You need access and the right to use a domain. There are a number of domains to choose from; .com, .info, .org, .biz etc.
Your domain needs to be hosted at a webhotel or webhost. (two names, same thing!) A webhost is a company who offers to "host" your homepage, usualy for a certain fee. The webhost puts your homepage on one of their servers which have access to the internet, so that everybody may see and access your homepage.
Most webhosts offer webhosting bundled with a new domain with a name of your own choice (provided the name is available. E.g. "php-fusion.co.uk" is not available!). Usually you pay an initial fee to your webhost that covers acquisition of your domain and the "hotel rent" for a certain period, e.g. one year. If you decide to keep your domain and webhotel for more than the period you paid for initially, you will have to pay again for the hosting and for the domain. Some hosts offer to pay the domain fee for you. Some don't.
Some webhosts provide free hosting which means you don't have to pay for either the hosting or a domain name. You will then usualy choose the name of a subdomain to your webhost, e.g. myname.thefreewebhost.com. Likewise the space is normaly limited and the speed of your site can be poor. It's possible, but you get what you pay for!
To run a PHP-Fusion site your webhost must meet these two requirements: 1. Must support PHP. 2. Must provide at least one mySQL-database.
Some webhosts create a mySQL database for you automatically and send you the access information to you in an email. Others require you to create the mySQL database yourself from their homepage. However, most good hosts will offer any needed help and support in setting up a database.
You can read more about how to install your first PHP-Fusion site in the handbook, see link at top of document.
When you are ready to install you may download the complete set of files that make up your PHP-Fusion installation, also available in the download section.
N.B. It is possible to run a PHP-Fusion site locally on your own computer. That is, without having to deal with a webhost, or having a domain available. Of course your site won't be accessible to others then, but it could be a good idea when testing new functionality. However, you still need PHP and a mySQL database available.
Disclaimer: While we endevour to provide clear and informative guidance, the information in this document is posted in good faith and no responsibility can or will be accepted for any consequences arising from it's use. PHP-Fusion is an Open Source project and is released without warranties under the terms of the GNU Affero GPL v3 licence.
No exact release date is set at the moment - but we expect to have v8 ready by the end of this year. But we had a planning meeting last night - of course we will keep you posted...
