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What Is FTP AND How Do I Do It?

April 8th, 2008 |

‘FTP‘ stands for ‘File Transfer Protocol’. This is the language used for file transfer from a computer to a computer across the ‘World Wide Web’ (’WWW’).

Your hosting company will usually supply you with FTP log ins, which will normally consist of; ftp.yoursite.com, your username and your password.

Then, all you need is a program like SmartFTP. You can download this software for free and the site also has videos on there to show you how to install and use it.

Once you have logged in you will see, it’s basically a folder, which looks like the window that you would see if you opened one of the folders have on your computer.

All you do is copy your website files from their folder on your computer and paste them into the ‘public_html’ folder through your chosen FTP program and then they are live.

NOTE: Normally you upload all your files into the ‘public_html’ folder, but your host will let you know if this is different.

The main page of your website should be named ‘index’ i.e. indx.html or index.php.

A term commonly used in ’script’ instruction manuals is something like this … CHMOD the folder blabla to XXX. CHMOD is a command that changes the mode of a file and the x’s (numbers) relate to the three modes a file can have turned on or off: read ability, write ability, and execute ability. Each mode can be set for either the owner, the members of the owner’s group, or all users.

To change the CHMOD in SmartFTP, you right click on the relevant folder, select CHMOD and type in the relevant numbers. (most FTP programs run on the same principal for this, but always refer to their help files if you are unsure)

Once you have uploaded all your pages … TEST, TEST, TEST and TEST again, because if something does not work it looks unprofessional. When was the last time you bookmarked or remembered a site where something was not working.

For more information on 404 pages please click here.

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