# What do I need before signing up?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** hosting
**Created:** [2017年八月11日 22:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914 "2017-08-11T22:47:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gina\_riley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gina_riley)
#### Post date: [2017年八月11日 22:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/1 "2017-08-11T22:47:35Z")
A few questions, thank you in advance.
(1) Before I sign up for discourse hosting, do I need to have a forum already for migration?
(2) I have a great idea of the setup of a discourse so that being said, I am guessing that I need to have the categories already written and ready to go for the hosting party to download or implement?
(3) I noticed some of the discourse forums have really cool background pictures like “Gems of War” & some have a black background, that I really like. If I want to add picture background, what dimension should I get it in?
Note: I am starting from scratch.
Thanks again, Gina
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### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [2017年八月11日 23:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/2 "2017-08-11T23:30:42Z")
You could start with a 14 day free trial:
> **[Discourse pricing](https://discourse.org/pricing)**
>
> Official Discourse hosting plans for communities of every size.
> [@gina\_riley](#):
>
> I am guessing that I need to have the categories already written
No, you don’t need that. You enter them once you log in as an admin.
BTW: it is better to start off with just a few categories anyway and add nee ones based on how the community evolves.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [2017年八月13日 17:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/3 "2017-08-13T17:34:28Z")
你好 @gina_riley
我支持 @tophee 的建议——要把事情理顺，最好的办法就是注册一个试用账号，然后进去随便逛逛、试试。
针对你的具体问题，回答如下：
1. 不需要。如果你是从零开始，那就没有什么需要迁移的。你将从一个全新的 Discourse 实例开始，从头搭建你的社区。你可以在我们的 #Community Building（社区建设）板块提问并获得相关支持。
2. 不需要。一旦你搭建好试用环境，就可以自行安排分类结构。建议从小处着手，根据需求逐步扩展。先设置最基础的分类（如支持/综合/一两个主题相关分类），然后根据实际需求再逐步添加。
3. 那些是主题（Themes）。你可以在此处更改主题——查看一下那个汉堡菜单（三条横线图标）。
话虽如此，Discourse 有很多自定义方式。我建议你先搭建好试用环境并运行起来，之后我们可以帮你规划下一步该怎么做。
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2017年八月13日 17:54 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/4 "2017-08-13T17:54:35Z")
I believe that hamburger theme thing is custom here on meta as a demo, so it is better to change user theme in your user preferences in the usual place which will work in all cases.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [2017年八月13日 18:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/5 "2017-08-13T18:06:39Z")
Ah yes – what he said. ^^
Thanks for the catch.
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### Author:  [@joshyates1980](https://meta.discourse.org/u/joshyates1980)
#### Post date: [2018年八月28日 11:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/6 "2018-08-28T11:33:46Z")
The “Gems of War” wallpaper is excellent. I’m assuming the “Gems of War” guys customized their code and did not use discourse administration settings.
I have launched discourse for the community of Montgomery, Alabama and the Chamber of Commerce will announce launch. The unused Medium platform has the image for the discourse platform: [Montgomery Medium platform](https://montgomeryalabama.us/)
Any suggestions before I begin to inspect “Gems of War” css?
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [2018年八月28日 18:40 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/7 "2018-08-28T18:40:52Z")
Hey Josh,
This is a good starting point if you want to create complicated themes: [Developing Discourse Themes & Theme Components](https://meta.discourse.org/t/developer-s-guide-to-discourse-themes/93648)
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### Author:  [@joshyates1980](https://meta.discourse.org/u/joshyates1980)
#### Post date: [2018年八月29日 11:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/8 "2018-08-29T11:10:29Z")
Very informative @HAWK.
Thanks for the post.
I’ll probably hire a freelancer due to time constraints. Does the Discourse team have in house experts who provide custom theme services?
I want the city’s discourse forum to really attract the end user’s attention with local images.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [2018年八月29日 11:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-i-need-before-signing-up/67914/9 "2018-08-29T11:47:05Z")
Hey Josh, not inhouse, no. We can recommend @joebuhlig from Procourse though. He is excellent.