, I can browse the template myself and just see what I want to build next, and know how to do it.

 

In general, forums aren't "too" hard to create either, depending on how far you want to go with it. The further you go, the more difficult it gets, of course. Things like Plugins for instance can be a challenge at times.

 

I'd start of with a template, and the functionality of making Threads/Posts in different sections of the forum. That's a good start.