Web Hosting Rating

Fantastico vs. Simple Script

Controlling and managing a website requires a variety of skills and user-friendly tools. The amount of skills you have is beginning to matter less and less each day, as new tools are developed to compensate for the lack of skill. Most of the tools that are being developed to aid in the creation and management of websites are called web applications. These web applications are usually installed into the control panel of your hosting account, and can help you do nearly anything you’d like with your website, from complex design schemes to in-depth organization. Although these web applications are simple to use, the process of installing them is often not.

Quick-Installation Utilities

For this reason, there applications included in your hosting account’s control panel that assist you in installing these web applications with the click of a mouse. The main quick-installation utilities are Fantastico and Simple Script.  Different web hosting companies offer different installation utilities, so you’ll want to choose wisely when considering which web hosting provider you’ll be hosting your site with. The following information should help you decide between the two main quick installation applications – Fantastico and Simple Script.

Fantastico

Fantastico is by far the widely used and well known quick-installation utilities available, as it is included with the popular cPanel control panel. Fantastico lets you install popular web applications and CMS like WordPress and others. With a few clicks of the mouse, an installation that would have otherwise taken at least 10 minutes, can be performed in seconds. Fantastico is renowned for it’s user-friendliness and extreme simplicity. However, Fantastico has stopped offering support for WordPress and a number of other applications, and therefore the versions of WordPress that it installs are  outdated. If you install WordPress with Fantastico, you’ll be using an outdated copy with no navigation bar on the left side. This alone has caused many people to switch over to Simple Scripts.

Simple Scripts

Simple scripts is very similar to Fantastico, in that it automatically installs web applications with just a few clicks of the mouse. However, Simple Script seems to have picked up where Fantastico left off, as it now offers support for all of the web applications that Fantastico stopped supporting. For this reason, many of you will not have a choice other than to use Simple Scripts during the installation process. For example, if you want to install Wordpress on your site, you really cannot do this with Fantastico anymore, unless you’d prefer an outdated version.

Conclusion

I don’t know anybody that would prefer an outdated version of any software, so it would seem logical that you may prefer to use Simple Scripts. WordPress is not the only web application that Simple Scripts installs with ease, in fact it offer more installation assistance than Fantastico ever did! The user interface is also much more visually appealing in Simple Scripts, and the navigation is very simple. Overall, Simple Scripts is the new standard and Fantastico has a rival worthy of contention.

How to Pick Your Control Panel – What to Look For

The control panel is perhaps the most important aspect of your hosting account. Without it, executing even the most menial task would be extremely difficult for the average user. For this reason, control panels are usually included with your hosting plan. The type of control panel you use will depend on the type of web hosting you’re using. If you’re utilizing shared hosting then your control panel will allow you to carry out limited actions, while a dedicated hosting plan will give you full control over server administration. Since all control panels are not compatible with all operating system, you’ll need to be sure you’re system is going to be compatible with the prospective control panel. Aside from basic compatibility and functionality, there are several things you’ll need to consider when choosing your control panel.

Hosting Types

As your control panel selection will depend largely upon the type of hosting plan you purchase, you’ll need to decide which kind of hosting would be most suitable for your situation. Once you have decided on the correct hosting type, you can begin your search for a suitable control panel by considering the features and simplicity of each control panel. Although every control panel is designed for ease of use, some are more difficult to use then others. Generally, the more features a control panel has, the more difficult the learning curve is.

Assessing Your Needs

Aside from your operating system and hosting type, the control panel selection will also be based on the needs of your website and your experience. If you have a larger website with many employees and high traffic levels, then you’ll need a more comprehensive solution to accommodate your needs. For such a purpose you may need dedicated hosting plan with a completely functional control panel. If you own a smaller website and you have little experience then you’ll want to use a simpler solution with plenty of support, such as cPanel. Control panels like cPanel have a virtually unlimited amount of support videos and tutorials due to their popularity.

Important Features

When you first began reading this article, you were most likely expecting a list of features that you should look for when making your selection. However, the fact is nearly every control panel has the essential features that make server administration simple and convenient. Therefore, instead of focusing solely on features, you’ll want to base your decision on your experience level, website needs, and hosting environment. Once you’ve narrowed your search using this criteria, then you can begin to compare the individual features of each compatible control panel. Through process of elimination, logical deduction, and a bit of research, you should be able to find the correct control panel with ease. Perhaps the most important feature a control panel can have is user-friendliness, as all of the features in the world are useless to a user that cannot effectively use them.

Control Panels for Dedicated Server Users

A good control panel is one of the key elements of a good web hosting solution because it is the main interface through which all site and server functions are administered. Control panels simplify and facilitate processes such as FTP account creation and management, email account creation and management, domain administration, database administration and so much more. A good control panel should be easily accessible from any web browser, and it should have a very user-friendly interface. Control panels are not designed for expert webmasters, but rather for the average novice user.  However, the benefits of a good control panel can be experienced by not only novice users, but owners of large corporations with private and dedicated servers as well.

The Administrative Benefits of Using a Good Control Panel with a Dedicated Server

Dedicated servers give the webmaster more space, bandwidth, and ultimately more functionality. For this reason the use of a comprehensive yet easy-to-use control panel is recommended, to help facilitate the administration of the added benefits of the dedicated server environment. Dedicated server control panels differ from those offered to users of shared servers because they offer administrative access to the FTP server, database server, and the email server.  Even novice users can setup new hosting accounts and grant permissions to users within the network with ease.

The Importance of a Good Control Panel in the Dedicated Server Environment

Managing a dedicated server can be a relatively complex task, this is why it is so important to use a good control panel. If you are a user of Linux then you will definitely want to consider a user-friendly control panel, as Linux is usually more complex than other operating systems by default. Even Windows users can benefit from the use of an efficient control panel, as many of the administrative functions are simplified to a great degree by control panel software.

