There are plenty of people out there who have tons of experience in building web sites from scratch. They understand how to quickly install scripts and make sure everything looks good to the website’s visitors. But, what if you aren’t one of these people? What if you are someone who knows that they want to build a website or blog but you aren’t sure that you have the time (or the patience) to learn how to properly install the scripts you need? If you are one of these people, there are two things you need to know:

1) you are not alone and

2) it was for you that Fantastico was developed!

Fantastico was developed by the team at Netenberg–the same team who introduced Take 4, AccountLab Plus and Controller to Internet users. Fantastico, now known as Fantastico De Luxe, is an auto installer that was created to allow web users to install a large variety (40+) of web scripts with just a few clicks. Fantastico offers users easy installation of all of the following:

Blogs (Wordpress)
Content Management Systems
Classifieds
Customer Support Systems
Discussion Boards
E-Commerce Platforms
Billing Software
Image Galleries
Mailing Lists
Polls
Project Managers
Site Builders
Surveys
Wikis

All web users need is to find a web hosting provider that already has Fantastico (McKremie) installed and they can have a fully functional website up and running in minutes. Fantastico has truly become a godsend for those who do not have the time or motivation to learn how to do the complicated coding that they’d be facing if they were to try and install each of these scripts without the help of an auto-installer.

All of this makes Fantastico sound almost too good to be true. The truth is that there are a few (not many) drawbacks to Fantastico as well. The biggest drawback is that Fantastico does not give users a choice when it comes to deciding which features of a particular script they would like to install. It simply installs the most recent version of the script it has in its library. This can lead to problems later on when a script is updated or upgraded and it takes the Fantastico team a while to upload the latest version of the script to their service. Another large drawback comes from the ease in which installation can occur. Users who aren’t careful could end up accidentally uninstalling a script just as quickly as it was originally installed. This could be disastrous for users who do not regularly back up their web sites.

The most popular use of Fantastico for our hosting clients is to install Wordpress. For those who are interested in installing Wordpress on a McKremie hosting account all they need to do is:

1) Login to their cPanel account

2) Find the icon that says “Fantastico De Luxe” and click it

3) Click on Wordpress icon or link and press install now button

4) In this next screen it will ask what directory you want the blog software installed in. If your website is a blog and or you want your blog to be the main entry page then you don’t have to enter anything into the directory field. Fantastico will automatically install the software on the top level of your domain.

i.e. www.yourdomain.com

However, if you want the blog to be an extension of your website then you need to specific that directory. (also know as a folder)

i.e. www.yourdomain.com/blog/

Once the installation process is over you will see confirmation that you successfully installed Wordpress. You will be given a chance to have your username and password emailed to an email address that you specify.