FTP How To - For the Uninitiated

FTP, or file transfer protocol, is one of the standards for communicating large amounts of information via the internet. If you have a website to load, or just some files to load that you want to have accessible from a website, using FTP is the easiest way to get your files online via your webserver.

In order to load files appropriately to your web server, you'll need a good FTP client. There are a number of clients available, some are free, some cost money. On the Mac, Fetch is probably one of the best available... but costs a few dollars. You can use Filezilla on just about any platform. On the Windoz side I prefer to use WinSCP.

As a side note, when we build websites, we allow our clients to use our content management platform to add images and files directly to the page without having to use anything but the web browser. But, usually, there are size limitations. We only allow the upload of files less than 1mb. If our clients want to add larger files, they will want to use FTP.

As more and more content is moving web based... especially information that you want to share with your clients on your web page, I think that it is important to understand how easy it is to load content on your web server using FTP.

Since most of my clients are on Windoz platform, I'll provide simple instructions on how to setup your FTP client using WinSCP as the client, upload your files and link to them on the web page you are building.

Step 1. Download an FTP Client

If you are on a PC running Windoz, go to WinSCP's Webiste and download the latest stable release. You can use any client you want, but my information here will be directed to WinSCP specifically.

Step 2. Install and Launch Your Client

Usually, you can install your client using all the default settings.

When you launch the first time, there will be no accounts available. After you have saved a few accounts, you will have a list of the various accounts in this window.

Step 3. Create a New FTP Account.

If you click the new button from step two, you will see this screen.

You'll need to know the information for you account. The person who set up your account should provide you with the host name, username and password associated with your account. That person should also provide you with the base URL information. For example, if you are using a subdomain, you will need to know that for later linking purposes.

Make sure that you are using FTP and not another protocol. Remember, this assumes that you are using FTP to transfer information.

If you click login, the system will not save your account information. If you would like to save this information for the future so that it appears in the list from Step 2 above, click save and give it a name. You can then login from the main screen.

Step 4. Browsing the FTP Site.

Servers may do things a little differently, but if you are on my server, and you log in with the username and password I give you, you will see this folder. On the left will be your computer and the right will be the root location of your FTP folder.

Note that if you put files in this root folder, you won't easily be able to link to them from your web page and you won't be able to share with them the files very easily. So, you will want to open the httpdocs folder.

After you have opened the httpdocs folder, you will see the standard files that the server puts on the site. You can replace them if you are going to upload your new site, or you can create a new folder to put your content in.

In my case, I created a new folder to put my content in called myfiles.

Since I want to organize my files into categories, I want to create a folder. This folder might be for newsletters, large documents or images. You can have as many of these subfolders as you want. You'll need to open this folder to add content to the folder.

Step 5. Adding Files.

When you are at the folder you would like to add files to, there are a number of ways that you can do it. You can drag drop from your desktop or you can browse to it in the left window as I have done below.

In my case, I have simply clicked and held my mouse button on the file in the left window and moved my mouse to the right window and let go. I was given an option to copy over. I used the default settings and simply clicked okay.

Here is the window that appears when you try to drag and drop a file. As mentioned above, I use the default settings and simply click "copy"

Step 6. Linking Files.

In my case, I am linking files to a subdomain. When creating a link to the files, you have to know what subdomain your are working with. Your internet provider should tell you what the root path is. When my clients need a location to store files, I create a subdomain for them called files. In my case, I have created a url called http://files.copiercatalog.com.

Because I have put my files in a subdomain, I need link to the subdomain and not the location of my regular site. So, the full path that I need to go to it is http://files.copiercatalog.com/myfiles/canon_copier.jpg. I can send this link to people to just download the image, I can embed the image using this link or I can include this link as a "link to" location like I have done in this paragraph.

Note that there is no www in front of the link. If this had been on my root site instead of a subdomain, I would have used a www instead of the files at the beginning.

A Note About Naming and File Types.

When you are naming your files and your folders, bear in mind that often the naming is case sensitive. I choose to use all lower case. Also, spaces and special characters in the names can cause problems, so name your file in lower case with no spaces and it will be a lot easier for you.

You can upload just about any file type. There are only certain files that can be embedded like graphics. You can load zipped files, PDFs or even a Word document. As long as you name it properly and link to it with the right path your options are wide open.

He also is the Chief Web Architect for Dealer Marketing Systems, the Editor in Chief for OfficeProductNews.net and provides a common sense approach to business and technology on his blog.

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