If your new to this and don't want to pay $$$ I understand.
There are a few free forums you can install, mybb is quite
popular and is very flexible with alot of plug ins.
There are a few decent free forums I have not tried them all
so I can not say which is the best but from the ones I used
mybb is good in comparison.
If your havinb trouble learning html, css, php, perl you can alway
dl free wedsite templates & scripts, just by looking @ them and messing around
with them in dreamweaver taught me alot.
If you just looking for a forum you can use mybb or google free forum for
my site.
If you want to learn how to build a site w3schools.com is a great site to visit.