I am going to start a forum so my friends and family have a place to talk online. Is there any recommendations for a free html software that can be used to build a good forum. I have always heard to have full control of your website you have to design using html progaming and not web creation software. I havent messed with html very much but I am extremely persistent when it come to stuff I cant figure out, so maybe it will be ok. Thank for any tipsThee are many options.
Do you want something that is free?
How much time do you want to spend?
Do you know what your friends and family like?

If you have not tried anything, here are some SUGGESTIONS. To make other people happy with your work, you need to know what they like. This is more important that the tools that you use. The HTML code is like nails and the content is like wood.What would prole think if you made something out of ugly wood held together by beautiful nails?

The best websites give people something that hey enjoy. Of course, it has to well organized and careful made. But above all, it has to me interesting. Learning HTML may take you three weeks, learning how to please other people can take much longer.

At the PRESENT time, people are interested in 'Social Networking' and thee is a new movie out called 'The Social Network'. It is a dramatized account of some things that really did happen. The principals involved made a lot of money. But what they did is more significant that just the money.

Take a look st this:
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites

Why not take some time to visit these sires and see what it is that draws people? Come back here and another member will give you some information about how to do the HTML or PHP code.
What's the point of all that? The guy (or gal?) just wants a personal forum for friends and family. Like many people probably would, I suggest SMF:
http://www.simplemachines.org/

If you don't have a site and host lined up for yourself and don't feel like going through the trouble, Lefora may be a viable solution:
http://www.lefora.comTrying to be helpful. He can learn HTML quickly. The rest takes longer.
The point was that the code is already available. As you also noted.
The link I gave also has free web sites and tools in the list.
Somebody has led him to believe that you have to know HTML to control the website. I wanted to stress that having content is now the important thing.

Or, to incorporate a metaphor. Think of the automobile. In 1904 you could by an automobile. The issue was no only how to drive it but how to repair it. By 1920 ypeople could drive an automobile and have others repair it.

Now cars come with power steering and built-in diagnostics. You no longer have to be a mechanical. But you have to learn how to drive in traffic. Driving in traffic means you have to know people better that knowing about the car.

The argument that being able to build a car makes you a better driver is way out-of-date. The same is not true about web sites. Be a driver, not a mechanic.

With the internet the way it is today, you have to think about what people want.
That was my point

He might look a something like this:
http://bestwebsitebuildingsoftwareinfo.com/
But that is about tools only. I still think he needs to visit about 10 or more top social sites to see what is going on now on the internet. Stuart with FACEBOOK and Twitter and MySpace and so on.Quote from: Geek-9pm on February 16, 2011, 12:24:20 PM

Somebody has led him to believe that you have to know HTML to control the website.