FTP Help!!!

Alrighty, I'm in the process of building a website for my graphic design portfolio. Designing the webpage...easy stuff. What I need help with is the ftp, server/client, upload, storage, host, dowahikeys.

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to that stuff. I've tried to do some research but it's all greek to me. I need some explainations in ENGLISH. Treat me like I'm in FTP101. Any help is appreciated. Thanks a ton.

HDC

ftp is pretty easy... You first will need to pick a ftp client, (sorta like some people pick a web browser). Just google ftp and you'll be able to pick from a selection. Once you have one picked out, you'll be confronted with a screen like this:


You have to fill in the address of the server, which isn't too much different than a regular web address usually, but sometimes it can be just numbers. The website provider will usually give you the information for this screen, especially if you have a preconfigured Login and Password as opposed to anonymous write access (which would be bad for a website's main files lol).

From there it depends on which ftp thingy you get. Could be as simple as drag and drop, or selecting files and pressing a button or as complex as learning text commands or some such. Also you may or may not need to worry about setting permissions on individual files (I doubt it), but if you run into weird problems like your webpage not being accessible or not showing up, please feel free to ask about that.

I've downloaded a few things but I'm not sure quite how to use them. I've got both clients and servers. Do I need both? I'm using Dreamweaver for my website, can I use that as a client? And I need a host before I can even start doing all this right? If so, do you have any recommendations on hosts?

All, I've done is buy my domain name and start the designing process. I would love to get all this figured out so I can start seeing a finished product, that's the fun part

You probably only need an FTP client.

Seond you will need your FTP login to your website.

Think of FTP just like dealing with your directory structure in windows. ON your website you will have directories and you will be able to create directories.

Most likely you will create your website on our pc and then "upload" them to your website directory.

I use FileZilla. It is free and easy to use.

Information you will need:

Hostname: The address to connect to your FTP site. This could be xxxxx.com, ftp.xxxxx.com or it could be an IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Username: Login name to access the site

Password: Password to access the site

In most cases that is all you need.

In FileZilla, when you login, you will see your PC directory and your FTP site directory. in FileZilla this is called Local Site and Remote Site.

In order to FTP you just drag files from your local site to your remote site.

In a nutshell, FTP is a way to get files from your PC to your web server.

Hope that helps.

Dreamweaver is an website editor. But it can also be used in the manner I described earlier to keep your website up to date. Dreamweaver just does it a little differently and you should look in the documentation for it on how to do that.

If you don't have your own server (sounds like it), you need hosting. Many places provide hosting, free or otherwise for a variety of websites.

As for the ftp software itself you won't need the server software, only the host needs that.

Yeah, that does help...thanks. I already downloaded FileZilla and FileZilla Server. I don't need the server then, just the client?

So, who ever I have to host my site will give me the information as to what my FTP login, password and address to use?

Any good hosts you can recommend?

That's right, just the client (unless YOU want to have people login to your computer and download files and stuff, but that's another subject).



yep, some sites will use a web based file manager, others ftp. The good ones use ftp because those web based file managers are really freaking slow. If they do use ftp exclusively, they will send you the information as part of registration, if they have both, you may need to ask for the ftp login info. Some sites charge for ftp access.



Not offhand. It depends on what you want to do. If you want a blog, I recommend looking for a community blog hosting. If you want a fansite, look for fansite hosting. In general, you can find hosting connected to what your site might be about or you can go with just generic hosting. Search engines are your friend in this. You also want to check out what each host will let you do with the site as far as content and file types and space.

Have you already purchased a domain name?
A lot of the places where you purchase them also supply hosting as well for an extra charge of course.

I have three websites myself and I use Dreamhost for hosting.
If you haven't purchased a domain name yet, you can also do it through Dreamhost.
However, I have no idea if you want your personal information up on whois.
Whois is a database that has all the registration information in regards to your website.
I do not know if Dreamhost allows annonymous registration.
Because of the nature of my business, I do not want that information to show up.

I purchase my domain names through godaddy and my hosting through dreamhost.
If you do not use the same company for your domain registration and hosting service you will have to change the DNS server on your domain so that it will point to the server hosting your website (don't worry about that, the hosting service will provide an email that tells you how to do it).

If you need more help, feel free to email me or shoot me an IM here or when I am in game. I would be more than happy to help.

Yes a lot of this seems greek, however it really isn't that difficult. Anyone can do it

Oh and I use FTP Commander for FTP'ing.