F.T.P

File transfer protocol. The way we send files ‘up’ to the internet. You have to get them from your computer on to the web somehow! FTP is something you’ll hear a lot and just means getting files up there where the rest of the web can see ‘em. It’s also called ‘uploading’. FTP is your webpage’s bus ride to work.

Local Host

That’s YOUR hard disk. Think of the process as two sides. On the left is your hard disk. On the right is the internet. When you’ve made a page, it must be copied from your hard disk, or uploaded, to the internet.

Remote host

This is your webspace – this is the Internet! Once you upload your page to the remote side, all and sundry should be able to see it too (assuming they know where it is!) Once you press the upload button in your FTP software, it will beam up to your webspace and go ‘LIVE’.

FTP Software

Also known as:

FTP Client
FTP Package…

You have to use something to get the page from the local side to the remote side. Like most things, there’s some software been developed to make this process a little easier, although still not what you might call ‘user friendly’ . There are 2 really good ftp programs in the ftp market today that I recommend and webmasters generally use one or the other:

1) WS FTP: http://www.wsftp.com/
2) Cute FTP: http://www.cuteftp.com/

(Both have free trials). Which one’s the best? I’d have to say Cute FTP – more features in the pro version, and definitely more convenient than the ever more bloated WS. But still – either will suit you just fine, and do the job you need it to.

Servers and webspace…

When you upload a page or a picture to your host, you’re actually just sending a file over to another computer – not unlike the one sitting on your desk RIGHT NOW!!! The only difference is that the PC you’re uploading the file to is connected to the in a certain way. So webspace or webservers are really just regular PCs – nothing magic or special about ‘em.

Meet your FTP software.

Once you’ve got your FTP package installed – which is nothing different to installing any other bit of software, you have to connect to the remote host. To do this, you’ll need the following information from your host:

1) Your server address.
2) Your username.
3) Your password.

The first bit of info, the server address, is like a phone number that your FTP package will call everytime you tell it to connect. If it wasn’t for that – it would not be able to guess WHERE your web server is. Imagine if you met someone and they told you to give them a call – and just to figure out their phone number. Hmmm… that might not work to well! Your server address can be the IP address of your site or the domain name (ie: www.domain.com is a server address).

So when you MAKE NEW CONNECTION for the first time in your FTP software, that’s the first thing you have to put into the appropriate box. Next, it’s your username, then the password. This is just something to make sure that it’s YOU that is uploading the files. It’s your set of house keys to your webspace. No-one else in the world will be able to upload to YOUR webspace.

Finding the right place to upload a file to…

So once you’ve put in those 3 bits of info, and pressed CONNECT – god willing, we should be connected to your webspace. Are we ready to upload??? Not just yet! To say that your FTP address is like your phone number is slightly misleading. This is because when you connect to your webspace, all that you’re doing is being sent to YOUR folder on the computer that your FTP account is on.

Remember how I said that a webserver / webspace is just a computer out there on the web? Well your FTP account is basically just a folder on that hard disk. Everyone who has an account with that host will also have their own folder.

OK, so back to you. You’ve connected and you should now see, on the RIGHT side of the screen, a collection of folders. Look for one called /htdocs/ or /html/  or /public_html/ – OR if you’re in doubt WHERE to upload pages, email your host. Ask them, “Where do I upload pages to?” Many hosts wrongly assume that people will just be able to ‘figure out’ where things should go. If you can’t find the right folder to upload to – ASK. That’s what they’re there for!

To move into folders on your webspace, simply double click them OR single left click on the folder and then click on the CH DIR button in the FTP software.

Beam me up!

OK, so you’ve got connected, you’ve found the right folder – NOW what?

Now it’s time to ‘send’ the file from your hard disk over to the webspace (and onto the Internet). This is the thing that you will do most of all with FTP. There aren’t THAT many processes you need to do as an adult webmaster in FTP – and uploading a file is THE most important one by a million miles. All you do is left click on the file on the LOCAL side (which is always on the LEFT) and then click the arrow pointing to the RIGHT (in WS FTP) or pointing UP (in CUTE) – on the FTP software. That’s it. Sit back and WAIT and you should see the file appear on the RIGHT side – the remote side of the screen.

FTP software always looks daunting. With each ‘improved’ version, there are more and more menus, buttons, and knobs to pull, push and play with. Just keep in mind that most of the time, all you’ll be doing is uploading a file, as I’ve described above. Don’t waste brain power and time learning EVERYTHING that the FTP software does – it’s a waste, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do!

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