Multiple forums on website

[philliesphan]

Hi,

 

I'm very new to website design and I don't have a lot of background knowledge on much of this stuff, so forgive me if the following is a dumb question. I have an idea for a website where I would have multiple forums under one domain name. So, for example, the website would have an individual forum for each of the 50 states. So when a user goes on the website, he can select his state from a drop-down menu and will be redirected to the unique forum for his state.

 

Is something like this possible? If it is possible, is there an easier way to do this, like having the link direct the user to a subforum that is unique from the other states, but in which all of the states ultimately link back to a main forum, even if that's not seen? I've been trying to find information about this but there's not a whole lot out there about it. Also, since ultimately I'd want to monetize the website, would having multiple forums make it really difficult to put advertisement banners on the forums?

 

I guess that's a few questions, and the advertisement question might be one for another day, but any help you guys could give would be awesome. Thanks!

[newseed]

You can set this up with one forum software in which you create a forum category for each state. You would then use a custom header/footer to apply all your states into a menu/navigation. Some software will already do this for you.

 

It's nothing complex. I mean, just look at this forum and see all the main categories we have here. Now just think of them as being named as states (Texas forum, Florida forum, etc)

 

The other option is t setup a forum software for each state but then that can be quite hectic and maybe even costly since you will need 50 databases and 50 subdomains (you can do folders instead).

Edited August 16, 2010 by newseed

[philliesphan]

You can set this up with one forum software in which you create a forum category for each state. You would then use a custom header/footer to apply all your states into a menu/navigation. Some software will already do this for you.

 

It's nothing complex. I mean, just look at this forum and see all the main categories we have here. Now just think of them as being named as states (Texas forum, Florida forum, etc)

 

The other option is t setup a forum software for each state but then that can be quite hectic and maybe even costly since you will need 50 databases and 50 subdomains (you can do folders instead).

 

But is it possible to create a forum so that a user can pick his state from something like a drop-down menu, and only see the subforum for his state? I see what you mean with the forum on this site, where there are multiple subforums, but I don't want the user seeing the subforum for New York at all, if he's choosing California from the drop-down menu.

[newseed]

Just hide the default home page for whatever forum you use and then create your own custom header/footer (that has your dropdown states list) and apply it to the forum. You would then make your own default home page using the same header/footer.

 

You would then add the correct url for each of your states to the dropdown menu list.

 

Now you may have to do more customization such as the breadcrumbs in which you will need to remove or hide it so that it doesn't show the subcategories. However, if you set up your categories correctly you may not have to remove it at all. In any case, you will need to make sure that you don't have any instances of links linking back to the forums default home page but instead you have to make sure it points to your own custom home page.

 

As with any customization, always make a backup copy of the original.

 

What you are asking is possible to accomplish. First, find a forum software that you like and that you can customize the core files. Secondly, install it (be sure to add a database that it can connect to).

 

Next, set up all your states as main categories. Now view the forum's default home page. You should see all your states. Of course you don't want this but for now you need to be able to grab the urls for each of the state categories and add them to your custom dropdown menu list. Once you have that done you can then hide any references to the forum's home page from the public but only you will know how to access it for future reference.

 

Now create your header/footer along with your dropdown menu and then apply it to the forum. You can then make your own custom home page along with your header/footer and menu.

 

There are probably more stuff that requires attention to perfect it but this is something you are not going to get done in just a couple of hours.

 

This is just a summary but it's a start.