Using FTP
The first time you use an FTP program it can be pretty overwhelming. The idea of connecting to a server, transferring files back and forth, and uploading/downloading things can be tough to grasp. We found taking it in a few small steps makes things a lot easier. If you remember from previous lessons a website must be on a computer that is online 100% of the time, this is known as the server, in order to connect to your files on the server you will need to use something called an ftp program. (There are a few other ways that work as well but this is the most commonly used process) When you use software like Dreamweaver it is creating an FTP connection to your site for you, Frontpage/Expressions uses its own kind of connection method called frontpage extensions.
A stand alone ftp program is mostly helpful when having to upload or download single files. For example if you wanted to upload a bunch of pictures, music, video, or other files that are not really related to a web page, or are simply for users to download you would use an ftp program. Back in the days before software like Dreamweaver you would edit a single web page on your computer, and then use an FTP program to upload it to the internet. Noadays we mostly use Dreamweaver to upload and download things.
FTP programs still have their place on a lot of web design projects, uploading large projects, or like we said earlier entire folders at once and things like that. In our lessons there will be times when we recommend using one in addition to the supplimentary videos. In this lesson we will take you through a very popular free FTP program Filezilla. While there are many different programs we have been using it for years and over 1 milion people have downloaded it. (ps here is the link to get it http://download.cnet.com/FileZilla/3000-2160_4-10308966.html?tag=mncol)
This first image is a simple screen shot of what filezilla looks like, it isn't all that different than most FTP programs, to the left you will see local files, files on your computer, to the right is remote files, files on your server. When you are connected to a website all the files will appear to the right and you can move files back and forth simply by dragging and dropping. When you move files one way or another you are just copying them, you are not physically moving them.
In this second image we take a look at setting up your account. There really are very few options, the host is simply ftp.yoursite.com (sometimes it is an ip address but not often) you will leave port alone. Then you only need to input your user name and password ignoring all the other tabs in most cases and you are ready to go, you just need to save the account and you will be off and running.
In this final image you get a better look at setting up your account to input a user name and password you just need to change the login type off anonymous. This program will let you have multiple accounts all managed from one tool, the other tabs are for some advanced settings that you shouldnt ever really need. In some cases you will have to change things but in those events you web host will more than likely tell you what settings you need to change.
As you can see setting up an ftp program can be quick and easy. It isn't always practicle to use some sort of software like dreamweaver to move files around and in those cases using an ftp program is just what you need. In a lot of ways it is a really good way to get familar with what files are on your server and how to upload files to the internet. You can also use it to quickly and easily backup your entire website.
