> But do I 'extract' the files and place in that 'public_html/test' folder.
Yes
> I read somewhere that you make a folder outside the public_html folder and place there.
That is probably referring to the Moodledata folder. For security reasons, the Moodledata folder must be outside your web root. Students don't need to access the Moodledata folder.
There are 2 important folders in your Moodle setup - with corresponding variables in your Moodle config.php file:
- Your Moodle CODE folder. This is where you extract the Moodle code from the moodle.zip file that you downloaded. Then you put that path in the $CFG->wwwroot variable in your Moodle config.php file. This folder must be accessible via the web (Apache).
- Your MoodleData folder. This is where Moodle stores site configuration stuff and files linked to your courses. When you add content to your courses those files get stored here. You put that path in the $CFG->dataroot variable in your Moodle config.php file. This folder must be outside your web root.
Hope that helps...
If you want to play with Moodle on your own PC the https://bitnami.com/stack/moodle package makes it really easy to install everything you need on your PC.
