Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

The FTP Process

Regardless of the tool you use, the basic principles and processes are the same. Before you begin, you must have an account with permission to upload files to the server. Check with the server administrator to be sure you have a login name and a password.

You don’t necessarily need an account to upload and download files if the server is set up as an “anonymous” FTP site. However, due to obvious security implications, be sure that your personal directories are not configured to be accessible to all anonymous users.

1. Launch the FTP program of your choice and open a connection with your server. You’ll need to enter the exact name of the server, your account name, and password.

2. Locate the appropriate directory into which you want to copy your files. You may also choose to create a new directory or delete existing files and directories on the remote server using the controls in your FTP program. (Note that some servers allow you to enter the complete pathname to the directory before logging in.)

3. Specify the transfer mode. The most important decision to make during uploading is specifying whether the data should be transferred in binary or ASCII mode.

   ASCII files are composed of alphanumeric characters. Some FTP programs refer to ASCII files as “text” files. Most HTML documents may be transferred as ASCII or text. However, more and more HTML documents are written using Unicode (UTF-8 in particular), and Unicode files may be corrupted if sent as ASCII or text. For such files, ...