Hello @percydee

Welcome on this forum :)

Did you read the instructions on: https://laravel.com/docs/9.x/installation ?

You say that you did download Laravel and pasted the folder in xampp, I suspect that is the content from: https://github.com/laravel/laravel that means you need to run composer install to get the needed dependencies.

Do you have any experience with composer? If not you can take a look on https://getcomposer.org/

Thanks @tvbeek for your response.

Yes I did read https://laravel.com/docs/9.x/installation & Ive read it once more & still confused.

As mentioned earlier we are building a website that will have a zero tolerance with theft & corruption. The reason people thieve is because they have never been taught how to earn an income the legal way. Our website should solve that issue & teach young children & others how to earn, & refrain members from getting into complicated applications.

I consider myself as reasonably intelligent & fluent in the English language as it is the only language I know. I only consider myself an average developer & far from senior. I had difficulty within CI particularly when trying to create a website different to others, particularly founded on simplicity. When I opened Laravel I noticed a significant amount of programming talent but when it came to following simple instructions I could not find any. That kind of environment encourages people to go back to the only environment they know & probably involving crime. Laravel should be made simple.

After downloading Laravel I searched for an installation portal, just the same as I found in xampp. I expect to "Meet Laravel" after it is installed. I am hoping I can continue our project in Laravel but it appears as if I need to follow a complicated procedure. I did initially have trouble following CI but later was able to achieve our desired ambitions.

I read "Getting Started On Windows" & noted Windows 10 but Im running Windows 11. I noted "Windows Subsystem for Linux 2" but in my previous laptop I tried Linux & gave up due to most programs are dependent on Windows, so now I try to stay away from anything involving Linux. I have learned that Windows server operating system has improved particularly in speed so Im hoping to avoid Linux. Then I noted "Launch Windows Terminal" & I get completely put off that appears like a DOS prompt.

All of the above should be investigated "after" Laravel is installed.

I have also found Github very confusing & I stay away from that environment where possible although I needed it to start the Laravel procedure. I downloaded from SourceForge but now I learn it is unreliable.

I have no experience with composer. Maybe I should after I get Laravel installed.

If all of Laravel talent got behind our project they would be able to achieve all their current ambitions, but in a clean & simple environment & without theft & corruption.

@percydee composer is the package manager for PHP. Without it you can't use Laravel (or the most other packages) The command line replaces the install wizard. In fact you need to run composer install, change the needed configs in your .env file and have a server pointing to your public/index.php to get started.

Composer, a shell (DOS like, Powershell, bash or whatever you like) are the basic tools to use.

With composer you download the packages (also Laravel) and you run it command line.

One way to learn more about it is to register for a free account on Laracast and by example follow: https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-8-from-scratch/episodes/1 (Laracast has a payed option to access all video's but also a lot of good free videos)

OK thanks tvbeek. I have given up Laravel & gone back to CodeIgniter. This is my third & possibly my last, attempt to understand Laravel. We are building a simple website, one that 5 year olds will be able to understand, & 15 year olds will be offered apprenticeships in various industries, web development included, but that will not involve Laravel in its current format because it is far too complicated & time consuming, firstly for our developers to learn & secondly to teach. Once the majority of the population gains acceptance of our corrupt free site & if Laravel maintains its status quo then there is likely to be a lesser demand for Laravel. Laravel developers will not be welcome within the site at that stage.