FTP and you

Probably you’ve heard the acronym ‘FTP’. Unless you’ve had to use it, you probably don’t know much about it. As far as FTP goes, what you don’t know can suddenly become extremely inconvenient for you.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It’s a way of moving files from one computer to another computer over the web. It is a lot faster than downloading them through HTTP, or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, which you access through links on regular html webpages. If I installed an FTP server on my computer, I could set you up an account and give you a username and password. You could then open your FTP client, go to the FTP address of my computer, log in, and download files from any directories that I had given you access to. I could choose to allow you to upload files, too.

In review…

The FTP server is the remote computer that hosts files for transfer. The FTP client is the software you use to get those files.

FTP for downloading purchased content

This is what happens when you buy content. The files are so large that it would take too long to transfer them just by clicking a link on a webpage, so they may set you up an account and let you download them that way.

My favorite FTP client is a free one, FTP995. It’s really easy to set up and use. I used to use Ipswitch, which I paid for, but I like this one better.

Edit to add: I haven’t used this one in a while. Lately I have used Filezilla client and FireFTP Firefox plugin.

The content company will give you their FTP address, your username, and your password. You just type that info in at the top. Click Connect, and you will go there and login.

Files will appear on the right and left side of the window. The ones on the right side are the remote computer. The ones on the left are your own computer. You need to decide where you want to put the content before downloading it. The top listing on the left is just directories and folders. Double click on a directory to find a subdirectory. Right click on a directory to create a new directory. If you are new to this and don’t have a directory where you put your photos, I recommend going to My Pictures and creating a new Content directory there. If you have bought photos of more than one model, create a new subdirectory within that for each new model, and within that for each set. Double-click the folder at the top with two dots next to it (which represents the directory you are in) to move back up a level.

When you reach the place where you want to download to and are all set, right-click the file on the right you want to download and select ‘download’ from the menu. Then wait. When it’s done, it will appear in the location on the left.

I know it seems like a pain, but it would be a nightmare later to straighten out if you get everything mixed up.

They will have the files zipped when you download. If double-clicking on the file icon doesn’t open it, this company also has a free unzip utility.
Software995

FTP for creating and managing websites

I know a lot of people who realize the need for a website find the idea of constructing one and putting it online to be somewhere between daunting and downright scary. It looks like there are so many things that can go wrong that if you make the wrong mistake you could inadvertently start World War III or cause the end of civilization as we know it.

Many webhosts capitalize on newbie fear by providing sitebuilders and a variety ways of getting a page online without having to use ftp. Most of them are very limiting. You will never learn how to run a website properly while using a setup like that. But the worst part is that when you start needing more services, they charge outrageous prices for them. It rapidly adds up to far more than the cost of a real web host, and you may not even be able to take your site with you when you do make the move. You’ll have to create a new one.

It’s not rocket science. It’s not even hard after you’ve done it like once. It’s just a different way of thinking that you may not be accustomed to. So let’s look at FTP.

Again, you install the FTP client software. Your webhost has given you the FTP address you need, your FTP username and password. Fill it in and connect. Then all you have to do is right-click a file on the left to select the ‘Upload’ option to upload it to your domain on the right.

Call your first html page index.html or index.htm. Upload it and this is what will show when somebody types your domain name in. Call your other pages whatever you want to and link to them from your index page.

Images? Videos? Recordings? Create an ‘Images’, ‘Videos’, or ‘Recordings’ directory and upload to it.

You can even re-download something you accidentally deleted or forgot where you put it on your computer.