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Tutorials:

1. Web Hosting Basics
2. Domain Names
3. Transferring Files (FTP)
4. Web Site Design

 

 

Transferring Files with FTP:

FTP:
File Transfer Protocal (FTP) is the most common method used to copy files to your web server. In order to use FTP, you will need an FTP Client. Some web design programs, such as Macromedia's expensive DreamWeaver product has FTP built-in. We recommend a number of programs, but the best beginner program is Coffee Cup's free FTP client. You can download it here. A much more powerful, but confusing for the beginner, FTP client is SmartFTP. You can download it here. We will include general information on using both.

Required Information:
In order to use FTP, you will need to have some information from your web hosting provider; this information is usually given in a Welcome email when you sign up for hosting. You will need to know the server name, the site root folder, your account username and password.

Server (Host) Name:
The server that is hosting www.gem3.com is host11.gem3.com. We can use the domain name (without the www) once it is active or use the server name itself. If you loose your "Your Site is Active!" email and are unsure which server you are on, send us an email and we will let you know. Our Cobalt servers are numbered host1 - host10 and our cPanel servers are all host11 and above.

Site Root Folder:
In most cases you will be hosting on one of our cPanel servers and your site root folder will be /public_html/. If you are on one of our Cobalt server, your site root folder will be /web/. It is important to include the / at the beginning of the folder name or your content won't arrive in the correct location.

Account Username and Password:
This is the same admin username and password that you use in your hosting control panel to create and manage email accounts and web site features. If you loose your "Your Site is Active!" email and are unsure of your admin login, send us an email (from an email address that we know to be you) and we will let you know.

CoffeeCup FTP:
The CoffeeCup FTP client is very easy to use compared to most FTP clients. It is our top recommendation for beginners and it's free. CoffeeCup's website can be reached here.

It is very important that you have a specific folder on your local hard drive where your web site's files are. Because we don't know what you named that folder or where you put it, we will always call it c:\website\ and I'll leave it up to you to know where it really is. (If you currently have your web files in a big mess inside My Documents or something, then create that folder and move them in there.)

First time use:
Start the program and click the little lightning bolt toolbar button.
Click Add Server.
Name: {Your Site Name}
Hostname/Address: host11.gem3.com {Your Web Server Name}
Check Requires username and password
Username: {Your Account Username}
Password: {Your Account Password}
Remote starting directory: /public_html/ {or /web/ if you are on a Cobalt server}
Leave Port as 21
Local starting directory: c:\website\ {or the folder you use for your local copy}
Click Cool

Normal everyday use:
Start the program and click the little lightning bolt toolbar button.
Select {YourSiteName} from the list
Click Cool

On the left side you will see your local hard drive. Navigate to the folder where your files are located.
On the right side you will see the server drive.
Find your new home page file (index.html, index.htm, default.htm, etc.) on your local hard drive on the left and double-click to upload it to the server. You can also select multiple files to upload at once.

If your site grows large, you may want to invest in a more robust FTP client, such as the SmartFTP client below; you will know when.

Go to your web site with a web browser and get excited.

SmartFTP:
The SmartFTP client is very powerful. We have never seen a "free for personal use" FTP client with as many features as this one. Unfortunately, it has so many features and multiple ways of accomplishing any task you need that it is difficult for us to provide a good beginner tutorial. In order to accomplish this goal, we will focus on the easiest easy to use this product.

It is very important that you have a specific folder on your local hard drive where your web site's files are. Because we don't know what you named that folder or where you put it, we will always call it c:\website\ and I'll leave it up to you to know where it really is. (If you currently have your web files in a big mess inside My Documents or something, then create that folder and move them in there.)

Start SmartFTP. The first time you run SmartFTP, you are given a settings dialog. If you have already run the program, you can reach this by selecting Settings from the Tools Menu. The General section will already be selected and you will see an E-Mail Address field and a Default Download Path. Change email to your email address and the path setting to c:\website\. Click OK.

At the top of the SmartFTP window, you will see a set of menus, at least one row of icons and an address bar with login and password boxes. If you don't see the address or login choices, pull down the View Menu, select toolbars and check off both address and login.

If you have anything open under the address bar, close it so most of the window is empty and gray. From the FTP menu, select Local Browser. In the local browser window, navigate to your c:\website\ folder.

In the address bar, enter your server name with the path. It will look something like host11.gem3.com/public_html/ (or yoursitename.com/public_html/). In the login box, enter your username. In the password box, enter your password and press enter. It will connect to the server and you will see your files on the server. At this point, your local hard drive will be on the bottom and the server will be on the top.

Once you have connected successfully and see your web files, pull down the Favorites Menu and add it to your favorites. Now you can open the program and select yoursitename.com from the Favorites Menu to quick-login in the future.

You may now easily transfer files to or from the server. To upload a file to the server, drag it from the local browser to the yoursitename.com window. To download a file from the server to the local drive, drag it the other way. You may drag entire folders and can delete files or folders the same way.

Find your new home page file (index.html, index.htm, default.htm, etc.) on your local hard drive and upload it to the server. You can also select multiple files to upload at once.

Go to your web site with a web browser and get excited.

Daily use:
If you close SmartFTP when you are done, it will remember where your local browser window is pointing on your hard drive. When you reopen SmartFTP you will now see the local browser window automatically. Select yoursitename.com from the Favorites Menu to login.

Important!!!
The local browser and server windows can get switched around (with local on top and server on bottom) if you close the local and then re-open it from the menu while connected to the server. This won't happen normally, but watch for it or you might find yourself overwriting your work by accidently downloading when you meant to upload. If they get backwards, just close the server window, open the local, then reconnect to the server to make them correct.

 

 

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