FTP Clients Are Good Things
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Image from Wikimedia Commons
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is one of the oldest ways of moving information from one place to another on the Internet. But don’t ignore it just because it’s old. There a still very good reasons why you should know how to use FTP. Fortunately, it’s easy. Here’s a quick summary of why FTP is good and how you can use it.
FTP is Good
Yes, there are other ways to move files back and forth from your desktop to hosting account. If your host offers cPanel as a back-end tool, you can use that to upload and download files. If you’re using a content management system like WordPress or Joomla, there are built-in mechanisms for moving some kinds of files, but they’re somewhat limited. If you want maximum flexibility and control over your website content, FTP is still the way to go.
FTP is Easy
There are free FTP clients for all the major operating systems. FileZilla works on Mac, Windows and Linux. CyberDuck is a really nice client for Macs only. Linux users can try gFTP. If you’re comfortable using the command line, you can also transfer files with ftp straight from the terminal.
Once you have your FTP client installed, you’ll need to connect to your webhost. Your hosting provider can give you the exact information you’ll need to connect, but basically you need your FTP address (often something like ftp://yourusername@yourdomain.com) and your account password. You may be given the choice of connecting via regular FTP or SFTP, which is more secure. Many web hosts will give you a downloadable link that will automatically connect your FTP client to your hosting account. These can often be found in cPanel.
When you’ve successfully connected to your account, you should see a list of all the files that make up your website. From there you can upload new, edit or delete all the files that make your website work.
FTP is Dangerous
Here’s where things get a little scary. Moving or deleting those files can seriously mess up your site. Unlike how things work on your desktop, once you’ve deleted something, it’s gone. You can’t just fish it out of your trash folder. Before you make any changes to the files on your site, be very sure that you now what you’re doing, and always make backup copies of your files before you start.
FTP is Great
One you’re used to using a FTP client, you’ll find it gives you some options that you really like. If you have large media files, you’re more likely to be able to upload them to your site without running into size restrictions. If you’re creating custom html or php pages, you can put them were you want them without having to follow the file structure of a content management system. If you want to add special scripts, FTP is the best way to make sure you put them where they need to go to work properly.
On a day-today basis, you may find you don’t need to use FPT to make simple changes to your website, and that’s fine. But when you really need it knowing how to use FTP will make your life so much easier. It’s well worth spending a little time and getting to know your way around this incredibly useful tool.