Fantastico not very fantastic

[DawnsWebDesign]

I started a site with Drupal here: http://dawnswebdesigns.com/okkjs before someone took it off Fantastico. Now all of a sudden this site's not showing up. How can taking Drupal off Fantastico mess up my site created with Drupal? And now what do I do with this directory since my site won't show up...delete it?

I'm furious. You don't know how many sites I've started using Fantastico only to have something mess up & have to start all over again. The softwares you can "install with a click of a button" are almost always a version or two behind. I've tried using the automatic update links only to have my stuff messed up again.

For example...not long ago I installed a phpbb board. As soon as I signed in/went to the admin area...it said I was a version or so behind/needed to update. And I'd just installed it!!! I'm done with Fantastico. :mad:

[dvessel]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experiences. :( Let this be a lesson to all. Fantastico is more like Fantasticrap.

If you have any content you'd want to preserve from Drupal, you could backup the database and anything in the "files" directory. Take note of any modules & themes you've installed and save them too.

From there it isn't too difficult to restore drupal manually.

[DawnsWebDesign]

Let this be a lesson to all. Fantastico is more like Fantasticrap.

I never heard of Fantastico until Bluehost. Now I know why. Fantastico is simply a crutch for newbies/do it yourselfers...& a very bad one at that. It's a total waste of time. I've been building web sites for around 6 years...I'm self-taught/a do it yourselfer...& I've never been as frustrated as I've been using this "simple tool that installs software with a click of a button".

If you truly want to be a web site designer...you'll eventually have to learn downloading/uploading/installing/& updating anyways. Sure...it can be a frustrating process for newbies/do it yourselfers. But it's best to learn the right way right off the bat. ;)

[dvessel]

true, very true. :)

[wesbed]

http://drupal.org/forum/fantastico-de-luxe

[ivirtua]

Most, if not all of the software on fantastico is very easy to install, at the most editing a config file... treat it like a directory then download and install the software yourself.

[dvessel]

You do have to setup and upload a database with Drupal manually. It isn't hard but if you never messed with databases it can look intimidating.

The 4.8 release will have a script to take care of it. It's still a good idea to know your way around phpMyAdmin at the very least.

[Bosch]

I've used Fantastico as a result of randomly occuring laziness tendencies but never had a problem with it. did its job every time right. but in the end had to do manual installations cos it didnt have latest editions of software.

[bhaidaya]

Dude, you guys are so full of yourselves, at any level of expertise fantastico is fricken fantastic...

here's why... ring ring "Hello?"
"Hey, Bhaidaya, how's it going, you still doing computer stuff?"
<sigh>"Yes"
"Can you help me setup a blog? i don't know who else to call"(they mean for free obviously)
"Go th BH and click on fantastico and install wordpress" <click>

Even a fricken nunce can follow those directions. happened 3 times already! Once drunk at a party and someone bet me 5 bucks i couldn't setup thier website in 10 minutes... I won. (****ty party)

[bobdog]

Okay, I'll chime in.

Fantastico is good for some things, like bhaidaya says.

I have used it many times, all in deciding on which open source soultion I would choose.

For instance I had to find a way to fit a client's needs using a CMS. So I installed all of them in Fantastico, found the right one for me, and THEN went to their site, and downloaded and installed the latest version.

Same on a shopping cart. Tried them all using Fantastico, decided, then downloaded and installed latest version.

But my two cents- if you installed it in Fantastico and like it, grab the latest version and install it yourself!

'Nuff Said.

[dvessel]

Wow, bhaidaya won 5 bucks. :rolleyes:

I've played with fantastico like bobdog to just try things out. There's also opensourcecms.com which is even easier for that but if anything goes wrong it's your own fault for expecting an easy way out.

[bhaidaya]

it was actually $70, $65 for the BH refferal and $5 for the bet :)


http://drupal.org/forum/fantastico-de-luxe
Upon reading wesbed's link it might not have been prudent of me to be so harsh...
"Dude, you guys are so full of yourselves"
sounds like fantistico falls short with ****ty implementations... I've yet to have a bad experience using it though...

[Jobriga]

Sorry, I'm a huge Fantastico fan - I love being able to click a button to auto-install a full-blown blog or image gallery. Easy enough to download the files and data, modify them on a local server, and then upload to the Bluehost server.

However I am a relative n00b so that may explain the Fantastico love as well. :)

[DawnsWebDesign]

In my original post...I complained about Fantastico because my Drupal karaoke site was blocked from appearing. This time it was not Fantastico's fault (I quit using Fantastico before I installed my last Drupal site)...it was Bluehost's. Because Drupal somehow causes problems on your servers...you can just go block (or delete) someone's site like that? I would've thought we would've got an email or something telling us jack. I don't know how much time I spent adding mods/info...then poof it's all gone. I said I'm done with Fantastico...& I think I'm about done with Bluehost too. :mad:

[casperl]

Firstly, anyone with a Drupal site should read this: http://drupal.org/forum/fantastico-de-luxe

I installed Drupal sites on many different web-hosting providers until I moved to Bluehost. I battled myself silly with the first manual installation of Drupal on Bluehost. In desperation I ran a Fantastico install and five minutes later the site was up and running. That is the promise of Fantastico!

However, I did upgrade the site with the latest 4.6.x code from drupal.org by simply copying the new 4.6.x code over the code inserted by Fantastico.

Fantastico provides me with the ability to quickly experiment, and then decide whether it an open-source package is worth it or not. Thus, I have installed and experimented with many open source packages that would have taken a considerable time to get to grips with to the point of getting it up and running without Fantastico.

Do I still use Fanatastico for Drupal installations? No, I use the latest code release from drupal.org. Does everyone of my manual installations work first time? - No - there are a lot of factors regarding the installation of a Drupal site.

People that have never-ever used Drupal should install it using Fantastico - at least try out Drupal that way. But don't rely on the Fantastico install for a production Drupal site - and that probably holds true for every open-source project as well.

[vegasgwm]

Fantastico is more like Fantasticrap.
hahaha, realy funny (hey, we need more icons like... i died laughing)

I think, lust like with wysiwyg editors, fantasti... is helpful for beginners(NOT GOOD!!....helpful). But when problems occur, and they often will, don't come crying.
Personally, I visit the websites and download the latest version, test it on my home server, then if i like, i move it to BH.
I do it mainly because I ALWAYS do some "homemade re-coding". I don't like the idea that everyone elses stuff i setup the same as mine.(security issues)

[dvessel]

I don't want to give the wrong impression. If Fantastico consistently kept on top of the latest releases with little problems then that would be awesome. There's nothing inherently wrong with automated solutions. I'm just as lazy as the next guy (if not more so) but if it's not dependable then why depend on it? :p

That goes for anything. :)

[seringa]

I've tried both - installing Drupal with cPanel/Fantastico and also thro' cPanel only (without Fantastico). For absolute beginners or lay folks, certainly Fantastico is a big help. And lay folks are not interested in any software/prog mechanics. They just want the website fast.

It is also easy to install Drupal thro' cPanel without using Fantastico and this is a better option in long run.

Both options are available here for beginners:
http://teachyourselfpracticaldrupal.com/