FORUMS...I need to learn how to make one

They have: 5,633 posts

Joined: Jan 1970

i need a little help about how to make a forum...i dont want one thats hosted and i only know HTML and very little javascript (like document.write and that type of stuff) someone please help?

They have: 19 posts

Joined: Apr 2000

all the prompts etc has to be translated or writen in swedeish so the custormisation has to be quite free.
oh yeah free would be nice as well

Curisco

Farwoooodah, never backwards

They have: 429 posts

Joined: Jul 2000

If you want that kind of customisation, it's not going to be free. The time that it would take to get it all into Swedish [not to mention the man hours it would be with the actual Swedish translator] would be horrendous.

To create your own forum, you first need to get CGI, or PHP on the account that you are hosting your web site from.

Don't have that? Well, there's ASP, but in short: you need something more than just the free web space of Geocities or other such things.

Also, there are free tutorials on how to make your own forum all over the place, or you could just download the software and install it yourself.

Mike Fisher - TWF Conquerer
"Don't trust a spiritual leader that cannot dance."

They have: 19 posts

Joined: Apr 2000

i can handle the swedish part, and i have cgi acssess
the space is no problem either they have an account with 100mb's of storage
i tried downloading easy referer and yabb but basically i lack some serious knowladge so a good tutorial for the not so advanced would be greatly appriciated
any tips

thanks

curisco
no news is bad news

Farwoooodah, never backwards

mjames's picture

They have: 2,064 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Can you guys explain why you don't want vBulletin or Ultimate Bulletin Board?

Vincent Puglia's picture

They have: 634 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Hi touchwood & curisco & welcome to TWF,

As Mike and mjames have implied, javascript is not really a viable option for forums (although I have seen one which used join() & a guestbook on AOL). You really should be using a cgi program.

So, unless you give me a good reason why this thread should be kept in this section of TWF, I will be moving it to a more appropriate section where it will get the attention you need. Okay? Smiling

Vinny

Where the world once stood
the blades of grass cut me still

Jack Michaelson's picture

He has: 1,733 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Haven't tried it, but it might be something:

http://www.amazingforums.com

They have: 304 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Your best bet is to get a ready made forum.

If you don't want to pay for a quality forum (like this one from Vbuletin), you'll have to settle for something more simple.

Here's a link to a nice forum, CGI (Perl based).

http://www.dansteinman.com/dforum/

You don't need to know any Perl (I don't) and it's pretty useful and nice. You can change anything you like in the design using simple HTML.

I managed to change it into Hebrew. You can see it on my Hebrew cat site -
http://www.shoonra.com/cgi-bin/forum.pl

Trust me - if you can change into Hebrew, it will work in any language on earth (and mabey some alien languages as well:)). Hebrew is written is different characters than English (look at the graphic buttons in my site) and from right to left!)

You will have to know how to install a CGI script and to have your own CGI bin. For more info on the subject you can check the links in John's site:

http://www.pageresource.com

Good luck - it can be frustrating at first but do not give up hope!

Anat.

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

Joined: Aug 2000

nice job anat

just a quick Q:
does this put the scroll bar on the left?

They have: 304 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Hi Max,

Yes that's right and it also changes the direction of text and layout.

I had to change it several times throughout the code in div tags, so that when people can write their emails in English and the rest of the stuff in Hebrew.

The main problem is that if people use a word in English (such as a name or a URL or even a long number), it comes out written from right to left (tana instead of Anat).

Someone tried to fix the Perl and put in a function that recognizes characters as English and switches them around, but for some reason it failed.

I just tell people to write backwards in English. Not very profesional but this site is non-comercial and it's a snug community so people are very understanding.

Anat

Jack Michaelson's picture

He has: 1,733 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Tana,

?siht ekiL

They have: 304 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

!yltcaxe

Smiling

You don't know how much trouble Hebrew is on the net. As a matter of fact, if you want all users to be able to read the text (both Netscape and Explorer) you actually have to type everything backwards and let the browsers present it properly. I can actually type Hebrew in reverse quite fast now Smiling

Don't let the smilies fool you - I'm very serious and this is really what all Israeli webmasters have to deal with. There are programs that flip the text for you and obviously I'm using one as well, I wouldn't type the dozens of cat articles that I have on my site in reverse.... Still, if it's just a couple of words I just type away backwards in Notepad.

I really enjoy working on my cat site in English - everything works - the HTML editors, the text in Photoshop, search engines, forms, forums - what joy!

Anat.

They have: 429 posts

Joined: Jul 2000

Anat, Microsoft has published a number of language supports on their web site for Internet Explorer... ever see if that'll help?

I'm sure they have Hebrew language support. Of course, I only have taken Spanish and Latin, so I didn't give it too much concern.

Mike Fisher - TWF Conquerer
"Don't trust a spiritual leader that cannot dance."

Vincent Puglia's picture

They have: 634 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

Hi People,

Since this topic is getting waaaaay off topic. I'm closing the thread, opening a new one -- "language support" -- and pointing to this one. The rationale being: if a newbie comes by and sees the title of this thread s/he will be somewhat confused by all the talk on language.
The new thread is at:
http://216.10.4.112/forums/showthread.php?postid=72698#post72698
Okee dokey?

Touchwood and anyone else concerned about forums: if you are still out there and still need some help, please post a new thread -- preferably in the cgi or general discussion forum (since forum creation and maintainance isn't really a client-side problem)

Thanks all Laughing out loud

Vinny

[Edited by Vincent Puglia on 10-13-2000 at 11:57 AM]

Where the world once stood
the blades of grass cut me still

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