Uploading the pages
Click here for the instructions for Windows XP.

The recommended method to upload web pages to our web server is FTP. FTP is File Transfer Protocol, the long-time standard protocol for the transfer of files on the Internet.

This web page will describe the steps you need to take to upload your web pages. Please read it through from beginning to end.

The first thing you need to do is get an FTP Client. If you are using Windows XP, (possibly other versions) you already have one. Click here for the instructions for XP. If you are using Windows95/98/NT, we recommend WS-FTP. It is a powerful and easy-to-use FTP client. Click here to download WS-FTP for Windows95/98/NT. After downloading the file, run it to install the software.

To open WS-FTP, click the "Start" button, then go to "Programs," then find "WS-FTP" and select the program from its folder. You'll next be presented with the WS-FTP main window and a smaller window over it that looks like this:



Enter the information for the profile name (Your Website's Name) and hostname (www.yourdomain.com) . Also, put in your username (which will be the same as your domain name) and password for your account on our web server. Click the "Save Pwd" check box if you prefer to. Ensure that "Anonymous" is unchecked.

Next click the "Apply" button then click "OK." WS-FTP will then login to the FTP server. The next window you see should look like this:

Click to enlarge screenshot
The left-hand side of the window shows files in your current working directory on your computer. The right-hand side shows files in your current working directory on the web server. Your local directory may not be the correct folder where all of your WWW documents and graphics are. In that case, you'll need to either type in the full path to where those documents are, or navigate by using the mouse. To move up a directory, click on the arrow that is above the file listing. To enter a directory, double-click on it.

Also, a gotcha you should be aware of is that if you upload web pages in Binary mode, or upload pictures in ASCII, your content might not look right on some systems. To be sure this doesn't happen, check the 'Auto' checkbox like in the screenshot above.

You'll note that your directory is empty. It certainly will be if you've never uploaded anything there before. Your next step is to select the files you'll want to upload. Assuming you have already changed to the local folder where all your pertinant files are kept, you merely need to select which ones to upload. You can select files individually, or you can use the standard Windows shortcut to select multiple files. To do that, select a file then hold down the shift key or control keys and click on another file.

After selecting the files that you want to upload, click the arrow that points to the right. The mouse pointer below shows the button that you must press (to download a file, you'd click the button that points left, but that is not pertinant to this instruction).

Click to enlarge screenshot

Click to enlarge screenshot

Some pitfalls to avoid

• Try to keep your file names lower-case. Our web server's operating system has case-sensitive file names (Windows/DOS and most others do not). If you reference a web page or graphic in your HTML, you must pay attention to its case, so it's easiest to make sure everything is lower-case.
• Don't put spaces in your filenames. It's easy to do this with Windows and Macs, but it often causes unforseen problems.
• Choose a supported name for your index page. The "index page" is the page that is automatically served to the browser when no file is specifically requested, i.e. when someone requests http://www.yourdomain.com/ then your index page will be sent. The supported names are listed below along with their priority--meaning you can have two or more files with the names listed below but the web server must pick which to serve ahead of the others. It's a good idea to not use an index page name except for your actual index page.
  1. index.html
  2. index.shtml
  3. index.php

  You can also use an index page for any subdirectories you have within your web space.

• Stay within your disk quota. Every account has a disk quota determined by the type of account you have. If you exceed your disk quota, you will have seven days of grace period to remove enough files to get back below it. After the seven days are up, you will no longer be able to upload any more files. The error you will see is "Quota Exceeded," which will be displayed in the text messages area at the bottom of the WS-FTP window. In addition, there is a hard quota that is set above the stated limits for your account that can never be exceeded (meaning, there is no grace period for exceeding the hard quota). To arrange for a larger quota, please call us at 389-1303.