Many WordPress users want to know whether their Web Hosting control panel will make any difference to their WordPress experience. They want to know if a cPanel is better or will Plesk, HSphere, DirectAdmin or any other brand do just the same. The short answer is that there is no short answer. To each his own. It really depends upon what you want and which features are a must for your business. WordPress has a minimum set of requirements, which if you fulfill are good to go. This article explains what are the other must-have features which will make your entire WordPress experience a pleasure and why you should have a web hosting control panel to supplement the WordPress one.

Database Management

Most control panels allow you manage MySQL databases and also allow creation, deletion and renaming of the database right from the control panel itself. You don't need to know any commands or run any scripts, right from the control panel, you can perform these basic operations. Most control panels have 3rd party software like PHPMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases, which also offers a GUI to edit records, manage tables and manipulate databases. While you may not feel the need to have these options, they can be great time savers when you want to make quick updates to your website.

File Management and Permissions

Although WordPress does allow you to upload and manage files through its own interface, you will always need a file manager to setup file permissions and to manipulate the WordPress files themselves. The Control Panel's file manager will also allow you to zip and unzip files and also back them up for future use. This is especially useful when you want to make customized modifications to WordPress themes or even make minor changes or correct certain buggy scripts. Making changes to the .htaccess file means that you must do it either with an FTP client or be dependent on the control panel's file manager. The same goes for the config .php file and other important files which make up the WordPress core.

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

The control panels also provide you with various other tools like an Anti-Virus, Error Log and PHP Information. You may not understand the value of these options until you are a bit experienced in WordPress management. But having these tools can enable your software developer to quickly troubleshoot coding errors in your website. The Anti-Virus will allow you to scan individual files and folders to ensure that your WordPress installation is free from any virus or malware. Your Control Panel should also contain some web statistics monitoring tools which will allow you to track website visitors, error pages, broken links and visitor demographics.

Backups

Although WordPress has a lot of plugins to backup and restore the core WordPress files, having a backup facility through your Control Panel is always welcome. It is most often the easiest and most reliable way of backing up the entire account, including all WordPress files, including ones that may not be in the WordPress Directory. You can also back up the entire account with the MySQL databases into one single file, so that it is easy to move around. You can also backup the account into compressed zip or tar.gz formats so that they take up less space.

A lot of WordPress management is dependent on the type of web hosting control panel that you have. We use and recommend cPanel for Linux Hosting and are sure you will like it too. It contains all features that an ideal WordPress Control Panel should have, full with PHPMyAdmin, MySQL Management tools, an Error Log, Anti-Virus, Statistics and much more.

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