Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Once you have a domain name, server space and have the ability to get on to
the Web, you can begin to upload your files to the server using
File Transfer
Protocol (FTP)
. FTP allows a client to post files to a host computer or for a
client to get files from a host computer. Accessing ftp requires software or FTP
access from your host. All Web development software has FTP capabilities
built in. These capabilities allow you to set up a local site on your personal
computer as well as see the host computer from a file transfer interface. The
concept here is as you work locally you can edit your Web pages and publish
them on-the-fly. This allows you to make changes quickly and easily to Web
pages after a site is uploaded and posted to the host server. File transfer
interfaces within Web development software allow drag-and-drop uploading
and downloading of files to and from a Web server. Setting up local Web files
within your Web development file transfer interface is a good way to manage
all the files used in a Web site during development and editing. What's great
about managing the files within the Web development application file window
is that if you move files around within the window the application will ask you
if you would like it to update any links affected by the file movement. If you
move files around within the root folder on your desktop or hard drive you risk
breaking links and image locations. This will show up on the final site as an image
with a gray box and a red X and pop up error messages stating file not found.
We absolutely do not want either of those items to be in our Web portfolio. So
be sure to move files only within the transfer area of your Web development
application. If you move files outside of the application, you may have to
replace broken images with the same images from the new location. If you move
Web pages that are linked, you'll have to update the links.
Since we've been using professional tools throughout this text, we will continue
to do so in explaining in detail how to use the file transfer interface within
Macromedia Dreamweaver. Within Dreamweaver, the file transfer interface is
called the
Site Panel.
Dreamweaver provides FTP support and an easy to use interface to upload
files. The
Site panel
allows you to manage all the Dreamweaver sites on your
hard drive. Also of great value, Dreamweaver automatically updates moved
files in the site panel so that links and image locations are kept operational. In
a site panel you'll be able to view any files within the site folder you select.
