Heartless Adrenaline

Installing FanUpdate

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FanUpdate is an awesome way to blog and make updates around your site; it's highly recommended by many bloggers and webowners as its fun, functional, and easy to operate.
For this tutorial, I'm going to be using a Windows 7 computer system on Internet Explorer. Installation shouldn't be too different for other computer and browser types but there may be some confusion along the way.
I am also using AwardSpace, so my mySQL setup may be different from yours. If you need help, contact me and I'll see if I can help!

For FanUpdate, you will need:

  1. A webhost that supports relativley modern versions of PHP and mySQL, preferrably with easy FTP access
  2. A basic knowledge of computers, webediting and navigation

Getting & Transferring Files

First, go to FanUpdate.co.uk to download FanUpdate. As recommended on the site, FanUpdate3 is the preferred download since it has embedded security protection! I'm downloading version 3 for this tutorial, so I won't be installing the security add-on for 2.2.1, as well. Sorry!

When the .zip file has finished downloading, go to where the file is located and extract the files. You can do this by right-clicking on fanupdate3.zip » Extract All » Extract. The extracted folder should pop up with two folders: fanupdate and _MACOSX.

Now you need to transfer the entire fanupdate folder to your server. You can do this one of two ways:

  1. Upload each folder, image, and file to your server individually (or in multiple bundles, if available)
  2. Use FTP to transfer the files! (link will take you to my own FTP tutorial)

I suggest the way #2 as it's faster and much more convenient since the computer's doing the work, not you!
Make sure that your files are all transferred under a folder named "fanupdate" or similar ("blog", "fu", etc.) to separate all those files from the rest of your domain. It can get pretty ugly otherwise.

Creating & Using a Database

Have you transferred your files now? Awesome! If not, tell me if you come into any problems when you're using FTP.

OK, now onto mySQL. Usually, with hosts, you'll be able to locate a "mySQL manager" (it's under "website manager" on AwardSpace) and you'll be asked to create a mySQL database name and password. Make sure that you remember the full name of the database and the password for it. For this tutorial, my database name will be "fan" and its password will be "PASSword."

Now we have to make sure that your blog can read your mySQL database. Open up blog-config.php in the fanupdate (or whatever you named it). You will need to change the following variables:

First, let's change the database variables. The part you're changing will come after the equal sign (=). Usually, "localhost" will remain the same, but check with your server host to make sure that it is (if it's not, you'll get an error anyways!). If a host name is listed along with the mySQL database, that is likely to replace "localhost" if "localhost" doesn't work.
For "dbpass," type in the password you created previously for your database. Here, I will insert "PASSword." Usually, "dbuser" and "dbname" are the same thing: the name of the database you just created. So mine would both be named "fan." Check your mySQL manager and host for more information, though, as these may be two different entities.
Now let's tackle database variables. For "admin_username" and "admin_password," just type in your database name and password (or whatever you used for "dbuser" for "admin_username"). You really can type in anything you'd like, since it's your username and password for the blog, but it's safer and easier to just plug in your database credentials. Now your data should look more like this, given that my values are different from yours:

Now save! Follow the instructions below; if they don't work, go back to the top of this section and browse through it again (or ask me if you have any questions).

Installing & Completing

Time to install! Go to http://yourdomain.com/fanupdate/install.php to start installing. If you used a folder name other than "fanupdate" for your blog files, replace the fanupdate in the URL with your own folder's name.
Fill out the information. The original creator did a good job of explaining how to input things, but don't hesitate to pop me a question if you can't figure out how to fill out these fields.

Click "complete fresh installation" at the bottom and a big list of functions completed will appear. Hopefully, you have no errors, which means that your blog has been created!!
Just do as the directions say; delete install.php and go to index.php (in fanupdate). Your username is the same as you inputted into "admin_username" and your password is whatever you inputted into "admin_password." Just login and your blog editor should pop up! Awesome!

Just go to http://yourdomain.com/fanupdate/get-code.php to learn how to display your blog and click the links on the top navigation bar to edit your blog. The creator, again, does a great job of explaining what to do hereon out, but I still answer questions for those who have them.

Your blog is open and hopefully working! Congratulations!

Again, don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have; this installation is a bit of a tricky process. I'll try to respond ASAP.
Happy blogging!