Control panels are an extremely vital aspect of web hosting accounts because they give the webmaster complete control over all of their site’s administrative functions. Although the most well loved control panel by far is cPanel, additional control panels have been gaining popularity recently, with Plesk being a close second to cPanel in terms of popularity. One new control panel that closely resembles Plesk is the Helm control panel. Being that Plesk is so well loved amongst webmaster, the creators of the Helm control panel wanted to take advantage of this popularity by designing a graphical user interface that is very similar to the Plesk control panel. The following in rank reviews some of the most vital features and attributes of the Helm control panel.
User Account Navigation
One of the most appealing aspects of the Helm control panel is its simplified navigation within user accounts. In fact, the software is solely based on the usability and simplicity of the user interface. The Helm control panel strongly resembles Plesk in its banner and image design, which helps to give former Plesk users a familiar feel from the very beginning. There are three areas that can be easily accessed from the front page of the control panel, the Wizards, Settings and Preferences sections. The initially section that a novice user should visit is the ‘Wizards’ section, which contains walk through tutorials and complex procedures to help you get started using the Helm control panel the right way with minimal effort and no learning curve involved.
Hidden Functionality
Perhaps one of the most notable flaws of the Helm control panel is the fact that much of the functionality is hidden within sub menus that are not readily visible from the main menu. Although it may appear that there are not a lot of features, the navigation of the software is really incredibly methodical and categorized, which makes it slightly hard to find the exact feature you’re looking for when you initially start using the software. Even so, in evaluation to additional control panels, the user navigation is much more detailed, and therefore much more complicated for some individuals. To find the useful features, you initially have to select one of your domains form the ‘My Domains’ section, after which you’ll be shown a list of features that can be used for that field.
Field Features
After accessing the ‘My Domains’ section of the control panel and choosing the right field, the user will then be confronted with a list of options, counting FTP, field settings, traffic data, database management, email accounts, and backup utilities. Although these features are generally simple to use, some believe that they should be stirred to an area of the control panel that is simpler to find. While some public may find this ultra-methodical control panel simple to use, others may find it to be unnecessarily complicated, and without the ability to install third-party applications easily and make your own blogs form scratch with blogging applications like WordPress, many still prefer Plesk over the Helm, control panel.