FTP

• What is FTP?
• Which FTP software should I use?
• FTP Tips and Info

What is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a way to transfer large files, programs and images from a server to your computer - or from your computer to a server. FTP software (like Fetch or WS-FTP) allows you to interact with a server elsewhere to access information (files) or to transfer files.

Netscape Navigator also allows what's known as anonymous FTP. This means that you can connect to an FTP archive, navigate to find the file you want, then transfer the file to your hard drive without leaving your browser. You'll see that the URL changes during file transfer from http to ftp in the location area of your browser. This just means that you are using a different protocol.

You will most likely use FTP to:

1. Download new software
2. Transfer files for a web page

Which FTP software should I use?

For years the most popular FTP software for the Mac was Fetch and for the PC it was WS-FTP. They were both free for educational use.
You can still obtain a free copy of Fetch (Mac) by requesting an educational or charitable license.
See details at: http://fetchsoftworks.com/Licensing/edustore.application.html

For the PC, WS-FTP is no longer free.
I suggest trying CoffeeCup Free FTP 3.0.
Read more about it and download a version at Tucows.

If you use Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver, Microsft FrontPage, Adobe Go Live, or another piece of software to build your web pages you may find that it has an FTP component that allows you to ftp your files right from the application. For instructions on how to post your web pages to the MSLN server, go to the MSLN Web Server page.

Another free FTP program is Filezilla.

FTP Tips and Information

Graphics files (images) will have either a .gif or .jpg (.jpeg) extension.
These are the image formats that browsers can recognize.
Make sure any graphic that you create or use is in the gif or jpeg format, otherwise it may not show up on your web page.