How to Upload Web Pages Using FTP

In order to publish your web page, you must first send it to the web server.

Many web developers choose to design and make changes to their pages on their local computers. They will upload the finished page files to their web server. This gives them the advantage of having the completed page in two locations in case of server or local computer failure. In order to upload a file to your web host's server, you will need to become familiar with file transfer protocol or FTP. Many Windows-based FTP programs are commercially available to automate and track your file transfers. For simple page uploading though, Windows includes a command line utility that will cost you nothing.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet access

Instructions

1. Click on the Windows "Start" button. In the "Run" or "Start Search" box, type "cmd" without the quotation marks and press the "Enter" key. This will open a DOS command line window on your screen.

2. Type "ftp" without the quotation marks, at the command prompt and press the "Enter" key. This will start an FTP session. The command prompt will change from "C:\>" to "ftp>".

3. Type "open mywebsite.com" without the quotation marks and press the "Enter" key. Substitute the name of your actual website for "mywebsite.com". You will be connected to your web server. Once the connection is established you will be prompted for a user name.

4. Enter your user name and press the "Enter" key. Once your user name is accepted, you will be prompted for a password.

5. Enter your password and press the "Enter" key. Once your password has been accepted, you will be connected to the root directory of your web server account.

6. Type "cd my_html" without the quotation marks to change the target directory on your web server. The directory name "my_html" is used only as an example. Check with your Internet service provider (ISP) to verify the naming structure of your directories.

7. Type "put MyWebPage.htm" without the quotation marks and press the "Enter" key. The file will be sent to the target directory on your web server.

8. End your FTP session by typing "close" without the quotation marks and pressing the "Enter" key.

Tips & Warnings

• Most web host servers operate on Unix or a variant of this operating system. Many of these are case sensitive, meaning that your web server will see "MyFile.htm" and "myfile.htm" as different file names. It is best to stick will all lower case characters when naming the files for your website.

• For a list of available FTP commands, type "help" without the quotation marks at any time during your FTP session.

References

• University of Illinois at Chicago: Quick Introduction to FTP
• Washington University in St. Louis: Using FTP