- Domain Name
Your domain name is what people will type in the address bar of a web browser to visit your web site. Just like you would give your street address to someone who wanted to visit you at home, your domain name is the address that people will use to find your web site. Domain names can be registered relatively cheaply at a great many domain name registrars.
- Hosting
Once you have a domain name, you will need a physical location to host your web site. Just like your street address represents the location of your physical home, your domain name will point people to the place where your web site is hosted.
We use and recommend Hostgator
Visit Hostgator
- Download
It is recommended that you only download Zikula from a trusted source. With the eventual development of custom distributions of Zikula, it is possible that you may come across a downloadable version of Zikula from a site other than Zikula.org. If you are unsure of the download location, you may search the forums on Zikula.org for information on the download site’s level of trust.
- FTP Client
FTP clients are programs that enable you to transfer files to and from a remote server. Even if you are installing Zikula using an automated script like Fantastico, you will need an FTP client to transfer additional modules, blocks, and/or themes to your Zikula installation.
We recommend Filezilla, a free and open source FTP client.
Download Filezilla
View a Filezilla video tutorial
Web Host Checklist
All quality web hosts will have all of these features installed. If you choose Hostgator as your web host, you can be assured that all requirements for hosting your Zikula web site will be met and exceeded.
- Linux. Using under Windows is possible but not recommended
- Apache web server software
- PHP scripting language, compiled with MySQL support
- MySQL database, version 4.1.6 or higher
- MySQL management software like phpMyAdmin
- 15 megabytes of disk space minimum. It is recommended that you have 30 megabytes or 100 megabytes or more for a larger site.
Please note: I am a Windows user and fan but do not recommend using Windows for your Zikula server. It's about using the right tool for the job and in the case of web servers, Linux is the better tool for running a server for your Zikula web site. If you are an expert on running Windows servers then you can make your own decision.