Choosing a Web Hosting Provider Based on Control Panel Software

Since most web hosting providers know just how complex of a task server and site administration is, they generally include a free control panel with their hosting plans. It is advisable to find a web hosting provider that offers a control panel you would be compatible with. If you have used a certain control panel in the past and you’ve gotten used to it, then you may want to continue using it with the new web hosting provider. You always have the option of installing a new control panel instead of using the control panel that comes free with the hosting account, but of course the more economical option would be to choose a hosting plan that includes a control panel that is suitable to your needs. It is important to remember that many control panels are not compatible with certain operating systems, thus before you download one make sure your operating system meets the requirements of the control panel.   Of course there are some that support both Windows and Linux, such as Plesk, however the majority do not. Considering all of your options and checking the system requirements for each control panel will save you a lot of unnecessary hassle.

vDeck –A Complex Yet Simple to Use Control Panel

A good control panel is expected to handle various complex tasks on a regular basis, however the complexity of these tasks is supposed to be handled with ease. Functionality combined with simplicity is what makes a control panel effective. Without these key attributes the control panel is simply a glorified user interface with little to no value. One control panel that embodies these characteristics perfectly is vDeck. vDeck is a versatile control panel solution that brings together the best of both worlds; simplicity and functionality.

Marketing Your Website With vDeck

As the popularity of this control panel has continued to rise, many of its users are saying that it may replace cPanel as the most popular control panel within the next 5 years. While this may or may not be true, it certainly seems that it is just as capable as cPanel.  Unlike cPanel however, vDeck focuses equally on the marketing aspect of website management, as well as the administrative aspect. Users have access to a variety of analytical traffic tools that aid in their SEO efforts. vDeck also makes it simple to install third party social bookmarking and video posting applications that increase the popularity of your website.

A Solution for All Sizes

Although its competitor cPanel is known primarily as a solution for small businesses, vDeck is different in that it can accommodate the needs of virtually any size business, including large corporations.  vDeck is also an optimal solution for a variety of  server environments, including virtual, private, dedicated and shared hosting environments. Whether you own a small retail shop, or an online empire, vDeck can accommodate your needs. In fact, it’s multi-tiered administrative interface makes it easy to control multiple domains within a singular user-friendly interface. Users can log in and out of their website’s with ease, without every exiting the vDeck control panel.

vDeck’s Expandability

The power of vDeck is literally unlimited, as it is a fully expandable and customizable control panel.  You can add third party applications that enhance the productivity of your website in a variety of ways. You can even hire a programmer to create a program that is specifically designed to meet your needs, as the software is compatible with almost every programming language. vDecks expandability make it a solution that is capable of handling a plethora of complex tasks with ease. Users can create custom cron jobs that automatically handle daily work such as uploading content, posting to site blog’s, changing themes and any other administrative task you can imagine.

Learning to Use vDeck

Learnign to use vDeck is also extremely simple, as there is a wealth of documented informaiton on the software that can be accessed directly from the control panel. On top of the provided information, users can find video tutorials online, and can chat with other vDeck users in the vDeck help forums. With all of the resources available for vDeck, the learning curve for vDeck is nearly non-existent. In fact, many users are able to use the software without ever reading a single tutorial.

Minimizing Downtime During Web Hosting Moves With Plesk

Changing your web hosting provider can be quite a hassle, especially if you have to learn how to use a new control panel in the process. In fact, learning how to use the control panel, often accounts for most of the time spent during the familiarization process that you encounter with every new web host. To minimize the amount of changes and adaptations you’ll need to make, you should try to keep the transition as smooth as possible by minimizing the amount new things you’ll need to learn with you new web host. Luckily for those with the Plesk control panel , they can take their control panel with them whenever they do decide to switch web hosting providers, as there are many web hosts that offer Plesk as their default solution. If both your new and old web host offers Plesk as the primary control panel solution then you’re in luck, as you are about to learn how tom minimize your sites down time during the move using Plesk.

Switching Servers

A common problem that many webmasters have when changing servers is data loss during transfer. This happens because the TTL (Time to Live) is not instant, and therefore some of the data is lost in transition, or at the very least delayed. To prevent this you’ll need to change a few settings at least 24 hours before the relocation of your website. Login to Plesk in your current hosting account and click on Domains. Locate the domain that you’re about to move and click on the DNS settings.  Then select the SOA record. You’ll need to change the Default TTL to 15 minutes or 900 secs. Once you’ve done this click on SET to finish the process. Now any changes that take place will be final within 15 minutes of the change, thereby minimizing downtime and data loss.

Restoring Your Site’s Backup

After about a day, login into the Plesk admin of your new domain and locate the Backup Manager.   Then click on Personal FTP repository settings.  Enter the required information, and type in httpdocs in the directory for backups field. Finally click on OK to activate the change.

Now go back to the main backup manager module, and click on backup. Create a backup name, then click on Personal FTP repository. Click on Domain configuration and content then select Backup. Depending on the size of your website, the backup process should finish within 5 minutes for a small website, to one day for a tremendously large website. The connection speed will also cause time variations as well.  Once the back up is made, you may easily download it through the backup module.

Finalizing the Process

Now you’ll need to contact the new host’s support company and let them know that you need to restore the backup of your old website. Give them the name of the directory, in this case httpdocs. You can also ask them for assistance in restoring your domain using the backup file, and they should be able to walk you through the rest of the process with ease. Once you’ve contacted the hosting company, there re literally 2-3 steps left until you have your entire site running exactly the same as it was prior to the web hosting move.