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Next Advisor web hosting guide: The cPanel
July 15th, 2009 - Posted by Kent
Web hosting is a service that allows you to put content (such as a blog, website, photo album) on the Internet, at a specific domain that you own. Sounds simple enough, but what does that actually look like? Once you pay your fee, what do you actually get, and what do you do next?
The first thing you should do is get comfortable with your web host's control panel. The control panel is the fundamental way you manage your web hosting. This includes installing your blog, looking at visitor statistics, changing settings, managing files, installing web site creators, adding subdomains, the list goes on. In fact, there are so many things that most control panels are a little overwhelming. Here's the popular cPanel control panel, which powers a number of web hosting solutions, including Web Hosting Pad, Just Host, Host Gator, HostPapa, IX Web Hosting, and others :
There are a lot of choices here (click here for a full view). In fact there are way more than you probably need, at least right now. The good news is that you don't really need to know all of them. On the left you'll find a bunch of statistics related to your account. You'll find this more useful further down the road. Right now, a lot of it will be blank. Taking up most of the page is the menu of options, looking a bit like a Windows operating system circa 2001. The nice thing is, you can actually rearrange these panels, so you can drag the ones you use least down at the bottom.
The most common modules you'll probably want to use first are Email Accounts (located under Mail), and the various blog and sitebuilding add-ons grouped together as Fantastico Deluxe (under Software/Services).
Email is very easy to set-up on cPanel, simply choose a user name and a password (it will even create one for you, if you prefer). The mailbox quota is optional, and best left at its default. cPanel will create your email address and then provide you with the configuration settings for your email program.
Fantastico De Luxe is a different beast altogether, in fact it's a whole other control panel. It's your one-stop shop for add-on modules like WordPress (for blogging), CubeCart (for creating a shopping cart), 4Images Gallery (for building an image gallery), and Soholaunch (for creating a website). It looks like the Macintosh operating system circa 2001. On the left you see your options. Next to that, you see the add-ons you have installed (if any).
For the sake of demonstration, let's install WordPress. WordPress is the web's most popular platform for blogging. First, click the WordPress link on the left. When you see the WordPress installation screen, click "new installation."
Now you need to make some decisions, the most important being where you'd like to install your blog. If you want it to be the page that people see when they arrive at your website, just leave this space blank. If you plan on having the blog as part of a bigger website, you might want to put this at a directory like: blog (so type "blog" into that box).
You'll also need a username for the blog. It's also time for another password. Since WordPress does not ask you to confirm the password make sure you write it down. Or, better yet, copy and paste it into a text file. Your admin nickname will be visible to people who view your blog, so choose something you want people to see. Next, enter an email address (notifications will be sent to you at this address). Your blog needs a name, which doesn't have to be the same as your domain. Finally, you can enter a description, which can be as simple or complex as you want. You can always change title and description later.
You will get one more screen telling you everything is working right and ready for installation. You can ignore the bit about the MySQL user, because you won't need to know that. Just click "finish installation." When it's been installed correctly, you'll see a confirmation of your information, including the url where you will administer your blog. As Fantastico suggests, you should bookmark it.
The process of installing other modules will be similar. If you want to get back to your cPanel, just click the "control panel" icon at the upper left.
Those are the basics. If you've done the above you'll now have your own email address and blog set up.
What's next? Try building a site. Depending on your web host, some site builders are located in the Fantastico panel, and some will be found in the cPanel. Or try an offline site builder like Adobe Dreamweaver, Apple iWeb, or Microsoft Expression.
24 Responses to “Next Advisor web hosting guide: The cPanel”
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