Secure FTP: Downloadable Software for File Transfers and Web Management

These days with so many folks building and hosting their own sites with their own clever domain names, they begin looking to find the right tools of the trade. Many tools are easy and available such as TextEdit (Mac) and Notepad (Windows). An important resource, however, that may not be so easy to find is a good, reliable FTP client. These lovely tools are used to transfer ones files to the host server and this is where they reside and where browsers look to find the right files for displaying any given Web site. A product called Secure FTP can help you accomplish this.

Secure FTP is a free, downloadable FTP client that is quite simple to use once you understand its interface. After you have downloaded and launched Secure FTP you will notice it has a simple two-frame interface. The left, more slender, frame allows you to browse your computer's hard drive. With this frame you locate the files that you wish to upload from your computer. At the top there is a handy drop-down list that allows you to choose different volumes and folders on your system for easy navigation. The right-hand column shows the server to which you want to upload files. This part must be configured using the information from your hosting service. You can configure and manage multiple servers from within Secure FTP. To add hosts, select "Connect" from the File menu and you will be greeted with the "Open Connection" window. You can create a new connection or Profile by filling in the host name, user name associated with the host name, and the password. Select the "Save to Bookmarks" check box to have this one added to the Profile drop-down list.

You can now begin uploading the files you need for your site. Often the best way to do this is to organize your HTML files, your CSS files (if there is more than one), your images and any others into a single folder. You can give this folder any name you like. It would probably be most helpful to simply name it the same as you Web site's name. Within this folder you can put your code files (i.e. HTML, CSS) and also create a folder called images to place your .jpg, .png, and other like image files. If you use Wordpress.org, you will find that this is how its information is organized. When you download Wordpress.org, you have a main folder entitled "Wordpress" within which you find all of the files and subfolders that make Wordpress tick. The "Themes" subfolder is where you put files for downloaded themes if you use one besides the default Wordpress theme that comes with the download. To upload your information, launch Secure FTP. You will be prompted to identify which host server you want to move files to. This can be done by selecting the one you configured earlier from the drop-down list. You will need to enter the name and password associated with your account on the server and you can tell Secure FTP at this point to remember the name and password for you so that you do not have to enter it again in the future. You will now see the interface's two panes and you can then navigate to the folder or folders on your hard drive that you wish to upload. Again, this is done in the left-hand pane. Now choose the destination on the server side (i.e. right-hand pane). Keep in mind that simply selecting the destination folder is not enough. You must double-click it and "enter" that destination before clicking "Upload". You will know you have gone far enough when the destination folder you want to upload to is displayed above the main window of the right-hand pane. Once you have the folder(s) selected in the left pane and the destination selected in the right pane, click the "Upload" button located along the top row of buttons. It is signified by an upward pointing arrow. You will a progression bar showing you the upload is taking place. Once this is finished your files will be on the server and, considering all the appropriate files are correctly coded and present on the server, your new website should be available for all the world to see!

Here's one last tip for you: Whenever you need to make changes to any of your files it is easy to implement these. Simply follow the above procedure to re-upload the file to which you made changes. During the upload process you will be notified that the file already exists and you will be given the choice to Replace it or to Cancel the operation. If you are sure, simply click replace and the action will complete and the newly changed file will be in place. Also if you accidentally delete your local copy of any of your files you can download the copy on the server. Follow the same procedure as detailed above except click the "Download" button instead (illustrated by a downward pointing arrow). The action will take place and you can then access the new copy of the deleted file on your hard drive.

There are numerous such clients that may be tried and surely, as would be expected, the commercial clients which are not free may be more powerful. However the free client Secure FTP will give you all of the functionality and ease-of-use you would need to get your website off the ground.

Pros: Free, simple interface, multi-host management

Cons: Doesn't remember server names, times out quickly if left unused