In: Root » » Web design tips » Transferring my files to my web hosting account with FTP
Uploading Your PagesThe last step is to upload your Web pages to the server. After all, if you have all these great Web pages sitting on your hard drive at home, they’re not doing anyone any good. So, you need to put them onto your Web server using FTP or HTTP. Transferring with FTPThe most reliable way to transfer files originated more than 28 years ago, in the days of the Internet’s infancy. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was a very simple system by which one computer could send a file to another computer, regardless of what operating system or platform the two computers were using. It was one of the first cross-platform file transfer types, and it quickly became the most reliable. Today, FTP is still the most stable, reliable way to move something from your computer to another computer. FTP programs are available in every platform and nearly every operating system, and many are even built into the operating system package. If you use a PC, you can open a DOS window and type ftp at the prompt. If you’re connected to the Internet, you’ll be able to connect to any FTP server in the world. Putting your Web pages onto the server with FTP is fairly easy, and this section shows you how, using the shareware program WS FTP. The first step is to connect to your Web server. Open WS FTP, and you’ll see a dialog box asking you to choose a server. WS FTP comes with several preset FTP sites where you can find many files and programs available for free. However, you’re not looking to download programs today. So, enter a new name for your Web server into the Profile Name text box. Type the host name, which is something like ftp.yourdomain.com or just yourdomain.com. You may need to ask your Web host provider for this information. Leave the Host Type text box set to ‘‘Automatic detect,’’ unless you have other instructions from your Web host company. Enter your account login name in the User ID text box, and your password. For security reasons, your password is not displayed on screen when you type it in. Enter the path (from your login home directory) to your Web space on the Web server’s computer in the Initial Remote Site Folder directory text box. Enter the path to your local Web folder (on your hard drive) in the Initial Local Folder text box. Leave the rest of the fields blank; they’re for advanced FTP programming and automation. Next, select the Advanced tab. Here, you can tell WS FTP to keep trying to connect if you can’t initially log on to your Web server. In addition, there’s a network timeout option, so if there’s no activity detected, WS FTP will automatically close the connection. The Remote Port is the port setting for FTP. Unless instructed otherwise by your Web hosting company, this value is always 21. Finally, passive transfers are required for certain network configurations, and are generally a good idea. A passive transfer prevents the FTP server from initiating contact during a connection a little security feature to thwart hackers. Unless your Web hosting company is using an old version of FTP that doesn’t support passive transfers, turn this option on by clicking the check box. If your connection to the server doesn’t appear to be working, toggle this switch and see which works best. Finally, click the Firewall tab. You only need to specify these settings if you must go through a firewall to connect to the Internet. Most of the time, you won’t need to modify this. Your system administrator (the person responsible for the firewall) will help you fill in the required information and get through the firewall. There are two option buttons below these panels: ASCII and Binary. There’s also a check box for Auto. In FTP terms, ASCII means any plain-text file, such as .txt and .html files. If you can open and edit it in NotePad or TextEdit, it’s probably ASCII. Binary stands for all other files graphics, programs, compressed archives (.zip or .sit), Word documents, and so on. Select the file type that you’ll be transferring ASCII for HTML files, or Binary if you’re uploading graphics. Check Auto if you want to select and send more than one type of file at a time. The ASCII versus Binary option is very important in FTP! If you upload a file and it doesn’t seem to work, try transferring it in the correct type. ChgDir Prompts you to enter the directory you’d like to change to. You can also browse directories by double-clicking the folders, or by double-clicking the up arrow at the top of the panel to go up one directory. MkDir Prompts you to enter the name of the directory you’d like to create. Once you create a new directory, you can move to it through ChgDir or by double-clicking it. View Opens the selected file in whatever program you’ve selected for viewing files of that type. Exec Runs a program if you select a program file (an executable program, often ending in .exe on Windows machines). Rename Enables you to rename the selected file or directory. Delete Prompts you to erase the selected file or directory. Refresh Reloads the directory listing, reflecting any changes made to the files. DirInfo Produces a text file containing information about the current directory and its contents. |
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