[mike.allemande]

Hi

I just got my first hosting and I need help

Does anyone know of a good guide or book that can help.

I've been using Dreamweaver CS3 as the FTP -
is that the best or can anyone recommend another FTP?

I am slowly getting my head round cPanel and finding its features -
but it seems painstakingly slow and I don't find the flash videos easy
as they don't explain what is going on.

I am not sure if Fantastico is best to use to install things or not -
any comments appreciated.

I tried to upload PHPList and start a MySQL database
it looked as PHPList had been properly installed, but when setting up
the database I couldn't get it to work.

I am sure that once I know my way around it will turn out to be pretty simple
but at the moment everything seems complex.

I am competent in Design for print but doing this for the web is another ball game.

Any comments appreciated
Mike

[Sequal7]

Hello Mike

The ftp for dreamweaver is ok and simple to use, but I suggest you trye a ftp program instead and if you like it, delete your remote server settings in Dreamweaver.
FTP programs show you the directories better than Dreamweaver will.
Filezilla is a good, easy to use FTP program.
I usually open dreamweaver and filezilla runs in the background (filezilla open to the website folder and the remote public_html folder) I then edit the files in dreamweaver and then upload them using filezilla (running in the background)

cPanel is pretty simple to use, you can always click help to see how to do things. Fantastico installs common scripts with a few clicks of a button. If the software you want is listed I suggest you use it.

Problem is, not all programs are listed in fantastico, so eventually you will have to create your own database (or know how to edit the file settings to use a current database). cPanel varies by program version, but basically to create a database you would

1. login to your cPanel
   
2. go to the databases panel
   
3. Depending yon your version of cPanel
   Click MySQL database wizards
   OR
   Click MySQL databases
   
4. Type the databasename, username, userpassword
   
5. CLick the finish button

Your database will be created using the name and password you specified.
NOTE*cPanel creates your databases with your username_databasename and username_password values, so in the config file of your script you need to specify the exact settings;
accountusername_databasename
accountusername_databasepassword
and not
databasename
databasepassword

Your program will have a config.php file, you can add the values into that.

# what is your Mysql database server
$database_host = "localhost";

# what is the name of the database we are using
$database_name = "useraccountname_databasename";

# who do we log in as?
$database_user = "useraccountname_databaseusername";

# and what password do we use
$database_password = 'useraccountname_databasepassword';

# if you use multiple installations of PHPlist you can set this to
# something to identify this one. it will be prepended to email report
# subjects
$installation_name = 'PHPlist';

[mike.allemande]

Thanks for your help - very comprehensive and understandable
Mike

[Sequal7]

Your welcome, if you require more help concerning this, post back, if not please mark this as solved using the thread tools above your first post.

Cheers