cPanel is an easy to use fully featured hosting control panel developed to make it easy to manage your website files, databases, email accounts, and much more.
Here we will detail just a few of our favorite and best features of a cPanel hosting account from the vast array on offer!
File Manager
Adding images, scripts and downloadable files to your website is a regular task for webmasters, and many will use a preferred FTP program for management.
However, cpanel has its easy to use File Manager, which works in exactly the same way as FTP for simple file management.
The interface is easy to understand, and you can simply login, select your task such as upload/download files just like you would on your home PC.
You can also manage and delete files in the File Manager dashboard, as well as create more complex task such as editing PHP files.
Statistics
Every website owner wants to know how much traffic they are receiving and where its coming from, and the cPanel AWstats is just the tool for providing a multitude of information.
You will learn how many hits each page of your website has had, how many of these hits were unique (First time visitors) how long they spent on the website, as well as identifying the keywords used and the country of origin.
Although not as detailed as the excellent Google Analytics, it is still a great tool, offering great statistics and information for your website traffic.
Email Management
If your hosting package allows, you can set up multiple email addresses for your domain name.
For example if your website was named www.yoursite.com you could have email addresses such as john@yoursite.com, or sales@yoursite.com etc.
Your emails can be sent and recieved via cpanels built in webmail or you can set them up to be recieved at your preferred desktop email manager, such as Outlook.
Alternatively you can use cPanels ‘forwarders’ utility to forward your emails to your web based email provider such as Gmail or Hotmail etc.
Another feature of cPanels mail section is Spam Assassin, which enables you to set your preferred security levels to protect your from receiving unwanted spam emails.
Software
Fantastico or Softaculous are excellent programs for quick and easy installation of multiple open source web applications which include: Forums , Blogs, Content Management Systems, Support desks, eCommerce and shopping cart solutions, Image Gallerys and lot more.
There are many favorite applications included within the software, such as WordPress, and these can all be installed in a couple of minutes, without the need for uploading files and setting up databases, as this is all automatically done for you!
Summary
cPanel really is a great and easy to use hosting management system, that allows for complete control of your website files, and hosting settings.
For a complete guide, visit cPanel User Documentation here