Setting up a FTP server with Dreamweaver

Check out my website, The MaStudios

Some of you may be scratching your head when it comes to FTP. FTP (File Transfer Protocol), is one of the greatest time savers ever. In coagulation, Dreaweaver and FTP can be very useful.

Instead on manually droppping files to your hosting server, FTP can automatically put certain files or a whole website with the click of a button. This could literally save you hours of grunt work and limit errors.

In order to do this, you will need to either have:

1. your hostname (xxxxxx.com)
2. FTP login
3. FTP password

or

You will need to setup an account with a hosting company. I use Godaddy.

Once you have that, open Dreamweaver and select Site from the menu on the top on the program. Click New Site and follow the directions for the first two dialogs in the wizard. When you come to part 3, make sure to select the main folder which contains all of your websites files. Your files should not be everywhere on your computer, keep them organized into one folder with sub-folders.

When asked in the next part how you want to connect to you remote server, select FTP. Enter your hostname in the sharing dialog. Do not add the "http or www part", just XXXXXX.com. Skip the folder part, and it will automatically search for the root folder. Enter your login information, check use secure FTP and SAVE then test the connection. If it says successfully connect to the remote server, your golden.

If not, try these troubleshooting tips:

1. check all login and host name information, 1 character off can screw up the whole process
2. uncheck the Use Secure FTP on the Sharing part
3. under the advanced tab, check Use Passive FTP
4. check your firewall settings

Or check out Adobes troubleshooting guide.

Once this is all setup, your ready to use the FTP technology. You will see the Files menu on the right side of the program. This shows your your website in structure, you can view it locally and remotely. Use the local view when transfering files from your computer to your server.

Highlight the folder which you desire to to transfer and click the up arrow or Put button. If a dialog comes up asking about transfering dependent files click yes to send them too.

If you have made some recent changes, select the folder, click the refresh button then put the files. This is very important.