3 Reasons NOT to Use Fantastico For WordPress
In this post I will go against the flow and present my case AGAINST using Fantastico for WordPress install and upgrade. This will also address multitude of questions I receive on why my Web 2.0 Wealth product doesn’t take advantage of this method.
I want to show you exactly WHY I think Fantastico does more damage to you then it has benefits, provide you with 3 reasons NOT to use Fantastico for WordPress and perhaps help you learn how to avoid the problems you might experience as result…
Now this article will not apply to you if you are simply using a default WordPress install with one of the themes that comes with it, completely unmodified and NO plugins. Perhaps even with minimum number of plugins and well supported theme you can quite easily enjoy the benefits Fantastico provides.
Yes, I said benefits because in particular case above Fantastico serves as an ultimate time saver by removing all complexity from WordPress install and upgrade, assuming your host is staying up to date with latest releases. However…
- If you use multiple plugins, custom theme and actually trying to make your blog more interactive and engaging for your readers…
- If you want to KNOW how WordPress works and be able to solve the problem as they come up…
- If you plan to become a self-relying blogger…
You Should NOT Use Fantastico!
While I don’t claim to be an expert in how Fantastico works, my reasons provided in this article are based on personal experience and tests. Take them for what they are – personal technical opinion…
Reason 1: Simplicity Creates False Sense of Security
Who doesn’t want to create a WordPress blog by simply filling out a few fields and couple clicks later have it up and running? Or what’s even better – upgrade the blog to latest secure version with ONE SIMPLE CLICK?
Yes, those are the options presented to us by Fantastico. In fact that simplicity alone perhaps responcible for allowing hundreds on technical novices to put their own WordPress blog on the web in a matter of minutes. That simplicity enabled multitude of people to have their own place to share thoughts, ideas, exchange opinion or simply give it as is! And yet, I state that…
- This Simplicity Creates False Sense of Security!
While install of the blog part I can understand – Upgrade of WordPress through Fantastico is an ABSOLUTE EVIL! It might work for you once without any glitch, twice or however many times it might be but there will come a time when you click that Upgrade button only to learn few minutes later that your blog is a total mess!
And to make the matter even worse – EVERYONE can see that mess and you HAVE NO CLUE how to fix it. That is because from the very start you have chosen the path of least resistance and avoided learning process that comes with install of the blog and its initial setup. Simplicity of the install process and perhaps subsequent successful upgrades drove you to believe that it will ALWAYS be so and you have no need to know the inner workings of the platform you are using.
I know that it might seem intimidating but I highly recommend you get to know the platform you are using and with great documentation already available that covers every aspect of install and upgrade it is a lot simpler than you think! KNOWLEDGE is the power that will enable you to avoid the problems or fix them as they come up. Which brings us to second reason…
Reason 2: Upgrade Process Is Incomplete!
And before I get blamed for making false statement I want to quote one part from official WordPress Upgrade guide…
Note that during the upgrade process access to your blog may not work for your visitors. You may consider a plugin like Maintenance Mode.
Step 0: Before You Get Started
- Just in case something goes wrong, make sure you have a backup. WordPress_Backups is a comprehensive guide.
- Deactivate your plugins. A plugin might not be compatible with the new version, so it’s nice to check for new versions of them and deactivate any that may cause problems. You can reactivate plugins one-by-one after the upgrade.
Please note above the recommendation for Maintenance Mode and Deactivation of plugins. While I know for 100% that Maintenance Mode plugin is not part of default install and you have to get it in and activated and as such that recommendation is completely bypassed by Fantastico my knowledge with Plugins Deactivation is based on couple test upgrades I have done myself. In each case I didn’t see this step to be completed!
While in many cases this might not be an issue – major update to WordPress core often changes function calls as was the case with WordPress 2.3 and makes SOME plugins incompatible. Failure to deactivate them PRIOR to upgrade will lead to whole bunch of errors thrown on the screen and since Maintenance Mode was not activated – present it to your visitors and readers. How does that reflect on your professionalism? While your regular readers more then likely will understand – is that something you want to present your first time visitors with?
To make matters even worth – bad plugin might make your blog completely unavailable for login to admin interface and deactivate the offender! And since you made a decision to AVOID learning more about your platform of choice – more then likely you have no clue that solution is as simple as navigating through cPanel File Manager (or via FTP client) to /wp-content/plugins/ and simply renaming the plugin that throws errors to effectively deactivate it! But you wouldn’t know it – would you?
Which brings us to last and yet very important reason…
Reason 3: Upgrade Doesn’t Include Plugins and Theme
This is the last point I want to make and yet its importance should NOT be overlooked. As I have mentioned above major upgrade, such as one coming in March (2.5) generally includes drastic changes to the code. I have described some strategies you can use to make the process as painless as possible in my post “WordPress 2.4 Skipped, What Should You Do?” and steps within can be applied to any version.
