Uploading Files to the Internet

After your website is finished and ready to go live, you need to move the files onto a computer (your web server) on which you are connected to the Internet. To do this, you connect to a server that allows FTP connections. Most often, your web server will allow FTP connections.

To do this, you need an FTP program. I am going to use Filezilla for these examples, but any FTP program should be able to move files to and from your FTP server.

Logging In

Before you start, you need some information that your host provider will give you, including the name of the FTP server to which you want to connect, the username, and your password.

You might have had to define your username and password when signed on to the hosting service, but you might need to check with them to make sure the same username and password are what you use for your FTP login information.

After you have this information, log in to the server. The FTP program window has two sides. One side shows the files on your computer, and the other side shows the files on the web host’s computer.

To log in to an FTP server:

1. In the Host field, enter your hostname.

2. Enter your username and password in the correct fields.

3. Unless your host provider told you to use a specific port, leave the Port field blank.

4. Click the Quickconnect button.

Adding New Files

After you have connected to an FTP server, all you need to do is drag the files from your computer to the server. This does not delete the files from your computer but places a copy on the FTP server.

Changing Existing Files

If you try to copy a file that already exists on the FTP server, the FTP program alerts you to this. You are given the choice to overwrite the file or cancel the transfer request. Be very careful when doing this because you don’t want to overwrite the wrong files.

Downloading Files from an FTP Server

What happens if you find a file on the Internet and want to download it? If you have FTP access to the server that stores the file you are looking for, you just need to connect to the server and do the reverse of the upload process.

One File or Many

When you download files from the Internet, sometimes you might be downloading one file and other times it might be a bunch of files combined into one. Both types download the same way, but when you download a group of files you might have to do some extra things, such as run them or unzip them to get the individual files unpacked to your computer.

Downloading from a Browser

Most browsers make it easy for you to download files; simply click the hyperlink to the file or use a submenu (such as a right-click menu) to download it.

This works similar to FTP in that you are downloading a copy of the file onto your computer. Downloading a file from the Internet doesn’t affect the file on the Internet.

Types of Download Files

Depending on the file and your operating system, downloads come in a few different types of files. Some of these files are easy to deal with, whereas others require special programs.

Files usually have two parts: the name of the file and a suffix that is the file extension. The file extension comes after the period (.) in the filename. The file extension tells you the type of file and also tells the operating system what program to use to open it by default. So, for example, logo.bmp is a file named “logo” that is of the “BMP” or bitmap type. The following sections describe some common file types and their uses.

Image Files (GIF, JPG, TIFF, BMP)

Graphics files don’t require anything special to be done to them after they are downloaded, but you must have a graphics program to view and edit them. These days, most operating systems can deal with these files and show them to you, but you might run into a file that doesn’t open right away. The open source graphics program GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) should open anything you need.

EXE (Windows)

This is the extension used for self-contained executable files, which are files that run on their own when clicked. In Windows, all you need to do is double-click the downloaded file and it begins to run.

ZIP

A zip file compresses one or several files into one smaller file. This new, smaller file contains the files and maintains the file structure when unpacked. Most operating systems allow you to double-click these files to open them.

ISO

This is a special type of compressed file that takes the entirety of a CD or DVD and puts it into one file. You need a special program that can unpack these large files and let you interact with the contents.

Best Practices for Downloading Files

Like the files you use to build your website, keeping your downloads organized is essential. Organization allows you to find files you are looking for and conserve space. Here are some best practices for downloading files:

Keep all your downloads in one place - When you are downloading a lot of files, you need to keep them in one place so you can find them after you have downloaded them. I use a folder called Downloads where all my browsers put downloads.

Don’t download to your desktop - One place where you should not download files is your desktop. This is just going to clutter up your desktop and make it difficult to find anything.

Delete large package files after they are unpacked - If you are downloading large files, such as ISO files, you should delete the file after you have unpacked it. You don’t want to eat up all your hard drive space with files you use only once.