FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a piece of technology that many beginning webmasters have a hard time mastering. While using FTP was difficult at one time, today, there are FTP clients that are very easy to use and understand.

Uploading and Downloading

You need to become familiar with FTP because this technology is used to upload and download files to and from your Web Host server. The term ‘upload’ refers to transferring a file from your computer to your Web Host server. The term ‘download’ refers to transferring a file from your Web Host server to your computer.

FTP can be used to upload or download documents, graphics files, file folders, video files, audio files, or pretty much anything else that you want to upload or download, including executable files. It’s simply a way to transfer files from one computer to another.

HTTP Uploads and Downloads

Your Web Hosting Company may offer http uploads and downloads, where you arrive at a page within your control panel, and click a button to select the files that you want to upload or download. While this works, it doesn’t work nearly as fast as FTP, which is why FTP is the preferred method of transferring files.

FTP Clients

There are two sides to FTP. These include the software that resides on the clients computer and the software that resides on the server. Most FTP clients have two windows. One window represents the files on the clients computer, and the other window represents the files on the server.

While FTP clients differ, essentially, they all use the Put command. If you want to upload a file from your computer to the server, you would click on the file and then click the button that tells the client to upload, or put, the file on the server. If you wanted to download a file, the opposite would occur. Instead of working with the files on your computer, you would work in the window representing the files on the server, and tell the client to download a specific file. When you do this, you are essentially using the Get command.

Many FTP clients even allow you to drop and drag files where you want them, instead of highlighting files and finding the appropriate button. They have nice graphical interfaces that also make them easier to use, and much less intimidating.

Many web authoring tools have a built in FTP client that you never actually see. For example, you can use FrontPage, and click a button to have all of your pages published to the website.

As an up and coming webmaster, make sure that you master the use of FTP. There are numerous FTP clients available on the Internet, and many of them are free to use.

We will be talking more about FTP within the File Transfer Protocol chapter.