Many web content authoring programs include built-in web publishing capability. In some cases this involves installing proprietary extensions on the Server such as Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000, other packages use the HTTP "PUT" method, but more commonly publishers will provide support for simple FTP.  It is not necessary, however, to rely on your web content authoring program to publish to your site. You can compose your web content using any program and then FTP the content to your Hosting Account manually.

This page discusses the general information you will need to know to FTP content to your hosting account. More detailed steps are given to use several specific FTP clients. And, uploading content via other methods is also presented. The sections on the page are show below:

Using FTP (General Instructions) Using WS_FTP (MS Windows) Using Fetch (Macintosh)

General Instructions for using an FTP Client
Using an FTP client to upload content to your Hosting Account is a very simple process. The following guidelines provide a general overview of uploading files to your website.

• You will need an ftp client for your local machine. You can find many free and useful clients on the Internet. Search for "FTP client" in your favorite search engine- you will likely be overwhelmed by the amount of FTP clients available.

  If you use Windows, we have found WS_FTP, or Cute FTP  to be very useful. For the Macintosh OS, Fetch is the most popular (and friendliest) FTP client available. Detailed FTP instructions for both of these popular FTP clients is given below.

• Connect to your Hosting Account via FTP using your login id and your login password that you received in your E-mail Configuration Letter. Do not login as anonymous, as you will not have access to the directories and files you need.
• When you login to your Hosting Account, you will be placed in the base directory. 
  
• All html documents and graphics should be uploaded to the httpdocs directory. Here you will find a file titled "index.htm" - this is the default page that is displayed when you access your web site with a browser. You may upload your html documents and graphics to the httpdocs directory, or into any subdirectory under the httpdocs directory.

  If you transfer a file named test.htm to your httpdocs directory, you can access that file using the following URL - http://www.your-domain.name/test.htm. If you make a subdirectory titled "documents" in your htdocs directory, and then transfer a file called info.html to that directory, it can then be accessed by the URL - http://www.your-domain.name/documents/info.html

  NOTE: The First page of your web site will need to be a file named either index.html or index.htm.  The server has been configured to look for an index.html first then index.htm if the first one does not exist.
  

• IMPORTANT: Be sure you ftp all your HTML files, as well as any text files such as cgi / Perl script source code in ASCII format! All your image files need to be transferred in BINARY format. Your FTP program should allow you to select the file transfer mode, either ASCII or BINARY. Most FTP clients have an "Automatic" transfer mode option that can be set - when this option is selected the FTP client will automatically determine which file transfer mode to use when you upload or download files.

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Uploading Files Using WS_FTP (MS Windows)
If you are using MS Windows, WS_FTP is an extremely friendly, intuitive and easy-to-use client. Specific instructions about how to use WS_FTP are included below:

1. Establish a connection to your Hosting Account by selecting the "Connect" button. Specify your company name as the "Profile Name", your domain name (or temporary domain name if your domain name has not yet been registered) as the "Host Name/Address", your login name as the "User ID", and your login password as the "Password".
2. Once a connection is established, two columns will appear on your screen. The column on the left displays files on your computer while the column on the right represents directories and files on your Hosting Account.
3. You will want to navigate to the "httpdocs" or "cgi-bin" folder on your Hosting Account (the right side of the dialog). This is the directory where you will store your web content.
4. Select the appropriate files or directories that you want to transfer from your computer (the left side) to your Hosting Account (the right side) by selecting them with your mouse. You can select more than one by holding down the shift key.
5. Once these files are selected you simply hit the arrow "-->" pointing toward the right or toward the Hosting Account directory window. Be sure that all HTML documents and cgi script are transferred in ASCII mode. Graphics should be transferred in Binary format. The latest versions of WS_FTP provide an "Auto" toggle button you can select- WS_FTP will then automatically determine which mode to transfer the file (we recommend you use the "Auto" mode).

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Uploading Files Using Fetch (Macintosh)
If you are using a Macintosh, Fetch is probably the most popular FTP program available and is quite easy to use. Specific instructions about how to use Fetch are included below:

1. Establish a connection to your Hosting Account by selecting the "New Connection" button under the "File" menu. Specify your domain name (or temporary domain name if your domain name has not yet been registered) as the "Host", your login name as the "User ID", and your login password as the "Password".
2. You will want to navigate to the "httpdocs" or "cgi-bin" folder on your Hosting Account. This is the directory where you will store your web content.
3. To upload content to your Hosting Account you can either drag files and folders from your desktop to the Fetch window or select the "Put File..." button and select files and folders.
4. Be sure that all HTML documents and cgi script are transferred in ASCII mode. Graphics should be transferred in Binary format. Fetch also has a setting, "Automatic", that you can select- Fetch will then automatically determine which mode to transfer the file (we recommend you use the "Automatic" mode).

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