Fig 1.0 Double click on the AceFTP desktop icon to execute (launch/run) AceFTP
Fig 1.1 Click on the FILE menu and then select the CONNECT TO URL menu-item to continue
| CONNECT VIA FTP ACCOUNT |
In the previous section I showed you how to install the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Client (program) called AceFTP Pro 3. In this section I will continue by showing you how to connect to your web space, and in turn your public_html (website) folder, so that you can easily manage your web space content (i.e. Copy & Paste your website files). Although this section explains how to enter your FTP Account details into AceFTP's connection manager, because FTP Account details are global it means the same procedure could apply to your preferred FTP Client's connection manager. Begin by double clicking on the AceFTP desktop icon. Doing so will execute (launch/run) AceFTP and bring up its main manager/tasks window (Fig 1.1).
When the manager window appears click on the FILE menu and then select the CONNECT TO URL menu-item to continue. The OPEN URL window will then appear
(Fig 1.2 below) and ask you for your FTP Account details, in order to connect to your web space. These details would of been emailed to you when you
purchased your web hosting package. In my case the FTP Address is ftp://ftp.websitecreationhelp.com with a User Name & Password. The FTP Address
format can also be ftp://www.???.org/ for example. It depends on what your web hosting provider gave you to use.
Enter your FTP Address into the URL edit box in the format of ftp://ftp.. Some people try and use ftp. only and fail with their connection.
If this happens to you it could simply be that your ftp client needs the ftp:// prefixed to the main ftp.. In the USER ID edit box enter your FTP User
Name and in the PASSWORD edit box enter your FTP Account Password. The ftp account user name and password could be the same as your web hosting package
LOGIN user name and password. It depends on your web hosting provider.
When entering your ftp account details the SERVER edit box will be filled in for you. As you can see, above, this is just the full ftp address split up. It is similar to a full http://www.???.com being split into ???.com only or www.???.com only. In other words. Although the http://www. does not matter that much these days, at the same time it does.....in certain circumstances (i.e. when creating the URL for a text link). And the same applies to ftp://ftp.. Enter the full ftp address into the URL edit box regardless of whether or not it is actually required. When you have done so click on the OK button to continue.
After entering your ftp account details and clicking on the OK button (Fig 1.2 above) a connection to your web space should of been made (Fig 1.3 above),
if all went well. Your web space is your actual domain folder (i.e. websitecreationhelp folder) that lives on your web hosting provider's server
(computer). Depending on your web hosting package, your web space should normally contain folders such as PHP and PERL (php/perl script usage),
AutoRespond (automatic reply email messages), cpanel (control panel related files), htpasswds (passwd files for password protected folders/files), Mail
(email related folder/files) as well as the public_html (website) folder amongst others. Most of those folders should never be opened by you, in case of
accidental deletion. You should only ever need to open the public_html folder. Therefore. In the above example you should really add /public_html/ to
the ftp address (i.e. ftp://ftp.websitecreationhelp.com/public_html/). That way you will be connected straight into the public_html folder. In this
example though I connected straight into my web space and then double clicked on the public_html folder to get inside it (Fig 1.3 above).
When you are inside the public_html folder, whose content is displayed in the right window pane of AceFTP, the next thing to do is navigate the left
window pane of AceFTP into the folder on your computer where you are storing your website folders/files. In this example I have navigated the left window
pane into my websitecreationhelp folder on my Data (D:) hard drive partition. D:\Websites\Projects\websitecreationhelp\ to be exact.
The buttons around the left window pane allow you to navigate through your computer folders, just like the buttons found on a normal computer folder's
window pane (i.e. Back, Up, Delete and Create). The same applies to the buttons around the right window pane. They allow you to navigate around your web
space as well as create new folders, delete selected folders/files and so on. The two blue (left and right) buttons in the middle of the window panes
allow you to easily Copy & Paste folders/files between the two panes - between your local computer files and your web space (website) folders/files.
In Fig 1.4 above the left window pane is looking inside my websitecreationhelp folder (on my computer) and the right window pane is looking inside my
public_html (website) folder. I have selected a web page from the left pane, called free_must_have_downloads_for_website_creation.htm, and then clicked
on the blue RIGHT-ARROW button to have that selected file (web page) copied over to the right window pane (to my public_html (website) folder). Doing so
brings up a message requester (below) asking me what I would like to do with the selected file (web page). SKIP - Do nothing (cancel the operation).
OVERWRITE - Delete the existing file from the public_html folder, that has the same file name as the selected file, and then copy the selected file into
the public_html folder. RENAME - Rename the existing file from the public_html folder, that currently has the same file name as the selected file, with
a file extension of .old before copying the selected file into the public_html folder. Therefore. Creating an old version of the selected file, for
safe keeping, as well as copying the selected file. RESUME - Used when copying many selected folders/files. If the connection goes copying will commence
when the connection returns. CANCEL - Cancel the copying process, even if there are still folders/files in the queue (copying list). I clicked on
OVERWRITE.
A nice feature of AceFTP, and other ftp clients, is the LOCKSTEPS feature. It allows you to go inside the same folder on both window panes. So if I am
inside my websitecreationhelp computer folder (left pane) and inside my public_html folder (right pane), both with a folder inside them called PNGs, I
can double click on the PNGs folder inside websitecreationhelp to automatically open the PNGs folder inside public_html. Therefore, making copying
between the two PNGs folders easier. The LOCKSTEPS button is just underneath the two blue RIGHT-ARROW buttons, in between the two window panes. It can
be toggled - click on it once to switch ON locksteps and click on it once more to switch OFF locksteps. The button underneath locksteps allows you to
resize the window panes - simply drag it leftwards or rightwards.
