What is FTP and how do I do it?

Posted by David | Filed under Web Design Tips

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a way a way of transferring data from one computer to another across a network. In most cases it is used to transfer files from your computer to your host server.

What Do I Need to FTP?

You will need an FTP Client to carry out FTP. You can use the client in Windows Explorer, but I would recommend against it, it is relatively featureless and can be unstable. Free software is available to carry out FTP transfer such as FileZilla (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac). Pay versions are also available such as CuteFTP. Once you have downloaded this software and installed it on your computer you will need to login to start uploading to your website.

Firstly though you need to have your login details available! You host may have emailed you your FTP login details when you signed up for hosting, they may simply be the same as your cPanel or other username and password. If not then check firstly in the hosting back-end of your site for details regarding FTP.

How Do I create an FTP username and password?

If you have cPanel installed on your server you can create new FTP accounts, to do this login to cPanel (usually via http://www.yoursite.com/cpanel/ ) then click on FTP accounts. Then type in a new username and password and select how much control this FTP account has over the server (for just you, you want full control!) You should see a screen similar to the one below when doing this. Do not type a directory name if you want full control of everything. If not ask your host to supply you with an FTP username and password.

Using an FTP Client

Now we have a username and password, we now can login to our FTP account. Open up your FTP client and add a new site to it. In FileZilla this involves clicking File –> Site Manager –> New Site.

Enter your details into the box provided. For Host type in ftp.yoursite.com or an IP address if your host supplies one for FTP use instead. Once you click connect you should see the folder system on your host server. Now head to either public_html or www if they exist as this what people will see when they type in your domain name.

In your FTP client drag all the files and folders in exactly the same structure as you have them on the PC onto your host server. This may take some time to transfer, and ensure that it doesn’t time out while the process is occurring by reconnecting it if it does!

One of the things that is easy to forget when making a website is to not upload pictures! If you make a website that includes pictures make sure you upload them!

Finally ensure that you give all the files the right File Attributes or CHMOD. Any software you install should tell you what is required for it to work correctly. The next step will be setting up a MYSQL database for most software you choose to install!

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Read more | Comments (0) | Thursday, 14th Aug 2008

Choosing Broadband for a Student House (2008 – 2009)

Posted by David | Filed under Hardware, Student Saving Tips

Home > Student Index > Choosing Broadband for a Student House

Warning: This article is now out of date! We have written a new Student Broadband (2009/2010) article now!

After you have got your gas, electricty and water sorted broadband is the next essential item in any student home! There are many ISPs to choose from varying in price, speed and download limit, below is a table of some of the 12 month or less contract ISPs with Unlimited downloads. These packages are broadband only for the main part, although when the extra service is at no extra cost I have included  them. If the extra services cost more to get a discount they have been excluded from the table.

Remember when signing up for your broadband to do so via Quidco to save yourself that bit extra!

Provider DL UL DL Limit Contract BT Line Cost Wireless Router
Be Unlimited 24 1.3 Unlimited 3 mths Required £18 Yes
Be Value 8 1.3 Unlimited 1 year Required £14 Yes
O2 Standard 8 1.3 Unlimited 1 year Required £12.50 Yes
O2 Premium 16 1.3 Unlimited 1 year Required £15 Yes
O2 Ultimate 20 1.6 Unlimited 1 year Required £22.50 Yes
AOL Wireless Flexi Broadband* 8 1.3 Unlimited 1 mth Required £9.99 Yes
Tiscali Broadband* 8 1.3 Unlimited 1 Year Inc** £12.99 Yes
Virgin Media 2 1.3 Unlimited 1 Year No (Cable) £17.00 No

 * To receive the cheapest packages with Tiscali and AOL you must agree to a call package as well. ** Tiscali will include BT Line Rental in their own costs so you don’t have to pay extra unlike the other options (besides Cable)

I have not included BT on this table due to its low download limits and 18 month contacts, which may be unsuitable for students living in a house only for a maximum of 12 months. Sky has also been excluded as you are required to join up to Sky TV as well, the same is true of the cheaper Virgin Media options - If TV is something you are interested in then these offers may well be worth considering. Talk talk broadband similar to BT offers only 18 month contracts.

My Recommendation

Without any doubt I recommend Be Broadband for every student home! The service is great, the wireless router supplied is good, the download speeds are relatively high and if you get the Unlimited package you dont’ even have to be on a 12 month contract! I’ve had no troubles at all with them in the past. They will even send the router to a separate address if you aren’t living in your student house over the summer!

Be Value is also offering a discount of £8 a month until the end of 2008, which is a deal that may be worth taking, reducing the cost of broadband in a student house greatly!

If you are on O2 for your mobile phone do consider the O2 options for broadband as there are cheaper discounts available for O2 customers.  O2 and Be Broadband are able to offer so much higher speeds as they use their own equipment in BT exchanges. They are known as ADSL2 providers, they may not be available on every area of the country yet. If not Tiscali and AOL are possible second choices for those unfortunate enough not to be able to get Be or O2.

I would also recommend looking at these websites to help decide what to get:

  • DSL Zone UK gives good ratings on Broadband ISPs service (Be and O2 do fairly well in this, however AOL and Tiscali do not!)
  • Samknow Broadband will also give you a good idea of what services are available in your area and for your phone number.

Home > Student Index > Choosing Broadband for a Student House

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Read more | Comments (3) | Thursday, 14th Aug 2008

Internet gaming goes Web 2.0 with gwap!

Posted by David | Filed under The Web

I don’t often like to Internet game, the main reason being the games are usually not very good! I have my consoles and computer to feed my gaming thirst! This site got my attention though! They are simple but highly addictive word games, and the great thing is you play against other real life people anonymously.

The site has five games on it: ESP Game, Tag a Tune, Verbosity, Squigl and Matchin. All are great though it can be surprising how hard some of them are!

 

To summarise each game, in ESP Game you and your randomly selected partner must tag an image with description words, you both continue tagging until both people get the same answer. In Tag a Tune you have to describe music to your partner deciding whether you are both hearing the same song or a different one! Thinking on the spot in this one can be quite difficult but not as hard as Verbosity! In Verbosity you have to describe a word to your partner, I found this probably one of the hardest games to do! Squigl is more light hearted where you and your partner both trace the same object and you get more points for the closer your “Squigls” are to each other! Finally Matchin, probably the easiest after a long day, simply involves choosing an image you like most, the more you and your partner chose the same of the more points you get! It’s highly addictive and there is an element of psychology in it, choosing the picture you think your partner will have chosen!

Unlike many other games sites there is a point to this one, according to the gwap “About” section you are helping to train computers solves problems for humans. This includes more efficient image tagging so that search engines can understand what a picture is of etc. So you can be happy in the thought that your trivial time wasting isn’t going to waste after all!

External Link: gwap

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Read more | Comments (1) | Thursday, 14th Aug 2008