need some direction...brand new to web design

Like the subject says: I'm new at this. I just need direction, in paticular what topics, and programs i need to research to achieve my desired website. I am trying to build a website for my family for Christmas. This website, in design, would be exclusive to my family, pertaining to my family. I want this website to contain these qualities:
There should be a homepage. On the homepage there should be links to everyone’s individual page. General news.

Each member should have the ability to:
- personalize only their own page with
a) background pictures
b) background music
- have their own blog on their page
- have their own email address
In a simple easy to use environment.

A place of storage for:
- pictures
- music
- videos
accessable like a local drive, for each member.

I, the creator and administrator, should have the ability to:
- set access permissions to users
- maintain the entire website but be as hands-off as possible on each members individual webpage

The entire website should be:
-forum based?
-Hybrid of sorts? Forum and html/other?
- will be located on a remote web server



I know this seems like a lot to ask for but i'm not asking for a step-by-step. just some general guidance, in which direction i should research. I really appreciate any help i get. Thanks!

Do you know html, css and PHP?
they would be the essentials for this project
unless you plan on using someone elses system to manage it (CMS)

I doubt you'll get this done by christmas of this year.

Learn HTML, learn CSS, learn PHP and use MySQL to store all the date.

You need to learn how to create admin sections. You'll want to learn about sessions to store certain information like who logged in. You need to learn how to get info from a database and display it on a page and also how to store info from a form to a database.

Personally, I would use something like Wordpress to get started. It's an already built CMS (which is what you need/want here)

Otherwise ... if you want to do this from scratch - which I tell you right now it's quite gratifying when you've done it - start small. Learn how to create a site with HTML and CSS. Learn to hand-code. Use Notepad++.

Then start learning PHP.

I appreciate your input! You think i may be taking on too much with 3 months time? I would like to have something by Christmas, maybe a forum that members can keep in touch and notify others of plans? Would it be simple enough to install phpbb? I would want to have something ready by Christmas and then to eventually evolve into the site i described above. Are websites flexible in that way, to add-on and evolve over time? again thanks for your help and input!

Yes... Simple enough to install PHPBB just aslong as you have some sort of hosting that allows PHP and mySQL.

There are other free forum software that can be found here to give some alternatives! http://creativecoding.webforumz.com/...tember/faq/#q2.

Good luck!

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Marc
Staff Manager - Webforumz.com

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Definitely!

Like Marc said above tho ... just installing a forum like phpbb is simple enough and that would be a great start for you

Good luck and if you need any help, the forumz is here for that