One thing that I love about this community compared to other online archery forums is that it's got a good mix of experience. It's also where a lot of new archers seem to come for advice when starting out. That's great!
However, it can be frustrating to give good advice without the correct information. Every body is different, and so every archer's setup and starting point is going to be a little different too.
Eye dominance: For any shooting sport, it's important to know which eye is dominant because that's the eye that you will naturally aim with. There are several different tests that you can do, but the one that I've found to be most simple is to hold your hands up with your fingers and thumbs extended and overlap them so that they make a triangle. Look at an object in the distance through that triangle. Then you can either close each eye (one at a time) or bring your hands back to your face while continuing to look at the object. The eye that keeps that object in the triangle is your dominant eye. This video demonstrates a version of this very succinctly.
Ideally your dominant eye and your dominant hand correspond, but if they don't it's called "cross dominance." There are two schools of thought on whether you should shoot dominant eye or dominant hand in that case. There are two schools of thought on this, but I personally recommend that people shoot based on eye-dominance, as it allows archers to more easily shoot with both eyes open. But there are very prominent coaches and shooting instructors on both sides.
Draw length: Important for recurve shooters, knowing your draw length is absolutely vital for compound shooters. It's also needed so that you know your minimum arrow length when purchasing arrows (an arrow that's too short can be drawn off of the bow and cause serious injury to your bow hand and arm). There are several methods to estimate this based on arm span and height. Don't do these.
The best way is to measure your draw length. You can do this with a tape measure and a wall, although it's best to have someone to help. Make a fist with your bow hand (the hand that will hold the bow). Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and press your fist against a wall with your arm fully extended and your shoulder relaxed. You should be perpendicular to the wall, your arm and shoulders forming a straight line across your body. Turn your head so that you're looking at the wall and measure from the front of your fist to the corner of your mouth. If that sounds complicated, John Dudley demonstrates it in this video. This gets you a good starting point. Your draw length may change a little bit as your form develops or equipment changes (like using a different release aid).
When buying or choosing a compound bow, it's important that it match (or be able to be adjusted to) your draw length. When buying a recurve bow, your draw length determines how long of a bow you should use. I go over that in my recurve guide. For arrows, you want to avoid an arrow that's shorter than your draw length. If you're shooting a recurve off the shelf or off your hand, add an inch to this to ensure that you keep your point (or broadhead, if hunting) in front of your bow.
Draw Weight: For this, you're measuring your bow, not yourself. While recurve limbs have a marked draw weight, and compound bows have a range of draw weights, draw length differences and other adjustments will mean that these numbers are not necessarily accurate. To determine your actual draw weight, you want to use a bow scale and measure.
For a compound bow, you need a scale that measures peak weight (ideally, you have a scale that allows you to determine peak weight and holding weight at the same time). Because bow scales or D-loops can break, I strongly recommend doing this measurement with an arrow nocked and pointing at a target, so that you don't accidentally dry-fire a bow.
For a recurve bow, you'll need to use an arrow to ensure that you're drawing to the correct draw length because the scale generally prevents you from drawing naturally to the same draw length you would with your fingers. An Easton measuring arrow works great, but you're not likely to have one if you're not a bow shop. If you shoot a clicker, you can use one of your arrows and let down when the clicker goes off. If you don't use a clicker, draw an arrow and have someone carefully mark where the arrow is either on the front of your riser or on your rest. Then use a piece of masking tape and wrap it around the arrow to make this mark super clear. Now you can use a bow scale to accurately draw to the same draw length as you do when you're shooting, thus getting a precise measurement.
You can also use a draw board, but I assume that if you have one you don't need this guide. I like to use a release trainer as a safety strap when taking draw weight measurements.
The problem with measuring draw weight to determine what arrows to buy is that it basically requires that you already have an arrow. It also requires a bow scale. This is why I highly recommend getting your first arrows from a shop, where they can help you take this measurement and get arrows correctly set up for your draw length and weight.
You can try to estimate actual draw weight using your draw length. The rule of thumb is 2# difference for every inch variation from 28". However, this is rarely accurate (especially beyond 30"). There are a ton of variables (limb geometry, riser limb pocket angle, draw force curve, etc.) that affect this. But 2#/in from 26 to 30", and 3#/in after 30" is generally a rough enough estimate to for selecting arrow spine or guessing if a recurve bow is going to be too heavy. You'll just have more tuning to do.
Arrow Spine: Getting the correct arrow spine for optimal flight and grouping is a tuning process, but figuring out what spined shafts to order is relatively easy once you know the above information. Just pick a manufacturer, find the spine chart on their website. For adults, I recommend starting with full length arrows. This gives you more options for tuning, and will be safer if you mis-measured your draw length. The only time this gets tricky is when your draw length is longer than is shown for your draw weight on the chart. In general, you just go one category higher for each inch longer, but you'll have some arrow flight issues due to the arrow being too heavy. Easton's arrow chart is a great example. Black Eagle's chart is a good reference for archers with long draws and light bows, but I recommend using the chart for the manufacturer of the arrows that you're buying.
Brace Height: This is the measurement from the throat of your grip to the edge of your string. The brace height of a compound is set by the manufacturer. The brace height of a recurve is part of tuning, and the recommended range should be listed or noted by your bow manufacturer. The best way to measure brace height is with a bow square, but it can be measured with a rule or tape measure if needed.
Tiller: Tiller measures the balance between your top and bottom limbs. It's primarily used by recurve archers. To find out your tiller, you measure the distance between your string and the base of your top limb subtract it from the distance between your string and the base of your bottom limb. This is best measured with a bow square, but you can use a ruler.
Nocking Point: Nocking point is measured with a bow square and is how far above square your arrow is nocked. You attach the bow square to the string and rest it on the arrow rest or shelf. There should be measurement marks on your arrow rest that indicate how far from square the nocking point is.
There are a ton of other measurements that are useful for archery, especially as they relate to arrow setup and selection. But this is good information to know when asking questions, looking to buy equipment.
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