I am new to the website making world...

I know I am a dinosaur. When I was a kid, phones were physically attached to walls, Nixon had just got elected, adding machines were a big thing, computers used punch cards, and my first computer had 2k of ram with a tape recorder for back-up. In 4 decades we have gotten far enough that I can identify enough in a Team Speak skin I like, change the hex codes to get the colors I want, and add some pictures. However, I don't understand any of the gobbledy-gook in the middle - or for that matter at both ends.

I am working in Joomla. I paid someone what little I could afford to make a framework. I am making some tiny advances where I can copy and paste my content and simply upload .pngs. But most of it means nothing. It is identified in what I can only call 'computer cutsy' as are most of the terms I am reading in CB. I know that I have administrated a little in a CB environment in a gaming club I was in before. Now I am attempting to install this miasma of material to a website with all these warnings and tags and more gobbledy-gook in computer cutsy. I don't have a question to ask because the materials given don't communicate enough to even open the door to asking questions. The website presentations are busy - read confounding. The packages for sale all say the exact same things with no identifiable difference or expectation of anything other than spending different amounts of money.

There is a language of computerese which seems to have replaced ecclesiastical Latin as the lingua Franca de jour. However as then, the majority do not speak this mystical language. And yes, I remember when everything was in DOS, so I know what great strides have been taken to bring the 0s and 1s toward our pathetic fumbling modes of communication. Yet, I am asking for better or more. I would like something the rest of us can understand without having to get the equivalent of a collegiate minor to install and operate a forum management system.

Solutions:

1. TL;DR. Less Homer, more "my problem is (x)"

2. Less complaining, more reading. Punch card computer manuals were volumes long, Joomla and CB are about 50 pages each. Give yourself time and respect the learning curve, it won't happen overnight but these things have been simplified. You'll get it, just don't give in to your knee jerk intimidation reaction.

2. You'll need an actual forum system for forum functionality. Community Builder is profile/social network functionality. There are lots of joomla forums extensions that tie in with community builder, but if you are just looking for forum functionality, the social network aspect of Community Builder may be over kill. May I suggest extensions.joomla.org/extensions/communication/forum Discussions is a good one.

Good luck!

1. Speaking in computer cutsy such as TL;DR equates to one of the many "my problem is." I grew up with English. I realize this is not everyone's native language. However, computerese and computer cutsy are no one's native language. While I am a citizen of the United States, I did not take a single American Literature course until I was in my twenties. I took English Literature courses, the studies of Chaucer, Milton, Pope, Shakespeare, etc. I do not find any of these instructions to be communicative.

2. My niece currently has a statement on her facebook page, it sayss, "I wasn't being insulting, I was describing you." Substitute complaining for insulting in this case. Identifying direct observations as complaining comes across merely as condescension, and it does not make these website less busy, more concise, or logically organized.

3. I am building a gaming club website. I need to keep track of people's accomplishments for awards, ranks, positions, attendance, age, assign age restricted access based on ESRB and PEGI to game rosters, gallery pages, forum sections - and do so for forum, gallery, and chat. This is to allow family participation and the adults their space.

I have been to Joomla Extensions, even downloaded a few things that look like a good idea. I find the materials there, which sent me here, to be equally vapid in communicability.

Whithers wrote: 1. Speaking in computer cutsy such as TL;DR equates to one of the many "my problem is." I grew up with English. I realize this is not everyone's native language. However, computerese and computer cutsy are no one's native language. While I am a citizen of the United States, I did not take a single American Literature course until I was in my twenties. I took English Literature courses, the studies of Chaucer, Milton, Pope, Shakespeare, etc. I do not find any of these instructions to be communicative.

2. My niece currently has a statement on her facebook page, it sayss, "I wasn't being insulting, I was describing you." Substitute complaining for insulting in this case. Identifying direct observations as complaining comes across merely as condescension, and it does not make these website less busy, more concise, or logically organized.

3. I am building a gaming club website. I need to keep track of people's accomplishments for awards, ranks, positions, attendance, age, assign age restricted access based on ESRB and PEGI to game rosters, gallery pages, forum sections - and do so for forum, gallery, and chat. This is to allow family participation and the adults their space.

I have been to Joomla Extensions, even downloaded a few things that look like a good idea. I find the materials there, which sent me here, to be equally vapid in communicability.

Here is an appropriate article that might help:
magazine.joomla.org/issues/issue-nov-2013/item/1599-explaining-joomla-for-non-technologists-part-i

I agree that article is helpful. I figured out why a couple of published pages were broken at access. The article is much more helpful than the guideline book or the general websites concerning Joomla. However, I have been attempting to put something together for a month. I need to figure things out in the immediacy at this point. While Joomla is not advertised as WYSIWYG, WYSIWYG has never, in my experience, functioned that way either. Further, at least in Joomla a copy and paste maintains something as simple as an intended tab.

Also, I find there is a difference between a learning curve and a learning cliff. Joomla has a learning cliff.