I could use some professional help

[stowns]

I've created sites w/ Flash in the past and to be quite honest i have an easier time using that than a plain HTML site. I've tried to use dreamweaver and other programs but have trouble laying out websites when compared to Flash's extremely designer friendly interface. My question is that I need to make a website that has a custom map such as this once http://www.backspace.com/mapapp/. When countries on the map are clicked they will bring you to a page with info on the country aswell as a link to forums. I have never created a page with forums or one that is intended to advertise and make money. What i the best way to go. What are the best freeware forums to install? What is the best program to use for page layout? What server scripts should i make sure my server has. Pretty much any info you can give me would be a huge help. http://www.stowns.net is a site i made for fun. It doesnt have anything on it but shows basically all i know.

[spasticus]

the most popular forums (meaning the ones i've seen used the most) are phpbb and vbulletin (which this one is). they both run on php, so if you use either you'll need that. i don't know how suitable either forum is for advertising so maybe you'll need to check that out (by that i mean - i don't know how search engine friendly they are). i've always used dreamweaver for any sites i've done and never had any problems with layouts. i tend to use tables for the layout but i know some people like using divs (layers). i don't like layers because you have to set different positions for dofferent browsers, which just makes more work for yourself.