Ubuntu server woes

alright- so I just set up an ubuntu server, it 'works' as in I get the apache2 "It works" page, both over LAN and WAN-

BUT

When I try and access the folders I've created, i get a 403 error. I can't figure it out, the walk-through I used has no mention this kind of thing.

Help? software isn't my strong suit...

I stopped at the same point until i got my friend to this 

Sounds like the user that is running the Apache Service (typically root) does not have permission over the files that are there.

Make sure your files are not corrupt and quickly do a "chown" on the directory.

I tried this once too, and I got irritated at it and tried Debian. Haven't had any issues out of Debian, you should look into it.

Are you running this server just for Apache? if so i would totally move to Debian or CentOS i found more success with running web servers off these two distros, if you need help hit me up ill be happy to lend a hand. 

I can help as well. I'm curious, for a LAMP stack, do you prefer CentOS or Debian? I'm pretty good with Debian but I see most hosting companies use CentOS, is there a particular reason? I know it gets updated less but other than that I'm not sure why

i prefer Debian personally, But i think (totally my opinion) because its based on Red Hat sources, also has full compatibility with RHEL, so you get like fully supported and tested update packs from Red Hat, just stripped of branding. i think you can purchase support packs from RHEL as well.. i know a lot of Back up appliances i have used are centOS based as well. 

This.  The user that your server is running under doesn't have permission to access the directory.  You can either change the permission so that anybody is allowed to access it (which is unsecure) or you can change the owner to the user that Apache is using.  The default user for Apache on Ubuntu is "www-data"

Okay. I've had good luck with Debian, and it seems considerably easier to use than CentOS. I wish Wendell would do a video on how to set up a basic server with Debian or CentOS or whatever he likes...I think I remember him saying he loves Debian but I could be wrong