When you want to copy folders/files from the left window pane over to the right window pane you gave four main ways of doing so. After selecting the
folders/files you want copying carry out one of the following actions. Method 1) Click on the EDIT menu and then select the COPY TO RIGHT menu-item. This
is the same as using the blue RIGHT-ARROW button in between the two window panes (as described above).
Method 2) Manually drag the selected folders/files from the left window pane over to the right window pane (not exampled here). And vice versa if you want
website folders/files copying over to your computer.
Method 3) Select the folders/files you want copying from the left window pane. Press the CTRL and C keyboard keys down, so they are both pressed down, to
copy the selected folders/files into memory. Click anywhere inside the right window pane and then press the CTRL and P keyboard keys down, so they are
both pressed down, to paste the selected folders/files into the public_html folder (method not exampled here). If you wanted to paste the selected
folders/files inside another folder you would need to of double clicked on that folder beforehand to get inside it and make it the currently opened
folder. CTRL-C copies selected folders/files and CTRL-P pastes them from memory into a destination folder. Additionally. CTRL-A selects all folders/files
and CTRL-X cuts (moves) selected folders/files. Method 3 can also be used to copy and paste from the right window pane over to the left window pane.
On top of these methods, generally you have other options available to you in the LEFT and RIGHT menus (i.e. Delete, Create New Folder, Refresh, Etc).
Personally. I use the blue RIGHT-ARROW button simply because of its convenience and speed.
When you want to disconnect from your ftp account (ftp server) simply click on the FILE menu and select the DISCONNECT sub-menu. And if you are connected
to more than one ftp account you can hover over to the right of the DISCONNECT menu, click on its black right-arrow button, and either select an
individual ftp account to disconnect from or just select the DISCONNECT ALL sub-menu menu-item (not exampled here). Alternatively. To disconnect from all
ftp accounts and to close aceftp simply click on aceftp's red X (close) button.
To reconnect after disconnection. Click on the FILE menu, hover over to the right of the CONNECT TO URL sub-menu and then click on its black right-arrow
button to display the available ftp accounts. From there, simply click on the ftp account you want to connect to. This way you will not need to enter
your ftp account details again.
If you want to permanently store your ftp account details, perhaps because you work with many websites, you can set up a profiled aceftp account for each of the websites (ftp accounts) you manage. Begin by clicking on the FILE menu and then click on the currently connected (in view) ftp account. The ftp account that is currently being used (in view) will always be the one in the SAVEAS menu-item, therefore to create an aceftp account for another opened ftp account simply make it the current (in view) ftp account by clicking on its heading in the main aceftp window.
After selecting the current (in view/in use) ftp account, using the SAVE AS menu-item, a SAVE AS file requester will appear asking you for a .ftp file name. Before you give the current ftp account a .ftp file name though create a new folder for it first. In this example I am creating a new folder called websites for all my website projects.
Fig 1.9 Click on the CREATE NEW FOLDER button to continue |
Fig 1.10 Inside the NEW Folder called websites - Give your ftp account a .ftp file name |
In Fig 1.9 above I clicked on the NEW FOLDER button and then gave that new folder the name websites. From there. I double clicked on that websites folder, to get inside it (Fig 1.10), and then gave the ftp account a .ftp file name of websitecreationhelp.ftp. Do not worry too much about the .ftp file extension because it will automatically be added to your file name if you leave it out or forget to put it. After entering the file name I clicked on the SAVE button to continue. I created two aceftp accounts in total - websitecreationhelp.ftp and yoingco.ftp. Connecting to anyone of them is simply a case of clicking on the FILE menu and using the CONNECT sub-menu menu-item to select one.
Fig 1.11 Use the CONNECT sub-menu to connect to an aceftp account |
Fig 1.12 Click on a ftp account heading to switch between ftp accounts |
Once you are connected to many ftp accounts you can switch between them simply by clicking on their heading in the main aceftp window (Fig 1.12 above). If you want to connect to multiple accounts at once click on the CONNECT sub-menu directly (head on) to bring up the AceFTP Site Profiles (ftp accounts) window whereby you can then select multiple accounts and press the ENTER keyboard board to have them connected. You may need to go into your newly created folder first (i.e. websitecreationhelp), by double clicking on it, but once inside just select the accounts you want to connect to and either press ENTER or click on the CONNECT button.
As you can see, and by investigating further, AceFTP comes with many hidden features. I have just shown you the basics to get you started and also to show you that FTP Client software in general is not difficult to operate. The thing I like about AceFTP, over other ftp clients, is its simplicity. Simply connect to a ftp account and copy folders/files from the left window pane to the right window pane. That's it! Other ftp clients I have seen, some of them free, are a little more complex and tend to throw the user off balance. Normally by asking technical details that are beyond the usual ftp account details. From a programmer's point of view AceFTP has the balance right. Keep the technicals and technical features behind the scenes, for advanced users, and only show the beginner the easy-to-use window (control panel/interface).
All HTM, CSS, PHP and MySQL files in the websitecreationhelp.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, 2009. All Rights Reserved. Email: John