web hosting

Popular Free Control Panels – No Charge, Great Value

If you have just recently built a small website, and you are not sure whether or not you want to spend money on a control panel, then you may want to consider trying a free control panel first. Many webmasters do not need an expensive control panel to accomplish all of their daily website management tasks. If you are a novice webmaster and you are weary about spending money on a control panel, then you may find the information below to be quite useful.

SysCP

Although SysCP is a free control panel, it still carries all of the important functions of an expensive control panel, giving webmasters the ability to create CGI scripts, adjust DNS settings, create custom error messages/pages, view website statistics and so much more. You’ll also have access to turn-key control over third-party applications such as BIND, Apache, ProFTPD and Courier. SysCP comes with all of these features automatically integrated within the software, but even more impressive is the overwhelming amount of extensions available for download that will enhance your administrative capabilities even further. The features of this control panel are practically endless, and after a few hours of using it you will wonder why the developer’s are not charging an exuberant fee for it’s services. This free control panel makes it to the top of the list because of it’s ever expanding nature and it’s compatibility with almost every operating system.

Webmin

Webmin has been receiving a lot of attention lately from users with dedicated hosting packages. It’s administrative capabilities, combined with a sleek user-friendly interface make it a favorite amongst many novice users. Among other notable features, it comes fully integrated with modules for cron job management, BIND, bandwidth monitoring, firewall administration, and Apache.  Like other control panels, there are a wide variety of compatible extensions and plugins available that can enhance your server administration experience. One interesting feature of Webmin is that you have the option to create your own modules and extensions. Webmin is also amazing when it comes to compatibility, because it supports nearly every operating system on the market today. The primary reason why Webmin has become so successful is because it is an open-source software, allowing independent developers and programmers to improve the control panel continuously. These modifications have resulted in a truly superb control panel software.

GNUPanel

GNUPanel is a new Linux-based control panel that is scripted in PHP5 programming language.   Among the more notable features of this software are FTP/domain management, database administration and email management.  Like the other free control panels discussed in this article, with GNUPanle you’ll have the ability to control and install third-party applications such as phpBB, Joomla,  Wordpress and osCommerce.  Even though this control panel is an open-source software, it is not compatible with many operating systems, which is why it is last on the list.

Enhancing Your Website with phpBB Hosting

Since being released in the year 2000, phpBB has been one of the most widely used bulletin board solutions on the market.  Today it stands alone at the top as the number one open-source forum software in the world.  While the platform has been greatly improved over the years, phpBB has always offered a powerful set of features such as private messaging, intuitive permission systems, search functionality, a customizable template and language system and support for popular databases.

Key phpBB Features

The phpBB forum software is loaded with features that appeal to administrators, moderators and end-users.  Some of the most noteworthy features include:

Private Messages

- Send messages to multiple recipients

- Send messages to groups

- Send BCCs (Blind Carbon Copies)

- Forward messages

- Export messages

- Friends list (address book)

- Attach files to private messages

- Private message drafts

- Private message folders

- Private message filters

- Conversation view

Registration

- Limit registration attempts

- Set minimum and maximum login ID length

- Set minimum and maximum password length

- Regulate login ID characters

- Establish password complexity requirements

- Enforce password changes

- Enable and disable COPPA

- Allow and deny email address re-usage

Built-in Search Engine

- Search topics within the site

- Search within topics

- Search through multiple categories and forums

- Search within first post of a specific topic

- Enable search flood interval to reduce server load

- Search capabilities within backend database

Administrative Control Panel

- Enhanced interface with more accessible and flexible tab layout

- Modular system provides for easy extensibility

- Allow and deny access to various administrative functions

- Founder status bulletin board creation

- New design for easier use

Moderator Control Panel

- Easy management of moderation queue

- Comprehensive lists of warnings and reports

- Forum, topic and post detail views

Polls

- Multiple options for each user

- Allow and deny vote changes

Usergroups

- Multiple group leaders

- Set display color specific group members

- Set group ranking

- Create group avatars

Profile View

- Comprehensive user statistics on profile view

- Usergroups on profile view

- Signature on profile view

Permissions System

- Enhanced and more flexible system

- Easy permissions via assigned roles

- Enhanced administrator and moderator access

- Global moderators

User Management

- Advanced user interface

- Modify user preferences

- Modify group memberships

- Display and edit all user attachments

- View permissions directly

Availability and Requirements

Incorporating a forum into your website is a great way to establish a community and encourage audience participation.  There are a number of programs that can help you achieve these goals and some of the best ones are of the open-source variety.  Being that the software has become so incredibly popular, most web hosting providers offer full support for phpBB.  Hosts that utilize cPanel as their control panel allow you to install the application right through Fantastico.  In just a few easy clicks, your website can be enhanced by one of the most powerful online bulletin board systems in the world.   All you need to run phpBB efficiently is a web server equipped with the PHP programming language and a supported database.  Although MySQL is the database used most often, the platform also supports database management systems such as PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle, Firebird, OpenLink Virtuoso and several others.

Introducing the phpWebSite CMS

PHP Nuke is responsible for many of today’s popular content management systems and phpWebSite is one of the them.  phpWebSite began in 2001 as a fork of the original PHP Nuke CMS.  It was released as open-source software under the GNU GPL and LGPL (Lesser General Public Licence), free to use, modify and redistribute.  In a very short time, phpWebSite was implemented with functionality that gave the system its own identity apart from PHP Nuke.   phpWebSite is now supported by a large community as well as a number of add-on modules that extend its functionality.

Common Usage

The phpWebSite application is mainly used by community groups and for educational purposes.  While it is available to the public for other uses, the software’s primary focus is serving staff at Appalachian State University.  In fact, phpWebSite was initially designed to make it easier for university staff to create and manage their websites.  Over the years, the system has been greatly enhanced with features you will commonly find in other popular content management systems.

phpWebSite Features and Capabilities

PHP is a fully modular, customizable software package, allowing you to install, modify and update numerous components.  Its customization is extended through a wide variety of themes and HTML templates.  Although phpWebSite extensions typically consist of common features like photo galleries, blogs and bulletin boards, these elements don’t offer the functionality of standalone applications like Coppermine, WordPress and phpBB.  Because many of phpWebSite modules are intended for university users, they tend to lack the features you would find in applications such as Joomla or Drupal.

By default, the phpWebSite CMS offers functionality that makes it useful in many situations.  Some of its major capabilities include:

Content Creation and Management – phpWebSite’s built-in tools allows administrators and users to create, display and manage content on the system.  This includes text, files, images links and other forms of content.

Content Organization and Navigation - With phpWebsite, you can easily organize and present your content in a way that is simple to access and mange.

Communication – phpWebSite is ideal for running a community-based side as the software enables communication through various mediums.  This includes email, internal messaging and data interchange among other methods.

Configuration and Administration – As the website administrator, you have the ability to assign administrative privileges to staff and assign other permissions to users.  phpWebSite allows you to effectively manage every member within the community.

Development – Because phpWebSite is open-source, anyone can write extensions to enhance the software.  The integrated development tools allow you to set permissions for your internal developers to custom build modules for the system.

Presentation – phpWebSite offers a nice mix of pre-designed themes but there are many options for customization.  If you are familiar with CSS stylesheets, you can design and incorporate your own templates.  If not, there are several themes available on the web, ranging from free to premium.

phpWebSite Requirements

The features and user-friendliness of phpWebSite makes it a good choice for an open-source CMS.   In order to get the best out of this software, you will need a server equipped with the Apache web server and PHP programming language.  Though the PostgreSQL is supported, MySQL is recommended.