Recently ipswitch has replaced 'WS_FTP Lite' with 'WS_FTP home', which is a paid version. You can find various free FTP programs on the internet such as: FTP Commander which can be downloaded from http://www.vista.ru/2inter.htm or FileZilla which can be found at http://www.download.com/.
FTP stands for file transfer protocol, which you should be familiar with from the first lecture. It's just a common way to move files around on the Internet. Traditionally, ftp is a bunch of commands that you type in (which is not very easy to use). WS_FTP is a pogram that tries to make things a bit easier for you.
The first thing you see when you run the WS_FTP program, is something like the screen below:
This can look a little overwhelming if this is your first time using FTP, so let's go over the important parts.
There are also several tab menus, you can explore these if you want to but they are not necessary (unless you are doing this at work and have firewall issues, in which case you should ask your network administrator for help).
ExampleLet's try creating a profile for your account on the server. Enter in the following settings:
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Recently ipswitch has replaced 'WS_FTP Lite' with 'WS_FTP home', which is a paid version. You can find various free FTP programs on the internet such as: FTP Commander which can be downloaded from http://www.vista.ru/2inter.htm or FileZilla which can be found at http://www.download.com/.
Now that you've actually connected to the server things can look even more confusing. You should see a screen similar to this one:
Some of the important features:
Changing directories is pretty simple, all you do is double click on the directory you want to go to. This takes you one level "down" the directory tree. If you click on the green arrow, you will go back "up" one level.
Creating directories is pretty simple, all you do is double click on the "MkDir" buttton, then type in the name.
If you do not see a directory called "site" on the remote site, create one now. You only need to do this once.
ExampleTry double clicking on the "site" folder. Note how the location on the remote host has expanded in include the "site" directory. This is actually the location where you will keep your web site. It is set up so that the rest of the world can "see" it on the internet without having to give the server a username and password. Experiment with changing directories on your local machine and the remote site. Try to find the location you've stored some of the html files you have worked on up to this point. |
To move files, you highlight the file (or directory) you want to move then click on one of the two arrows in the middle of the screen that points toward the opposite machine.
Example
If your sound card is working, you should hear a cheerful little "ding" letting you know that your file was moved over to the server. The process works much the same way for moving files to your local maching from the remote site. |
As I mentioned above, you don't have to move just one file, you can highlight multiple files or even directories and move them all at once.
Deleting files is easy, just highlight the files (or folders) you want to delete and click on the delete button.
Note: There are two delete buttons, so make sure you click on the one for the machine (either local system, or remote site) that you want to delete files from.
Any files you have in your site directory are on the Internet! Anyone can now see them if they have the right URL. To view your files, point your browser to:
Note: Usernames are not always required. Your website host should tell you how to access your site from a browser or FTP program.
http://hostname/username/filename
Try pointing to the default file in your directory
This file gives you some basic information about the server. Note that
http://hostname/username/index.html
and
http://hostname/username/index.html
point to the same file. You may change the contents of this file after you have read it.
http://hostname/username/
For example, if I have a file "mywebpage.html" in the site folder and my username is "mimi", I point to:
http://hostname/~mimi/mywebpage.html
For example, if I have a file "final.html" in the folder "homework" which is a sub-folder of "site" and my username is "mimi", I point to:
http://hostname/~mimi/homework/final.html
For an live link, follow the URL below:
ocw.usu.edu
You should practice the process of using WS_FTP and then testing the results in your browser.