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The best, easiest way to upload your web pages is to use a FTP client, such as WS-FTP LE on the PC. A lot of web publishing tools come with built in FTP or publishing options, but these publishing tools do not always give you control of your files once they are on the server, nor do they always give correct error messages if they encounter an error with the server or in the process of uploading your web pages. FTP clients can be intimidating at first, but once you get used to them, you will find that they are very easy to use.
WS-FTP LE is a good program to use, plus its free. You can download it by clicking on this link:
http://www.download.com/3000-2160-10018456.html
This will download a an executable install program for WS-FTP LE.
After you've finished the install and when WS-FTP LE starts, it comes up into a Session Profile screen. This is where you tell WS-FTP LE where you want it to connect to. If you click on the little arrow beside Ipswitch, you will see there is a whole list of names and servers. These are different "profiles", each is setup with a different FTP server, and depending on the server, with different username and passwords. These are saved here so that you don't have to remember and keep track of each server and each username and password each time you want to connect to one of these FTP servers. The rest of this example walks you through setting up a profile for Interlink's free web space server and a test file upload. This example presumes that you have your web space setup. To setup a new profile, click on the New button at the top right-hand section of the window.
Now we have a screen just like the last one, only all the fields are blank. We will fill them in, starting at the top, then save it, so that the next time we want to connect to this same server, we just need to find this profile in the list, and connect. (NOTE: WS-FTP LE remembers the last server you connected to and this profile is the profile you see when you start WS-FTP LE the next time.)
First field is the Profile Name. This can be anything you want, so that you know when looking at the list of profiles, you know what server this profile goes to. For this example, we've named it "My Web Site".
Next is Server/Host name. This is the name of the FTP server that you will be connecting to.
Next is the Host Type. Leave this at Automatic Detect.
Next is User ID. Type in your username.
Next is Password. Type in your password. As you do, the password will show up as all asterisk. This is normal and prevents your password from being seeing by someone standing around you while you type it in.
Here is the important information that you need for the profile without the quotes:
Server/Host Name: "ftp.yourwebsite.com"
User ID: "yourusername"
Password: "yourpassword"
After you type in your password, click in the box just to the right of it called Save Pwd. This saves your password. If you do not click this box, you will be asked to enter your password each time you connect to the server, even if you have saved the profile. This is useful is when you want to control who has access to modify your web pages.
That is all you need to fill out for Interlink's free web space server. To save this profile, go down to the bottom of this screen and click on the Apply button.
To connect to the server, click on Ok.
Once you've connected successfully, you will see the screen with two sides. This screen is where you can manipulate your files, whether it is uploading, downloading, deleting, renaming, whathaveyou, this is where you can do it.
The left-hand side of the screen is your computer. If you look at the top of the left-hand side, it says "Local System". Over on the right-hand side, it says "Remote System". This is our web server. You should see some folders and some files, one of which is called "index.html" listed in the window under Remote System. This is your space on our server. You can use this space however you wish. You can put all your files in here, you can organize them with folders and sub-folders within sub-folders ... however you work best.
To upload your web pages, find your folder with your web pages on your Local System side. Use the green arrow pointing up, the drive icons or folders to navigate around on your computer within WS-FTP. Once you are inside your folder, you should see all your web pages, images, folders, whatever you have listed on the left-hand side. (TIP: WS-FTP remembers where you've been on your computer. The next time you use WS-FTP, click on the little down-arrow right underneath "Local System" and you should see the path to your web page folder.)
Now, just click once on the file you want to upload to your web space and then click on the arrow in the middle of the screen that points to the Remote System. (TIP: Once you are more secure with using WS-FTP, you can just double-click on a file and it will upload it.) You should either get a thermometer bar giving you the status of the upload (if the file is large), or see the right side refresh itself and your file will show up in the list. If you can't see it, try scrolling down a bit on the right side to make sure its listed.
If you organize your files and images with folders and sub-folders, you need to keep upload those folders and sub-folders as well, or the web pages won't know where to find what it needs. WS-FTP lets you upload folders and their contents.
To upload a folder, just click on it once and then click on the arrow pointing to the right. WS-FTP will throw up a window asking if you want to upload the selected folder and its contents, click "Yes" and the folder with everything in it will be uploaded, keeping the same structure as is on your computer.
Now the only thing left to do is take a look at your web site and make sure everything looks the way you want it to!
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