But the point I want to make here is that official WordPress documentation should include one more step right before Step 3 and rename Step3 into Step 4:
Step 3: Upgrade Your Theme and Plugins
- Visit your theme developer site and make sure any fixes available to your theme applied to your installation to make it work with latest core version.
- Check for updates available to plugins your blog currently using via Admin->Plugins and make sure they are compatible with new version. Update plugins once compatability verified using this video tutorial and activate them one by one, verifying your blog functionality after each activation.
Now you can move to what used to be Step 3: Do Something Nice For Yourself. Now you really deserve it!
I hope that my 3 Reasons NOT to Use Fantastico For WordPress install and upgrade explain my personal take on the process and answer the questions I receive from people on Web 2.0 Wealth product. In fact I follow my own guidelines and provide my customers with a path that fully addresses concerns above, minus the complexity since I already do all the work and verify compatability prior to distributing upgrade.
Perhaps you don’t agree with my points and I would love to hear your feedback but either way – if I only managed to raise awareness and make you rethink you current strategy I consider my goal accomplished. Let me know what you think!
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About The Blog Author
Alex Sysoef is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer and ProBlogger who shares his passion and knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Social Media and traffic strategies on his blog WordPress Howto Spotter. Connect on Twitter or Facebook
The one issue that this post does not address that people should be made aware of is that Fantastico also makes the username and database name wrdp1 in all installations (if you install multiple times on same domain they will be wrdp2, wrdp3 etc.) and only leaves a hacker with the task of figuring out your password.
With many people using easy to guess passwords like password, a hacker could have control of your blog in less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered! I recommend that if people install WordPress with Fantastico, that they change the database username at the very least.
I am giving away a report to help people make those changes to the database name and username without crashing your blog.
http://mybloggingschool.com/fantastico-fix
Thanks for reminding me about this back in June!
Micheal Savoie
http://twitter.com/michealsavoie
Good point Micheal,
And while I’m well aware of that fact and stated it several times in my other correspondence – you are correct, it is not pointed out here. And it should be – too many script kiddies rely on ability to guess.
Glad this article gave you ideas! BTW, seen your press-release, brilliant man!
I’ve used Fantastico for wordpress installation. But never faced critical problems with it. As for as upgradation is concerend, I use the plugin that automatically updates the wordpress to the latest version.
Cher,
I’m glad its working out for you. As long as you are aware of possible issues with it – that is all I’m trying to accomplish with this article.
Alex
I have to say, upgrading between smaller revisions may not be a bad thing, you can probably get away with that. But if anything that’s considered major e.g. 2.7 then yes a manual upgrade was needed and highly recommended.
Kevin Styless last blog post..
I must admit I do use fantastico to install wordpress, but not for upgrading. I am still learning WordPress so currently take advantage of the Auto Upgrade plugin. However I completely agreee with you that it is important to learn how wordpress works, so do want to have a go at a manual install and upgrade once I am more confident.
I missed this post when originally published. Just shows you the importance of linking to older posts from time to time!
I install a lot of blogs and use Fantastico for the initial installation for ease and speed but only after first checking to make sure they have the most up to date version – Fantastico is sometimes slow to get the updates. I would never use it for updates for the reasons you mention.
A client who has newly bought hosting, just tried to manually install something on her server and completely wiped out everything else that I had installed for her – including the customized wordpress installation I had created.
So I agree that it is handy to know how to install manually but for those new to hosting their own WP blog I would still recommend Fantastico to start them off. Experience with the server and FTP develops over time although with auto upgrade extensions this knowledge is not so necessary.
Sueblimelys last blog post..10 Reasons For Making More Money Blogging
Sue, I will have to disagree – it is better to learn the right way from the start. Ignorance makes us lazy and while I have recommended on several occasions for people to install using Fantastico, it is not really a good practice.
Learn the right way – save yourself a pain and headache down the road.
Alex,
I think you are misguided on your Fantastico functionality. But, you seem to have no intention of being open minded and intent on bad-mouthing Fantastico, apperantly for your own personal gain.
Kevin
Kevin,
Please do share your opinion and open my mind. Mine is based on my own knowledge and I have nothing to gain by sharing it.
But please do – continue with your own idea. Perhaps people who will read it – will follow yours.
Alex
I started install my wordpress through Fantastico
I find it very easy to install as compare to the manual installation.
Also when I install through the Fantastico, I have the option to select other ID as my administrator ID instead of the default ID “administrator”
One of my old blog was install through manual method & using the default Administrator ID. I notice the weakness in WordPress is that it allows unlimited retries on password. As a result my old blog was hack in and my password was changed by the hacker.
After I have fully install through Fantastico. I load a plugin to update the WordPress automatically. So far my wordpress version is up todate.
So I still favors install through Fantastico
Cheers
Alwin,
Choice is yours and I have no intentions to argue about it. I stated my opinion and you obviously have your own.
