What's the future for Fantastico

[gmatkin]

As a rather less than technically confident Wordpress user, I've been relying on Fantastico - and I'm a bit nervous about installing new versions of Wordpress myself or switching to SimpleScripts for fear of losing a huge my amount of weblog content.

So what's the future of Fantastico at Bluehost please? Will it continue to be updated? I've read at the Fantastico forum that it was update to include Wp 2.5 some days ago, but we're still on 2.3 at Bluehost.

Thanks,

Gavin

[verifone411]

Wordpress can be installed very easily manually. All you have to do is create a mysql database, create a username and password, assign that user to the database, then upload the files, then make sure the right permssions are on the right files and folders (you can set these via most ftp programs) then run the setup script. The setup script will tell you if any permissions are not correct.

That being said if you want to move to another platform many blogs writers have written conversion scripts which will transfer your content for you.

At the very worst you could transfer it manually since it is after all only plain text stored in a database.

[gmatkin]

But if I've got 2.3 (and several versions of Wordpress before if) installed by Fantastico, can I be 110 per cent confident of installing 2.5 without losing my content?

Believe me, there's a LOT of it, including text, pictures, sound files...

Gav

[felgall]

That's why a manual install yourself is far simpler than using an automated process - you don't have the worry.

Provided that you backup your database and the wp-content folder before uninstalling from Fantastico and reinstalling via Simple Scripts (or manually) and yor reinstall the same version first, you can then restore the database and wp-content folder to get everything back the way it was but without Fantastico knowing it was installed.

[verifone411]

yes you can be 100% sure with a backup. Make a backup first.
In any case blue hosts backups cant be relied on according to their terms of service. It sorta reads we may not may not have a backup, we do it when we feel like it.



But if I've got 2.3 (and several versions of Wordpress before if) installed by Fantastico, can I be 110 per cent confident of installing 2.5 without losing my content?

Believe me, there's a LOT of it, including text, pictures, sound files...

Gav

[felgall]

BlueHost make backups of our sites for their purposes in maintaining the servers. You should always make your own backups so as to ensure that you have the data available when needed without relying on a BlueHost backup.

[verifone411]

Yeah that is basically implied from what I said above aint it or did you just want to get the last post? :-p

[Early Out]

Making smart-alec remarks to one of the moderators - now there's a winning strategy. :rolleyes:

[kylewriter]

All the advice about backups are all well and good, but we didn't get answer to the question.

What's the future of Fantastico on BlueHost?

[Early Out]

What's the future of Fantastico on BlueHost?Only BH can answer that question. This is a user-to-user forum, so none of us knows what BH's plans are.

[gmatkin]

I'm still far too anxious - I've made many backups in the past, but have no idea how to put them to use. It may be easy for you, but for me it's potentially very scary and time-consuming.

In any case, the key reason I came to BlueHost was that Fantastico would install Wordpress. That was promoted in the advertising as an advantage, and having bought the product on that basis I'd really prefer not to be forced to change!

Which brings me back to my original question. What is the future of Fantastico with BlueHost, and what are the chances it will be updated regularly - starting with the latest update including 2.5?

Thanks,

Gavin

[Early Out]

See my answer, above. We're users. We don't know.

[gmatkin]

That simple phrase worries me: 'restore the database'. I don't even know where the buttons to do that might be. Are they in the Wordpress dashboard somewhere please? Or are they in the Bluehost one?

Gav

[verifone411]

login to your control panel, then go to datanases and select phpmyadmin


Backup of Mysql database
It is assumed that you have phpMyAdmin installed since a lot of web service providers use it.

0. Open phpMyAdmin.
1. Click Export in the Menu to get to where you can backup you MySql database. Image showing the export menu. http://fragments.turtlemeat.com/image-mysql-database-backup-restore-phpmyadmin.php
2. Make sure that you have selected to export your entire database, and not just one table. There should be as many tables in the export list as showing under the database name.
3. Select"SQL"-> for output format, Check "Structure" and "Add AUTO_INCREMENT" value. Check "Enclose table and field name with backquotes". Check "DATA", check use "hexadecimal for binary field". Export type set to "INSERT".
4. Check "Save as file", do not change the file name, use compression if you want. Then click "GO" to download the backup file.
Image showing step 2-4.http://fragments.turtlemeat.com/image2-mysql-database-backup-restore-phpmyadmin.php

You can open your file in a test editor to see the data in it, but dont save changes. Open with notepad.

[gmatkin]

Thanks for your answers folks.

The curious might be interested to know that that I've had an exchange of emails with Bluehost. After an evasive first answer, I've been told:

- The help people don't know whether Bluehost intends to continue with Fantastico;

- They don't know when it might be updated 'due to the size of such a project. At this time we don't have any immediate plans to implement the changes but could be done any time in the future.'

I've got a lot more sympathy for those who don't know than I have for those who pretend my question is stupid!

We'll just have to live with not knowing, I guess.

Gav

[Early Out]

It sounds like the smart move it to wean yourself off Fantastico at the earliest opportunity. BH has introduced SmartScripts, and it certainly looks like that's where they're going to be focusing their attention in the future.

I think most people who have started doing their own installs have discovered that it's not all that difficult, and that it forces them to learn a bit more about how these packages are structured, which makes life easier when they need to customize or make changes.

[felgall]

From what I have seen, if you use an installer such as Fantastico or SimpleScripts to make the install slightly easier in the first place, it makes the upgrading of the script much more difficult if you want to upgrade before the new version has been added to the installer. With those scripts that I have installed manually I have not seen any part of the install process apart from your having to FTP the script to the server that is not also required to be run as a part of one of these install processes. The one script I couldn't manage to install manually wouldn't install via SimpleScripts either as the problem is obviously my not knowing one of the values that needs to be entered during the install.

I would recommend that the best way to install scripts onto your hosting is to do it yourself without using either of the installers for the following reasons:

1. You get a much wider selection of scripts to choose from.
2. The install process is not noticeably more difficult.
3. Keeping the script up to date and being able to customize it is made much easier.

The majority of the posts in this forum where people are having problems with scripts installed via the installers relates to the vastly more complex situation with regard to upgrading and customizing that the installers create.