FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP allows you to upload files to a website, or download files from a website. Uploading is the most common method though, as you can usually download files through your web browser.
You need your own domain (e.g. yourname.com) to be able to use FTP. For instance, if you use blogspot.com or wordpress.com then you won't be able to follow this guide.
To use FTP, you need an FTP program. I use
FileZilla, which is free. Download the latest version, then run the install program by double-clicking it. You will then be able to run FileZilla using the shortcut on your desktop or the link on your Start Menu.
Setting up your site
Once FileZilla has opened, click on File, Site Manager.
Click on the New Site button and you'll be able to name the site. Type the address of your site - in my case I would type in
benbarden.com. Then fill in the boxes on the right-hand side:
- Host - type the address of your site.
- Port / Server type - ignore these unless your web host requires you to change them.
- Logon type - change this to Normal.
- User / Password - type the username and password supplied by your web host. They might be referred to as "CPanel Login Details". Check the welcome email you received from your web host when you signed up. If you don't know the username and password, ask your web host.
Click the Connect button and you should be connected to your site.
Moving around in FTP
Here's a screenshot showing what FileZilla looks like after connecting to a site.
There are two lists of files. The files on the left are on your computer - "local files". The files on the right are on your website - "remote files". You can go into a folder by double-clicking it, and you can go up one level by double-clicking on the ".." icon at the top of the list.
In the list of remote files, you should see a folder called public_html or htdocs. Double-click on this folder and you'll see a list of the files used by your site.
Transferring files
Before transferring files, find what you want to upload in the list of files on the left. Next, go to the folder where you want to put the files using the list on the right. Both lists need to be in the correct location before you can start.
To upload one file or folder, just click and drag the file or folder from the left side to the right. Or, you can right-click on the file or folder and select "Upload" in the options that appear.
To upload multiple files or folders (or both), you need to highlight what you want first. You can click in a blank area in the left-hand list, then drag to draw a box around the files and/or folders that you want. If you only want certain files or folders, hold the CTRL key on your keyboard and click on each file/folder one at a time with the mouse. This will highlight individual items.
If you need everything except a couple of items in the list, click in a blank area of the list, and instead of drawing a box, press CTRL+A to highlight the whole list. Then hold the CTRL key and click with the mouse to
deselect items in the list.
To transfer all of the files, click and drag one of the highlighted files to the right-hand side. I have found this can be problematic as sometimes the mouse tries to draw a box when it should just drag the files. To address this, start dragging from the file/folder icon to the left of the name, rather than the name itself.
That covers uploading. Downloading is virtually identical, but you move files from the right side to the left.
You'll see the progress of your file transfers in the status box at the bottom. When the box is empty, the process is complete.
Renaming and deleting files
You can right-click on a file or folder and rename or delete it. Be careful though - if you delete something from your website, you can't recover it from the Recycle Bin!
Just say no! (unless you really do want to delete those files and folders.)
Setting permissions (CHMOD)
If you're installing a blogging or website system, you might be asked to "CHMOD" some files/folders. To do this, find the file/folder you wish to change in the list of files on the right. Then right-click on the item and select File Attributes from the list of options. You'll see a dialog a bit like this:
Usually you'll be given the numeric value, e.g. 777, 755, 666. All you have to do is type this value into the "Numeric value" box at the bottom of the above dialog. For instance, if I type 777 into the box that came up earlier, all of the checkboxes will be filled in:
Typing in a different value will change which checkboxes are ticked and which are not. Click OK when you're done.
In summary
If you have your own domain name, FTP is worth knowing. Most software providers have installation guides and FTP is often part of the process. I hope this guide is useful!
Posted by Ben on May 15, 2008 17:58 | Comments: 1 | Permalink
After writing my
Technorati guide, a bit of jargon came up in the comments: Ping.
A ping is a way of notifying a site that you have updated your blog. Some blogging or website systems do this automatically when you post, although this can be configured if you do not want it to happen.
If your blogging or website system doesn't allow you to ping sites, you can still do it via Feedburner. My new
Feedburner guide will explain a bit about this along with plenty more information on Feedburner itself.
Meanwhile, for other bits of jargon you might want to decipher, try my
Web Jargon Buster.
Posted by Ben on May 14, 2008 21:00 | Comments: 6 | Permalink
Feedburner is a site that provides various tools for your RSS feed. If you are new to RSS feeds, then you might want to try reading some of my previous posts:
Getting started
As with most sites, you'll need to sign up and log in before you can do anything. Go to
www.feedburner.com and click on the Register link. Fill in the fields, then click Sign In.