Alex – I totally agree with you. Some people just prefer methods that appear to be easier, even if they are not.
I advocate that you are better off updating wordpress yourself manually. It takes all of 1 minute to do and about half a brain cell.
Liz
Liz Jamiesons last blog post..A Quick Fix for an Every Day Problem – $99
Great post and comments. I always enjoy the information I receive from Alex as it is usually timely to an issue I am currently dealing with. Being a techy at heart, I tend to need to know how something works. But we all start somewhere and my initial training was to use the Fantastico method for the initial install along with the WordPress upgrade plugin for any further upgrades. It is a bit disconcerting when the version Fantastico installs is immediately out of date. Some of the comments regarding how it handles databases have given me food for thought even though I do not use the default administrator logins. I do like the fact that the WordPress upgrade plugin does put the site into maintenance mode. I’ve verified that on my own sites. Is the maintenance plugin the same one used? Or is there another that is recommended?
One thing I’ve not seen mentioned is the importance of backups. The WordPress upgrade plugin does backup some parts, but not the entire site. Maybe it is overkill, but I tend to download the site for backup before doing an upgrade of any sort. I also use a test blog which has my key plugins to test the upgrade before using it on a live site. So far it has worked well for me.
Sherry
Sherry Driedgers last blog post..Finding Your Life’s Balance
Hi Alex! Great Post.
I agree 100%. I quit using Fantastico some time ago for other reasons. I know when you’re a newbe and excited to get going you appreciate a quick install and Fantastico certainly does that for you but I like to name my own Database and the wp1 wp2 is not a designation I was happy with ’cause at my age I tend to forget what was 1 and 2 and 3 before I get to 4. Some updates you want to make are not recommended if you used Fantastico so since the install is so easy anyway once you’ve done it a few times I wouldn’t do it any other way. Thanks for all the good stuff, keep it coming, Jim.
Jim Burrys last blog post..Weight Loss Surgery
Your blog “3 Reasons NOT to Use Fantastico For WordPress” was a very interesting post. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us, I totally agree with you because Fantastico messed up my blog, I had to start from fresh. Your work is really appreciated. Thanks.
I really thought there would be more serious problems with fantastico installing. Although I have been thinking about swifting completely to manual install to get a basic package that I installe every time (including themes etc.) to make it even more simple. Once you learn how to install it, fantastico is not that much easier.
.-= Page´s last blog ..Psycho Plush Toys =-.
I came across this site trying to decide if fantastico is better of using the built in upgrade in WordPress. In the past, I do manual upgrades for several site & I do overkill i.e. backup the whole site incl databases etc & with an average connection, it took several hrs to dl and upload again.
Tried out fantastico with fear & trembling for many sites after many upgrades & so far no problems. I have quite a lot of plugins installed too. So far, it has been reliable.
Perhaps I’m slacking on “fearful” I suggest that any newbie create a demo site within their hosting & use that as a test before upgrading anything. If anything crash, it will not be a crucial site they are bringing down.
.-= Sarah Anderson´s last blog ..Online Wills – Law Depot =-.
Sarah,
I’m glad it works for yoiu. I do recommend at the very least Database backup before doing fantastico upgrade, because when things do go wrong – it is horrible feeling to loose your work.
@TheSpotter Thanks for the advise. I have wp email me a backup 1 a week. My sites are not updated that often. Even then, I hate to loose any work. Having said that, I think we need to backup uploaded files eg images & other stuff in case the server crash. Could be difficult to restore everything back to before.
Now that wordpress 2.9 I tested the upgrade using WP built in upgrade. Since it is a demo site, not much plugins etc. No problems so far.
Boy, you put me on the wall now. I use fantastico for my Wp updates and it all went fine 3 times that I made an upgrade. But since I installed WP using fantastico, upgrading through it could be the only solution. However, I’ll make sure that I backup all files, DB, themes and Plugins before I initiate an upgrade from now ON..
I have a few wordpress blogs installed by fantastico and I remember getting a warning from my host GVO WARNING US to upgrade because of, iframe attacks, on our wordpress Blogs. But also I have had a few problems, installing with fantastico and not with the same Host different Hosting companies.I have had a few problem with my blogs and ftp and there all been installed with fantastico.I would like to know how to do it manualy though.I still have much to learn.But I got a lot out of these post & coments. Thanks.
Trouble is… there are lots of blogs out there telling us to get started with WordPress using fantastico. It’s easy to install and it’s easy to upgrade.
Then as you learn more about WordPress… you realise it wasn’t such a good idea!
We live and learn.
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog ..Practice, practice, practice… =-.
Keith,
I understand, there is different advise for pretty much anything we do. It is up to us to make decision based on our understanding what will be better. So, no to blame anyone since I have used fantastico previously myself – but simply to say – walk away from that process NOW, that you are aware of the problems!