Okay, a little background. My Dad owns a small business, and they’ve had a website for a few years now. The website hasn’t really been updated in that whole time. All I want to do is get on the website and update some prices, specials, etc.
Now, I’m pretty familiar with HTML, and have access to programs such as Dreamweaver, so editing a website itself is not a problem.
My question is, how would I go about actually publishing an updated version on the web? Do I need to get some sort of username and password, or what? I can call up the people who host the site and get information if I need it, but I want to have a clue what I’m looking for before I call them and make a fool of myself.
The odds are high that what you’ll need is an ftp username and password. If all you want to do is modify prices and such, you can just ftp down the file(s) in question, modify them in a text editor, and ftp them back up.
If you already have Dreamweaver, you can set it up to pull down the site, and after you make changes, it can post them back up.
You won’t look like a fool. Just contact the folks that set the thing up in the first place. They can either give you the credentials to access the site via ftp or they can act like a bunch of jerks. The odds are 50-50 these days.
No skin off your nose either way, but you might have to pay someone a little bit to get control. Best of luck. I deal with this all the time, and most folks are more than happy to have someone update some site anywhere. I think you’re on the right track and you will do fine with a polite note. YMMV.
Okay, so tomorrow I’ll probably try to get in touch with them (via phone call, e-mail, something). Is the ftp site of a web site the same as the http address (with ftp instead of http)?
And, assuming I find out the ftp address and ftp username/password, how would I get to the point where I would enter the username/password and actually upload the updated site?
This is so frustrating… I’ve made personal sites in the past, but always used free web site hosting services where I never had to worry about these things.
First if you don’t have them get the access userid/pw with the host. Likely the host either has a page on their website how to set up an FTP client, or will e-mail you a standard letter explaining this.
First off, bear in mind that a professional would have to call them and ask the same questions. You won’t look like an idiot; they get this question all the time.
Assuming it’s done with ftp, and assuming you want to do simple editing by hand, do this (everything bold below, enter the bold text, and press <enter>):
open a dos box (this is in windows; on a Mac, someone else will have to help). Do this by clicking start -> Run, enter “cmd”, and click “OK”. If this doesn’t work, do it again, and enter “command” instead.
cd to the directory where you want to work, such as emp
type ftp sitename. They will give you the address of “sitename”. It may be something like ftp.abc.com.
*You’ll be prompted for a user name. Enter what they gave you.
You’ll be prompted for a password. enter what they gave you.
Type bin. You won’t need to do this unless you’re changing graphics, but it doesn’t hurt.
Type get filename.html, where filename.html is the file you want.
Type quit.
Now edit the file to your liking.
ftp to the site as above (ftp blah.com, user, password, bin).
Type put filename.html.
You’re done.
Note that if you want to change a graphic, you’ll want to
This might possibly be made even easier than Bill H has outlined.
As mentioned, you’re going to need the username and password to access any of the files on the server (the hosting account). Now, depending on what company is hosting the website, you might luck out and get a nifty little user interface with which to upload and manage the files. You might want to call the hosting company and ask if they have a login page to an administrative section of your website. If so, you can manage the whole site, and see statistics, set email addresses, etc. right from there.
Another option is using an FTP client. (FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocal. The end difference is you use FTP to manage the files like you’re looking at your hard drive in Windows Explorer - folders and files sitting there - while HTTP means you’re looking at the actual working website.)
I have used the WS_FTP LE program for years now. Its very scaled down, and for a little cash you can get FTP clients with tons of bells and whistles if you want, but WS_FTP has the advantage of being free.
Profile Name: lpswitch
Host Name/Address: www.yoursitename.com
Host Type: Automatic Detect
User ID: username
Password: yep, you guessed it
The last two fields you can leave blank.
Click OK, you’ll connect, and in the right hand pane you’ll see all the files and folders for your website. On the left you’ll be looking at the files on your computer. Browse, highlight, and click the arrow button to move copies of files back and forth.
