The BigFish and BigFish Pro hosting accouns both include the amazing Fantastico script library. 'What is Fantastico?' I hear you cry - fear not, I'll explain all...

Fantastico

Websites are powerful tools, made more powerful by specific software designed to perform a task - such as image galleries, content management systems, online surveys, customer helpdesks, calendars and so on. Most powerful applications which run within a website, or indeed, make up the entire infrastructure of a website, require a database behind them to make them really work.

To set these up can include uploading thousands of files, creating a new database, a new database user, assigning right to that user for that database, configuring the software you uploaded, running an install script and so on and on and on. For the non-techy it can be quite daunting - and that's all after you've managed to identify which software it is you want to run in the first place, been to its website and downloaded the files you need. Fun? Not for many it isn't.

That's where Fantastico comes in. Fantastico is a suite of the very best software available for your website available today. When I say suite I don't just mean half a dozen little scripts which are pretty pokey and rubbish, no, I honestly do mean over 50 of the very best and most popular web applications available.

Because nearly all teh scripts are all developed under the Open Source license they are free for you to use. Neither FishFood Media, nor any other company will charge you for using these scripts. So enjoy. There are one or two which carry a commercial license, but these are clearly indicated and there is always something comparable which is free for you to use instead.

Oh, yes, but you're worrying about all that uploading, configuring, installing nonsense I mentioned earlier. Well, with Fantastico there is nothing to worry about. Fantastico is integrated into your hosting control panel which FishFood provides. So all you do is go to your control panel, click on the Fantastico link, browse through the long list of available scripts, click the INSTALL button, fill in about three or four boxes with things like the place you want to install it, an admin username and password, and then click Finish. Hey presto, a brand spanking new bit for your website. Easy as pie

Now - that does sound like fun!

And it gets better. As newer versions of your software are released so an upgrade option will appear in your fantastico control panel alongside any previously installed scripts. Just click the upgrade button and let Fantastico do all the hard work of upgrading your software for you with the latest security fixes and bug patches.

For a full list of what Fantastico can offer you and your website, click here: Fantastico De Luxe