Not sure if I'm on the right forum here, so excuse me if I'm not. 1and1 are my hosting company. About a year ago I did a very basic 4 page website using their web builder, but, as a first attempt it looked pretty good. I was able to virtually build the pages from scratch to my own design, and add photos, logos, text, etc where I liked.

I am now building another website to be used for a forum, and I think they must have changed the format, as I seem to be limited to using their exact templates and cannot change the position of anything on the page. I have tried to use it within the confines, but am finding it very frustrating and wondered if anyone could tell me if i'm missing something, or if theres another way I can free up the positioning.

As I said before, I'm not sure if your forum is meant for beginners like me, or just professionals, but I would be grateful for any advice.

Hey vix...

You have asked the question in the right place...

It sounds like you had some experience using a Page Maker/ Site builder before. These are very useful tools for people to set up simple web pages and allow you a lot of visual control without having to learn advanced markup and code.

Unfortunately forums are not quite that simple. Forums are very large complex scripts/applications that require moderate to advanced technical knowledge of web development. That is not to say that you should give up. You may just need to do a little learning. Many forum scripts have templating systems that allow you to easily install new skins that are available from various places on the internet. This is probably you easiest option. If you wan more finite or custom control over the look and layout, you will probably need to dip your toes into some HTML and likely PHP as well...

I hope this give you an idea of the direction you need to head in, good luck!

Hi, thanks for the reply. My 1and1 hosting has a built in forum maker which I intend to add to the website. It is actually the website pages I am wanting some freedom with, to add pictures and text where I want to, and not just where the template allows. I just can't seem to get the pages how I want them to look and its really frustrating. Theres no option to move the text boxes or pictures. If I could design the web pages as I want them I don't mind using the forum template as theres not much you can do with that anyway.

So if theres no way to edit 1and1's web creator, could anyone recommend one that would be compatible with 1and1 hosting please?

It might seems a little bit of a learn curve but Joomla is probably the next step up. Tons of free templates and themes on the web. And tons of free extensions. A lot of host auto install Joomla and most extensions are auto installed from the Joomla control panel.

if you ask me i'd say start learning html and css. Try and get the basic's, there's plenty of tutorials out there to get you started. I know its a big step but it's the right move.

There are thousands of free/paid templates out there. I'm sure you can find one to match your needs and then learn to modify it. If you don't want to learn there are lots of freelance sites where people will do the work very cheap.

Not sure if I'm on the right forum here, so excuse me if I'm not. 1and1 are my hosting company. About a year ago I did a very basic 4 page website using their web builder, but, as a first attempt it looked pretty good. I was able to virtually build the pages from scratch to my own design, and add photos, logos, text, etc where I liked.

I am now building another website to be used for a forum, and I think they must have changed the format, as I seem to be limited to using their exact templates and cannot change the position of anything on the page. I have tried to use it within the confines, but am finding it very frustrating and wondered if anyone could tell me if i'm missing something, or if theres another way I can free up the positioning.

As I said before, I'm not sure if your forum is meant for beginners like me, or just professionals, but I would be grateful for any advice.

To be honest i,d ditch the 1&1 forum builder and go for a phpbb forum with a portal page, Or you could just get a free template and get it edited and install the forum and have it integrated into the design, it would be far more professional and it doesnt cost as much as some people think aswell.

Regards

thanks for all the advice. gonna have a look at joomla now.

thanks for all the advice. gonna have a look at joomla now.

Take alook at phpbb, its a forum script :)

Thanks for all the advice. I've now run into another snag. My current hosting package doesn't include any sql database. The only option is an included 1and 1 forum. I can't find anything online about what this looks like or if its user friendly, so I'm back to square 1.