Your First Website
Many people do not know what to do with their first website. I have seen MANY people start up a forum and fail because they don’t know the first thing about web management. So as my first tip to you, do not start a forum as your first website because you will definitely regret it.
If you want to learn basic html or even PHP, get a basic html website and learn to use php coding in between. It is a great way to learn webmastering and how to manage a website. And having a basic website will put less pressure on you when it comes to managing it and advertising it and keeping it active because you have complete control.