So you got yourself a web hosting account with Lunarpages and your not sure what to do next?  First things first, don't feel ashamed - there are many people in your same shoes and that have been in those "no-so-sure" loafers before.  I write this not to tell you what to do, but to hopefully give you some guidance with the steps you can take to get started building your own web site.

There are many different web site types out there.  Here are some of the scripts and services that we provide to Basic and Business customers via the Fantastico link inside of your cPanel.  Also included are a few more links to help you get a little more information about that type of web site you might wish to build.

E-commerce/Store Web Site

If you want to get yourself started by building an Online store, then you are going to be needing what is called a shopping cart script.  Lunarpages has three scripts available via your cPanel > Fantastico setup.

• osCommerce Shopping Cart
• Cube Cart Shopping Cart
• Zen Cart Shopping Cart

You are also free to install any others you find, as long as they meet the requirements of the shared hosting server that you are on.  With these three selections though, via Fantastico you have access to the "one-click" install which makes the process much easier for you.

Blogs

Getting a blog up and going is a great way to express your own thoughts and views on a topic or series of topics.  It is the easiest way to "self publish" yourself and we give you some of the best tools to get this done.

Via cPanel > Fantastico you can install...

• WordPress
• Nucleus
• pMachine Free

Like with the shopping cart scripts, you can install others by hand too.  Just make sure they meet the needs of a shared hosting environment.

Complex Content Management Systems

If you need something a little more advanced and further-reaching than you standard blog, then you might want to look at some of the other content management systems (otherwise known as CMS) you can install from cPanel > Fantastico.

• Geeklog
• Mambo Open Source
• phpWCMS
• phpWebSite
• Post-Nuke
• Siteframe

Others are available if you find one you wish to install by hand and without the help of Fantastico/cPanel. 

Forums and Message Boards

Have a group or want to start a community?  If that is the case, then a set of forums might be a good direction to take your web site.  From your cPanel/Fantastico easy to install script list you can install SMF.

• SMF (Simple Machines Forum)

In my opinion SMF is one of the best selections out there.  If you are not sure which of the many forum scripts out there to chose I promise you SMF will not let you down.  You can though install others, as long as they meet the server requirements of the server you are on and you want to get down and dirty with getting it installed yourself.

Wiki Web Sites

The cPanel Fantastico option also allows for you to have an easy way of setting up a wiki.  A wiki is a web site or similar online resource which allows users to add and edit content collectively.  From cPanel > Fantastico you can install:

• PHPWiki

It is a web application / web platform where multiple authors may author multiple pages and a single page may be edited by multiple authors. All pages are stored in a MySQL database and links are generated when pages are requested by a user.

Are There More?!

Now that is only scratching the surface of all the different web site types you can get up and going easily with your Lunarpages hosting account.  Here are some additional links that should help you out too:

  Useful Links for Fantastico Scripts

  List of Content Management Systems

  Beginner Lunarpages Knowledge Base

  How to Start with Lunarpages