If you're already signed in when you visit the Feedburner home page, click on the My Feeds link in the top-left hand corner.
Burning a feed
Below is a screenshot of the My Feeds screen that I see when I log in.
We'll come back to this in a moment. Go to your site and grab the URL of the feed. If you're not sure how to do this, the following screenshot might help - you need to click on the orange feed icon:
For more information, refer to my
RSS guide. Once you've clicked on the feed icon, the address bar will change to show the address of your feed. Here's mine:
Click once in the address bar and the feed address should be highlighted. Now press CTRL+C to copy the address. Go back to My Feeds, and click in the "Burn a feed right this instant" box. Press CTRL+V to paste the feed address.
Click on the Next button.
Now click Activate Feed and your feed will be activated.
You will also need to update your blogging or website software so that when someone clicks the feed icon, they will see the Feedburner feed. This is very important because if people subscribe using the "regular" URL (such as the
feeds.php?name=articles URL for my site) those subscribers will NOT be counted by Feedburner.
Back on the My Feeds page, there is a tiny grey feed icon to the left of your feed. Click on this and you'll be able to view your Feedburner feed. Copy the address and paste this into the appropriate location in your blogging or website software. For instance, in
Majestic, go to AdminCP - General Settings - and look for this option:
Save the changes and go back to your site. Clicking the feed icon in your browser should now take you to the Feedburner feed. It's very important to check that this works correctly!
Settings overview
On the My Feeds screen, click on the title of your feed and you'll be able to modify some of its settings. Click on the Optimize tab.
The three options I currently use are BrowserFriendly, FeedFlare, and Convert Format Burner. Which settings to use largely depends on what type of site you run and which system you use. Below are some of the options I recommend.
BrowserFriendly
This makes your feed look a lot nicer. It adds buttons to your feed so your readers can subscribe using a variety of options. You can also add a personal message to appear at the top of your feed.
FeedFlare
Adds useful links to the bottom of your feed items, mostly related to social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. These allow subscribers to share the posts they like easily. Don't use too many links though - choose a few. I personally use "Email This", "Save to del.icio.us", and "Stumble It!".
Convert Format
This one is necessary for
Majestic at least for the time being. Choose the RSS 2.0 option and click Save. Majestic does not use RSS 2.0 yet and some sites require it, but Feedburner allows you to convert the feed easily.
Publicize options
Click on the Publicize tab as there are a few more options you should try.
Email Subscriptions
Some readers prefer to subscribe by email. Turn this option on to ensure you aren't turning people away. This page also shows you the email addresses of anyone who subscribes by email, something you can't see with regular subscribers.
PingShot
This keeps certain sites apprised of any updates to your site. Be careful though - some blogging and website systems will do this for you, and it's not a good idea to notify sites via Feedburner if your system already does it.
FeedCount
This is where you get the code so you can display your subscriber count on your site. There is some debate as to when you should show this information. I've shown it since day 1 - i.e. zero subscribers - and it's currently fluctuating around 100ish. Some people suggest that you shouldn't show your subscriber count until you have 100, 200, 500 or even 1000 subscribers.
You need to make the decision for yourself. I think there is nothing wrong with showing your subscriber count regardless of what it is, providing you are happy to share it.
Stats
The Analyze tab shows you how many subscribers you've had over the last 30 days. You can also see how many subscribers you've had since you started using Feedburner. Just change the "Show stats for" drop down list to "All time".
Regular readers might have noticed that I'm a stats fanatic. I love stats! I'm also very happy to share what my stats really are - I have nothing to hide.
A common problem
One thing you should know is that from time to time, Feedburner has a stats glitch. You might have seen a couple of sharp drops in the above graph - but let's take a closer look.
Notice how most of the bars are quite close together... then there's that one really short bar, 5 spots from the right-hand side.
Unless you're dealing in huge numbers of subscribers, it's unusual for subscribers to decrease (or increase) so suddenly. Last time I saw this issue, it was caused by Google Reader subscribers not being counted for one day. As you can see, the stats returned to normal the day after, so I don't think it's much to worry about. I'd be much more concerned if my stats dropped sharply and didn't recover.
In summary
Feedburner has a good range of services and some nice stats. I'd strongly recommend using them for your feed if you don't already!
Posted by Ben on May 14, 2008 19:46 | Comments: 4 | Permalink
