Forum forms

I have coded some custom forums and am using a simple text box as the place to input the forum message. I want to have a more advanced text box (like the one in these forums) that allows bolded font, links, bullets, etc. Also, once I get the form input, how would I store it in the db? As a blob? Do the forms input the text as html?

Anyway, I'm sure it's simple to do but have no idea. Can someone help me?