FTP For Beginners

I have had a couple of queries recently about ftp and other aspects of Internet technologies. After helping some friends with various computer problems over the weekend, I realised that it is pretty easy to forget that many people learning the ropes about earning money online don’t come from a geek or tech background; while they can pick up many of the techniques to get them started to earning money online, they may not have sufficient knowledge, or the underlying technical skills necessary to understand many of the terms and techniques they learn.

With this in mind, I thought it time to devote some posts to explaining some of the standard skills and tools you will need to master. This is aimed at the beginner to intermediate user, who will each learn from this post. To begin, I will detail something you have probably heard of called ftp.

What is FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is simply a protocol for transferring files over the Internet. Using ftp, you can send and receive files between computers located anywhere in the World. If you have a Website, or are hoping to create one at some stage, you will be using ftp to transfer files from your computer to the Web server hosting your site

FTP uses a URL (the address of the site) that is similar to what you are familiar with from your Web browser. To load Webtrepreneur in your browser, you enter the address: http://www.webtrepreneur.net/.

The ftp address looks very similar: ftp://ftp.webtrepreneur.net.

This post will only detail connecting to your host server (where your Website is hosted) and the basic commands and details you will need for uploading your files.

There are numerous ftp programs available for all of the major platforms, both free and commercial. The selection comes down to your preference. Some of the basic terminology you may encounter is listed below:

Profile Name:- A name for you to remember the profile you created for a connection.

Host / Server Address:- This is the server your computer will connect to, e.g. ftp://ftp.webtrepreneur.net.

Port:- This is the port on the server you will connect to. The default port is 21 and this should work on most servers

Login / Username:- This is your username for your account on the remote server.

Password:- Likewise, this is your password for accessing your account on the remote server.

Initial Path:- The first directory that will be opened on the remote computer.

Attempts:- This is the number of times the computer will try to download (or upload) a file if it is interrupted.

Retry Delay:- The time between each retry.

Download Path:- The directory on your computer where files will be downloaded to.

You don’t have to know all of these, as you may not have to be concerned with all of these commands, depending on the application you select.

Connected

After choosing your ftp application and entering the settings relevant to the instruction above, you simply connect to the remote in order to transfer files. Once connected, depending on your application you will be presented with a window similar to the one above, with the remote server in the left or right hand side and your computer in the opposite.

Transferring files is simply a matter of dragging them to the appropriate location on either. If you wanted to copy a file or directory from the server to your computer, you simply select the file and drag it from the server window across to the window representing your computer. Don’t be worried, this action will not delete the copy from your server, it will simply copy it across to your computer.

Be aware though, that if you already have a file with the same name, you will be prompted whether you want to overwrite. Make sure that this is what you want, as it will overwrite the file, so proceed with caution if you are unsure and place the file in a different directory if needed.

Permissions

Something else you will come across when transferring files to your server is that on occasions you may read about things called permissions and / or CHMOD. CHMOD stands for CHange MODe.

I wont go into too great a detail here, as you don’t really need to know all the Unix idiosyncrasies behind CHMOD, what you do need to know though is that the server needs some details about who and what can do certain actions on and with your files. Basically, you are setting permission about who can do certain things to your files. For example, on a blog, you want visitors to be able to read posts and comment on them, but you don’t normally want them to be able to access your scripts and change them and damage your site.

That is basically what you are telling the server through you CHMOD settings. It does this by assigning numbers to each file. These numbers set the actions that can be preformed on the files. There are only 3 actions, so it is not too daunting. The actions are:

READ

WRITE

EXECUTE

You can set these permissions on most ftp programs, either by a tick in a text box or by writing a combination of numbers, or both.

To give you an example, a standard WordPress installation will have permission similar to the ones below:

Directories should have permissions of 755. Never use 777.
All files should have permissions of 644.
If you do want to use the built-in theme editor, theme files should have permissions of 666. Once again, never give them 777.

Once you get your ftp program up and running, you will be able to see this by experience and get a better understanding of it.

WordPress 2.7 Review

Earlier today, I uploaded and installed WordPress 2.7 Coltrane. This is my first post with the new and from appearances and features, greatly improved WordPress.

As usual (for me anyway), the upgrade was a painless process. It was actually quicker than the last one I did a few weeks ago.

The first thing you will notice is the completely new interface. The developers have spent a lot of time listening and have made usability improvements in every area.

Dashboard

When you login, you are greeted by a completely new Dashboard. In the upper right corner of the screen is a ‘Screen Options. button that allows you to select the options to display in your dashboard by checking or unchecking the various modules.

Another cool feature is the ability to move the items in your dashboard into different positions that suit your workflow. It is a simple matter of grabbing the top of each modules window and dragging it to your position of choice. Now you have complete control of the features you want and the location of them on your screen.

Vertical Menus

One of the most prominent new features is the inclusion of vertical menus. This is a great improvement, as navigation is greatly simplified, with each section using Ajax to display a list of options for you to click.

This provides a major speed improvement, as it means you have far less screen loads to get to the section you want to edit. As an example, the Appearance menu option already has the current theme listed, making it possible to go directly to the theme options in one click.

Top level navigation items are Media, Links, Pages, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, USers, Tools and Settings. If you prefer not to have the vertical menu taking up valuable screen space, you have the otpion to minimise it to the side. Mousing over each icon provides the menu item subset. A very nice feature.

Plugins

Plugin management just got a whole lot better, with the ability to search for plugins directly from the dashboard. Do a search for a specific term, such as twitter and you get a rated list of the available plugins from the WordPress plugin repository.

Installation can now be done directly from the dashboard; you no longer have to FTP your plugin files to the server. This is another great improvement for those new to the technology.

Likewise, future upgrades of WordPress itself can be done in the same manner, so no more uploading and overwriting files.

Threaded Comments

Threaded comments is a welcome addition to the core functionality of WordPress. Many blogs already have the feature via plugins and services such as Disqus. I personally use Disqus on another blog, so this will give me a chance to compare that over the inbuilt system.

Sticky Posts

Another little feature that people have been requesting for a long time, is the ability to make a post ’sticky’, i.e. keep it on the home page no matter how old it is. Making a post ’sticky’ is just a matter of checking the box.

Take a look at the video below and then go ahead and try it yourself. As with all things though, be sure to make backups, just in case you have some problems…..

WP Remix Wordpress Theme

When searching for a WordPress theme, you are presented with literally thousands of options, both free and commercial. Choosing the most appropriate design for your blog can be a daunting task. Lately, a lot of premium themes have become available that allow you to have a considerable amount of customization with minimal effort. This post deals with one such theme.

WP Remix

I came across R.Bhavesh a couple of months ago and was immediately impressed with his Web designs. It is refreshing to see the clean and uncluttered interfaces he produces.

Bhavesh’s premium WordPress theme is called WP Remix. This theme differs from many of the other premium themes in the market, by being easy for novice users to set up. Saying that, it is still offers a great deal of customization options for the experienced developer.

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