This is an extremely hard task. First I would suggest learning html, php, css, java, and xml. That would be a start. Then when you would need a whole team to help you. I would suggest getting forum software like Invision Power Board, vBulletin, or XenForo and just look at the code and learn as much as you can. That should help a little.

IMMERSIVE wrote Forums just like thetechgame, are mainly based on php, which in it's self has html inside it, which is styled using css. Css has preprocessors aswell like, Sass. Preprocessors just add additional functionality to css like variables. So there's alot to be learned if you're going to code your own forum.

Oh and not to forget JQuery and lots of javascript.

Not to mention SQL/MySQL, Database infrastructure, encryption and network security. If you want to make a successful forum you will have to comply to various laws such as the Data Protection Act which states you are responsible for securing and looking after the personal data of people who will use your site.

There are templates out there that you can modify and use. I believe a user above mentioned one.

Coding forums is my speciality, hit me up!

Eh.. you can code a forum in multiple languages NOT just PHP. If you are a C programmer then use ASP.NET, if you are a Java programmer then use jsp. You get the idea.

PHP is just the easiest to learn imo.

Now alot of people on this thread is saying that creating a forum board is hard.. it's really not. Just start with basic functionality (like creating threads, creating replies, login / logging out, etc..).

Once you get the basic done then go into OOP and focus on making your code robust with basic features. SO ideally, you should work up to the point where you know how to successfully use OOP functions like Traits, NameSpaces, Abstract Classes and So on...

Once you successfully implemented this, then work on making your code unhackable. So SQL injections, Cross Site Scripting and so on...

Then you can add more functions like an ADMIN CP, MOD CP, USER CP, member functions, etc...

Key Languages you must use:
1) A backend language. Top suggestion is PHP but you can use ASP, JSP, Python, Javascript Frameworks, etc...

2) A database language (SQL). MySQLi is my suggestion. PDO is nice but unless you planning on making your forum into software (for sale) then it's not needed. MySQLi doesn't require OOP which is nice for beginners.

3) HTML / HTML 5 and CSS / CSS 3.

OPTIONAL
4) Javascript. This includes jQuery as well. It's not needed but if you want your site to be modern then this is needed. However, this is the last thing you will need to do UNLESS you are coding your forum in per Javscript (like in Angular.js or Node.js)

5) AJAX. Very useful

6) XML or JSON

Cyimking wrote Eh.. you can code a forum in multiple languages NOT just PHP. If you are a C programmer then use ASP.NET, if you are a Java programmer then use jsp. You get the idea.

PHP is just the easiest to learn imo.

Now alot of people on this thread is saying that creating a forum board is hard.. it's really not. Just start with basic functionality (like creating threads, creating replies, login / logging out, etc..).

Once you get the basic done then go into OOP and focus on making your code robust with basic features. SO ideally, you should work up to the point where you know how to successfully use OOP functions like Traits, NameSpaces, Abstract Classes and So on...

Once you successfully implemented this, then work on making your code unhackable. So SQL injections, Cross Site Scripting and so on...

Then you can add more functions like an ADMIN CP, MOD CP, USER CP, member functions, etc...

Key Languages you must use:
1) A backend language. Top suggestion is PHP but you can use ASP, JSP, Python, Javascript Frameworks, etc...

2) A database language (SQL). MySQLi is my suggestion. PDO is nice but unless you planning on making your forum into software (for sale) then it's not needed. MySQLi doesn't require OOP which is nice for beginners.

3) HTML / HTML 5 and CSS / CSS 3.

OPTIONAL
4) Javascript. This includes jQuery as well. It's not needed but if you want your site to be modern then this is needed. However, this is the last thing you will need to do UNLESS you are coding your forum in per Javscript (like in Angular.js or Node.js)

5) AJAX. Very useful

6) XML or JSON

So learning a large number of programming languages from scratch and everything I said above isn't hard? smh.