BlueHost and Fantastico

BlueHost and Fantastico go so well together that they lend themselves to all sorts of timeless comparisons: Burns and Allen, Astaire and Rogers, Peanut Butter and Jelly or, more relevantly, MySQL and PHP. BlueHost is the web host, Fantastico is the feature; together, they can help you make your website do all sorts of incredible things.

Fantastico (full name: Fantastico DeLuxe) is the leading auto-installer for servers using the cPanel control panel. Blue Host uses the cPanel control panel and therefore BlueHost servers support the Fantastico auto-installer. With Fantastico, you can install scripts onto your Blue Host website even if you're a total novice -- no setting up of a MySQL database necessary, and no downloading files or changing permissions.

By logging in to your Bluehost cPanel and clicking on the big blue smiley-face Fantastico icon (no kidding), you will be able to instantly install any number of useful scripts onto your website by simply clicking on the script, and then clicking Install.

With Fantastico, you can install multiple instances of scripts in add-on domains, sub-domains, and top-level directories of your BlueHost-hosted website.

When logged in to your Blue Host cPanel, with the Fantastico window opened you can also learn in an instant whenever an update has been released for a script you have installed onto your website.

What do we mean by scripts? Scripts enable you to add functionality, versatility, and interactivity to your Bluehost-hosted websites, right down to your Customer Support Services. Some of the most common and popular Fantastico scripts include:

- Blogs (b2evolution, Nucleus, PMachine Free, WordPress)

- Customer Support (Crafty Syntax Live Help, Help Center Live, osTicket, PHP Support Tickets, Support Logic Helpdesk, Support Services Manager)

- Discussion boards (phpBB2, SMF)

- eCommerce (CubeCart, OS Commerce, Zen Cart)

- FAQs (FAQMasterFlex)

- Image Galleries (4Images Gallery, Coppermine Photo Gallery, Gallery 2.0)

- Mailing Lists (PHPlist)

- Portals/CMA (Drupal, Geeklog, Joomla, Mambo Open Source, PHP-Nuke, phpWCMS, phpWebSite, Post-Nuke, Siteframe, Typo3, Xoops)

- Project Management (dotProject, PHProjekt)

- Site Builders (Templates Express)

- Surveys/Polls (Advanced Poll, phpESP, PHPSurveyor), Wiki (PhpWiki, TikiWiki)

- Miscellaneous (Dew-NewPHPLinks, Moodle, Noah's Classifieds, Open-Realty, PhpAdsNew, PHPauction, phpCOIN, phpFormGenerator, WebCalendar)

It is important to keep in mind that while BlueHost supports Fantastico, and even has a sizable section on Fantastico in the Bluehost knowledgebase, Blue Host does not offer support for the individual scripts available using Fantastico. Therefore, once you install the scripts onto your Bluehost account, you should make note of the official website associated with each script you're using so you can refer to it for specific script-related questions, issues, and tips.

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