Ready to Publish your Web Pages?  Need to get those Web Pages uploaded to the Server?

Then it's time you learned about FTP.  In fact, you've probably already been using the services of FTP without your being aware of it!

FTP is a program which is used to send and retrieve files on the Internet.

Authorizations for FTP
Outsiders can log into Web Server sites using FTP as anonymous users.  If a Web Server accepts anonymous users, it will allow them to look at files and to download them.  However, if your wish to upload  files to your own Web Server to publish your Web Pages, you must possess the necessary authorization.  If you have obtained this kind of access, your Independent Service Provider will tell you the name of the subdirectory where you can place your Web Page files.
 

Using FTP inside a Web Browser: Here are three ways in which you can use FTP from inside your Web Browser.
1.	Whenever you store an image file from a Web page or download a document from within a Web Browser, you are automatically using FTP.
2.	You can access a Web Server Computer by typing the URL address in the Location Box, e.g. ftp://foodnet.fic.ca
3.	You can upload Web Pages to a Web Server Computer by using the Publish button from within a Web Page Editor program, e.g. Netscape Composer..

Using FTP as a separate program:
There are times when you will have no choice but to run FTP as a separate program.  For example, Netscape Composer will upload your Web Pages to the Server but it does not provide any tools to allow you to delete the files or to reorganize them.

When you need to set up subdirectories and do maintenance work on your uploaded Web Page files, you can run a separate Windows FTP program like WS_FTP.

When you run the program WS_FTP, you will see two file directories displayed.  The directory which is displayed on the left side of the window shows the files as they appear on your local computer, and the directory on the right shows the files on the Web Server Computer.  It is a simple matter to use the tools provided within WS_FTP to move files between the two computers, to navigate the directory structures, to delete files, and to create and remove subdirectories both on the local PC, and on the Web Server Computer.

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The bird illustrations, adapted by me for use here, are from the IBM DOS User's Guide, 1983
Copyright on text and layouts (C) 1997 Margaret Brown