When you do a project, you'll usually create files on your PC. You need to get the files to your Web server before anyone can see your work. You need to upload the files.
You run some software on your PC. You tell the software that you want to upload a file to your server. Your PC starts a conversation with the server. For example:
| Your PC | Server |
|---|---|
| Yo, dude! | |
| Hey, watsup? | |
| Got a file for you. | |
| Lay it on me. | |
| It's called photo.jpg | |
| Gotcha. | |
| Here it is. | |
| (Sends file) | (Stores file) |
| Got it. |
The format of the conversation is standardized. In the example above, every file transfer would begin with 'Yo, dude!' If your PC said to the server, 'Hey, man!' the server would not know what to do. The set of rules that guide the conversation is called a protocol. The protocols we are interested in here are designed to let one computer send a file to another.
Many Web servers use FTP (file transfer protocol). There are others, like SFTP, and SCP. You need to find out which one your server will use. That will be in one of the emails you got from the hosting company you signed up with.
Now you need to get some software that will let you upload files. For Windows, I recommend WinSCP. Another good tool is FileZilla.
To upload files, you need to:
- Have files to upload on your PC.
- Know where those files are (in what directory, e.g., My documents\mis305\proj3).
- Have installed file transfer software like WinSCP.
- Know the address of the server you are going to upload to (e.g., soursights.com, or whatever your server is).
- Know the user name and password for your FTP (or SCP or whatever) account on that server.
- Have a cup of good coffee. Not actually required, but good to have.
Start WinSCP (or FileZilla, or whatever). The first thing you need to do is connect to the server. This is where you will enter the server address, the user name, and the password. For example:
Once you connect, you'll get a screen like this:
The left column shows files on your PC. Go to the directory where you stored the files you want to upload.
The right column shows the files on your server. When someone uses a browser to access your site (e.g., http://soursights.com), they will get these files.
Important! Usually, your Web site is mapped to a subdirectory of the FTP root (the FTP root is what you see on the right when you first connect). In the image above, do you see the www directory? That is the root of my Web site. If I want files to be available on the Web, I need to put them in that directory, or one of its subdirectories. I double-click on www to open the directory, and I'll see the files on my site.
To put files on your Web site, drag them from the left column onto the right. That's all there is to it!
Usually, your Web host will have tutorials on their site on how to upload files.