HTML Tutorial 2
Using an FTP Program

Our Previous Lesson taught you how to create an HTML Document on your Windows-Based PC using your default text editor and your MyDocument's Folder... in this lesson we will show you how to UPLOAD that Document to the WWW so that anyone with a web browser who knows that page's address (URL) can view it!

First of all we recommend that from now on you do your text editing in Word Pad rather than Notepad... it is better and will hold larger file sizes! So make a Shortcut to Word Pad on your Desktop for easy webpage editing!

Next you need to find an online Web Host to serve your webpages from... there are many including free Hosts but if you are SERIOUS about all of this, we recommend a Professional Host, the benefits are too numerous to mention! We recommend Aplus.Net! Or you can search Google for other Web Hosts... it's up to you! So go ahead and get set-up with a Web Host and learn about all of it's "workings"!

Once you have settled with a Host you will find out what the FTP Server Name is for your account...

You will need this info along with your User Name and Password for the account!

Now to copy your HTML Documents from your PC to your online Host (or visa versa) you need to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Program... there are many, both free and pay, but we recommend for starters, Filezilla And to understand the very basics of how another popular FTP Program (WS_FTP) is set-up we recommend reading Draac's FTP Tutorial It will help you to understand the basics, even though each FTP Program is slightly different in how it works! So go ahead and Download FileZilla (it's FREE), and set it up with your Host's FTP Server Name, your User Name and your Password and learn how to use it by studying the Help Sections provided from the menubar...

Make a Short-cut to FileZilla on your Desktop after you Download and Install it...

Here is a Screenshot of our FileZilla Screen upon initial opening. Notice the different areas where your Local Files show (on the left), and where your Remote Files (your online Host Server) show (on the right, empty here but upon connecting, they will show as in the next Screenshot below)!

Now Open FileZilla, select the Left Side file location for your new HTML Document located in your MyDocuments\Webpages Folder... select the Right Side location for the Host Directory (Folder) where you want to copy your Document into... then just Double Click the Left Side HTML Document and it will be copied (FTP'd) to your Host's Server...

The URL for your new webpage will be something like www.yourhost.com/mypage.html or depending on if you uploaded it to some directory (folder) www.yourhost.com/mydirectory/mypage.html or if you purchased and transfered your own unique Domain Name to the Host www.yourdomainname.com/mypage.html and now anyone can find it online using their web browser!

Remember when you use your text editor on your PC to make HTML Changes to your HTML Documents you must be sure to click Save from the File button on the menubar! And every time you change a file, you must use your FTP Program to Upload it to your online Host Server... and when you use your web browser to view the changes, you probably will need to Refresh the page, since the old version will most likely be Cached by your browser...

Have any Questions just...

HTML Tutorial 1---Video Tutorial