Drifting Designs Tutorials > > Coding > > HTML > > FTP &t; > What is FTP?
FTP: What is FTP?
What is FTP? First off, FTP stands for . That tells you much, doesn't it? =D
An FTP server allows you to upload files to your website at a faster, easier way than using typical HTML Editors on free webhost sites. If you've used the HTML Editors of webhosts like Geocities or Freewebs, you'll know that if you need to upload or edit many files, it'll take you a pretty long time. With FTP, however, you can mass edit/upload many files in seconds.
To get the feel of how FTP looks and works, go to "ftp://ftp.t35.com". Go ahead - copy the text "ftp://ftp.t35.com" and paste it into the address bar of a browser window. Hit "Enter" on your keyboard.
You will be asked for your username and password. Since you probably don't have an account at t35.com (and anyway, this is just an example), you don't need to try and sign in. I just wanted to show you how an FTP server looks.
Given that you do have a username and password (which you will if you're given FTP support for your site), you'll sign in and the screen will look like this -
The above is a screen shot of an FTP server.
Now, after signing in to your FTP server, you can start uploading your files. How? Simply drag and drop files from your folders on your computer. It's very simple, isn't it? You can drag and drop HTML, image, or music files into the FTP server, and it'll start uploading them immediately. Usually it will take only a few seconds to upload, but it also depends on the size of the file you're uploading and your Internet connection speed.
Let's say that your website is "paintings.com", for example. When you upload an HTML page titled "portraits.html", the webpage URL will be "paintings.com/portraits.html". Do you see how it works?
Let's say that you want to edit an HTML page (portraits.html) on your site. Go to the Notepad HTML page file stored on your computer. Open it up and edit it as you wish. Save. Then go upload the file to your FTP server. (It might ask you if you want to replace the file "portraits.html" on the server with the new file you're uploading. Click "yes"). Now if you go to your webpage, you'll see that it is edited. If not, hit the Refresh button on your browser or F5 on your keyboard.
If you've been following everything I've been saying (hopefully you have!) then you'll understand that using FTP means that you'll have to store all your website files on your computer. This isn't absolutely necessary but it is certainly helpful because if you need to upload a webpage, you can simply go the file on your computer, edit it, and then upload it. It is really convenient to have them all on your computer.
Let's say you want to mass edit your HTML files (like you're changing your layout). Edit all your HTML files on your computer first. After that, drag all of them to your FTP server. It'll upload in a few seconds or so. And in those few seconds, all of the webpages you uploaded are immediately edited.
Another convenience of FTP is that you can bounce from webhost to webhost quite easily and quickly, given that they support FTP. For example, if you're being hosted with FTP on a site that dies unexpectedly, all you have to do is go find a new FTP-supporting webhost. Then upload all your files to that FTP server and - after a minute or so of uploading all your files - your site will have moved to the new webhost. Compare this rapidity and ease to all that trouble and time you'd have to spend if you have to use regular HTML Editors at Freewebs or Geocities.
Not all webhosts support FTP, so don't bother trying on Freewebs or Geocites, if you're being hosted for free. Usually, if you are privately hosted, you will be given FTP support. If you are adamant on using FTP but do not have a private FTP-supporting host, I'd suggest for you to sign up for a free account at www.t35.com which does support FTP (as well as PHP and unlimited bandwidth and space).
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