Uploading to Your Server

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Aren't you glad you know that?

Free hosts all provide a method to either write your HTML code online at their site, or a link to upload your previously written pages. Some offer FTP access.

If you have a domain name and have purchased some space you'll need to upload your pages. Most web hosts will not have a method for you to upload your pages online, but allow you to FTP your pages to your site. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol something you really don't need to know! What you do need to have is FTP software. It's easy to use, and basic versions of several brands are free. What it amounts to is that you log onto your server, locate files on your computer and transfer them to your server.


It's easy. Here are some of the more well known brands. WS_FTP from Ipswich Software. CoffeeCup which also offers HTML Editors of the WYSIWYG variety. Cute FTP.

Do a search for "FTP Software" to find more if you need to. Searching should bring up the most recent software available.

I use WS_FTP and find it to be very good. I recommend it. Setting it up is easy and the format to transfer files is straight forward. You should not have a problem with it. After you have installed the program you need to fill in some information about the domain that you want to connect to. As long as you already have the domain and web space, you will have this information. Basically, it is the name of the domain.

Here is a Screen Shot of a window showing the directory on my PC (on the left) and the directory on my server (on the right) where the pages are being uploaded.

Click connect from here and you will go to your server. Navigate your way to the public HTML area, generally a path similar to /home/yourdomain/www ... I see /public_HTML sometimes so I guess that's a possibility. Highlight the files on your machine (the left window) and click send, or double click on the filename and it will transfer to your server. It's important to note that you will want to transfer everything in ASCII, so make sure that is the mode you are in. If you upload your HTML pages in Binary they will become corrupted. Any cgi scripts will not run. Things will be a mess. Always upload all your files in ASCII. Use Binary only for image files (.gif and .jpg) and any .exe or .zip files you may place on your site.