How to use FTP software
For purposes of this How To FTP Guide, it is assumed that you have access to the World Wide Web with the use of a graphical Web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer.

Step 1: Download FTP software such as WS_FTP. WS_FTP is a free ftp program and you can download it by clicking here: WS_FTP. Select "Run Program from its current location". This will install WS_FTP, this might take several minutes.

Step 2: Start your FTP program. You will see a box similar to the one in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Step 3: Once the FTP software is running, you will need to know the name of the computer in which to connect. The remote computer that you aregoing to connect to is called a Host. If you know your host address go to Step 4.

Step 4: Enter the Host name of orcasonline.com

Step 5: Enter your User ID and Password. Your user ID is the first part of your e-mail address, so if you e-mail address is tracy@orcasonline.com then your user ID is: tracy

Step 6: Click Ok.

Step 7: You should now be at a screen that looks similar to Figure 2 (below).

orcasonline.com is being used because that is the name of our ftp server.

Once you have logged into the Host computer successfully, you will see a screen similar to Figure 2

Figure2

Local and remote systems
Figure 2 (above) signifies files on your local system, or your computer, and the right window signifies files on the remote system, or the Host computer that we spoke about earlier.

Now that you have accessed the remote computer, you may need to move to another directory or folder. If you look at Figure2 , you will see a green arrow at the top of the local and remote system boxes.

Step 8: To move up one directory, double click on the green arrow.

Note: The green arrow may be something different in other FTP programs.)
Step 9: To move down a directory (or into one of the directories pictured in the right window), double click on the directory. Double-clicking will open up the directory and show you the files listed in that directory.

Finally! transferring files
Step 10: Highlight the file(s) you want to transfer from your hard drive to the remote computer.

Step 11: Click on the right pointing arrow.This tells your computer to transfer the highlighted file(s) onto the remote computer.

Step 10 & 11 Alternative: Double-click on the file you wish to tranfer. If the file is on your hard drive, it will be transferred onto the remote computer and placed inside of the directory that is open. If the file you double-click on is on the remote system, it will be transferred to your hard drive.

Step 12: Please note that only the files in the Public_html subdirectory will be viewed by a web browser so please use Public_HTML as the starting point for your web pages. If you do not have a directory called Public_HTML please create one and then put your web pages there.

(Note: Don't double click on specific files unless you want to transfer them. Double-clicking on a specific file will not open it, it will transfer it from one computer to another. Double-clicking on a directory will open up the directory. Don't confuse the two. You should take caution when double-clicking on specific files because you may overwrite a file that you did not intend to overwrite. To open a file, right-click once on the file and choose "View File.")

What is a host?
The remote computer that you are going to connect to, to upload your Web page(s) is called a Host.

The Host computer has a two names: a domain name and an IP address. The domain name is a combination of words and numbers, such as web5.zdnet.com. The IP Address is a series of 4 numbers with a period between each set of numbers, such as 205.181.112.153.

Placing the domain name or the IP Address, along with your password into the boxes that ask for a host name and password will give you entrance into the host computer.

Who is a host?
The Host may be the Internet Service Provider (ISP) that already provides you with access to the World Wide Web. Web space may be included in your ISP package or an extra charge may be incurred. You'll need to ask your ISP for more details.

The Host may also be a service, such as Geocities, that offers free storage space for your Web page.

The Host may also be a number of other sites such as the Dartmouth University FTP site, ftp.dartmouth.edu, used in the example below.

Example
orcasonline.com is being used as an example because everyone reading this will have Orcas Online as their ISP. For the sake of consistency we are using orcasonline.com. The domain name for this site is orcasonline.com and the IP Address is 204.201.135.130.