How to Use Fantastico to Start a New Website

New websites are popping up all over the Internet every day. Years ago, unless you know how to code a website, the idea of creating your very own piece of Internet real estate meant spending a lot of money on web design and creation. Today, novice web designers or newbie webmasters can use Fantastico to quickly start a new website without ever coding a line.

Fantastico is not a software program or even a suite of programs. It is more a group of programs with an installer. The Fantastico program is offered through many web hosting companies as part of their web hosting plans. Lunarpages, for instance, offers Fantastico to all web hosting clients. Once logged into the cPanel, the webmaster can click on the Fantastico icon and browse through the preinstalled website programs.

While the available software under the Fantastico installer may differ from web host to web host, the most common include blogging platforms, ecommerce websites, forum software, wikis and photo sharing scripts. Popular names like Wordpress and b2Evolution can be installed into your website directory in seconds using the Fantastico software.

The install of Fantastico on many web hosting servers contains outdated scripts. This leads many people to believe there is a security risk associated with using Fantastico. However, many of the scripts offer easy to understand updating instructions from the main website. Wordpress, for instance, offers one click updating to the most recent version of the blogging software.

Some people also look at the style of software available as a negative. To use Fantastico for free, the scripts included are often open source. Some open source software offers a strong customer service backing while others tend to offer less. Before you choose to install with Fantastico, make sure to research the script you want to install and judge the customer service and security of the script.

Fantastico is not a perfect script library. For the beginner, however, the ease of use and the simplicity with which a new webmaster can install a script for their website is priceless. Not everyone has a web design degree and the install of Fantastico on the web hosting account gives those who do not understand coding a chance to operate a website of their very own.