In the instructions for installing DNN Platform:

http://www.dnnsoftware.com/wiki/how-to-install-dotnetnuke

1) It makes a bad assumption that I have a default website, and that even if I did, I would want DNN installed beneath it.

2) It installs DNN into a subdirectory of the site. Why would I want to do that?

3) It has all this stuff about converting the object into an application. With point #1, since I'm not adding it to any "default" site and am simply placing the files at the root of the site, I have no idea whether that's an "application" by default and, if not, what I would even need to "add" as an application (e.g. in the right-click > Add Application... dialog). While I've spent the last while reading up on the distinctions between the site, applications, and virtual directories, that still doesn't help clarify how they all interact in relation to being an actual website that in the end uses URLs and such and uses http to talk back and forth between clients and the server.

i.e. If DNN is the primary platform of my website, why on Earth would I want to set my website up so its platform is in a subdirectory and therefore have to monkey around with redirecting all requests for the root to a subdirectory? I'm sorry. This makes no sense to me without further information, and I'm finding nothing that outright spells out variations from the get-go.

So, if not installed in "default" website, and not installed in a subdirectory, do I need to mess with the "convert to application" step?

An extra point: it's super obnoxious that Web Platform Installer will only proceed through the installation with an apparent requirement to use SQL Express. No thanks. Am I supposed to know that DNN will later ask to set up a different DB connection? And if so, why would I want any extra baggage created somewhere in the meantime in relation to SQL Express if I have no intention of using it?