Using WSFTP_LE to Upload your web pages to Polaris
Uploading your web pages to the Polaris server using WS_FTP.
First you'll need to download WSFTP_LE (Limited Edition) from: http://www.ftpplanet.com/download.htm
This is a limited edition that can be used free of charge for educational purposes.
Install the program then click on the WSFTP_LE icon to start. Be sure you're
connected to the internet via your ISP or the program won't work. A Session
Properties window will pop up. You'll need to fill in some blanks. This only
needs to be done the first time you use the program.
You'll be asked to fill in
the following:
Profile name - use any name that makes sense to you
Host Name/Address - polaris.umuc.edu
UserID - This is YOUR Polaris user ID
Password - YOUR Polaris password
Here's a screen shot of my Session Properties Window:
Once you're filled in the information, Click the OK button at the bottom of the window. After a short delay you should see the Site Manager Window.
Notice that this window has two sides. The "local" side shows your hard drive. The "remote" side shows your webspace on the Polaris Server.
Here's a screen shot of my Site Manager Window:
You're ready to upload files.
Click on the www folder on the right side of the screen to open it. First, let's transfer your web page to the www folder.
On the LEFT side of the screen, select the folder or "directory" where you saved your web page. You may need to use the Green UpArrow to move up a folder in your directory structure since your web page won't be located in the same folder as the WSFTP_LE program. If you can't find your web page, go to your START menu then pick FIND (or SEARCH if using Win ME/2000) then pick "Files or Folders". Search on "Index.html", "mypage.html" or use the name of your web page.
Once you've located your page, point your mouse at it and click the LEFT button once to highlight the filename.
Now notice the 3 radio buttons across the bottom of your Site manager window that read: ASCII, Binary, and Auto.
Click ASCII. All web pages are ascii text files.
Next, locate the --> arrow between the two windows and click that. Your web page should transfer to your www folder and should be listed there when complete.
Repeat this procedure for any additional web pages you may have.
Next you'll want to upload any graphics that you used in your web pages.
Locate your images on the LEFT side of the screen. These should end in .jpg or .gif
Once you've located an image and highlighted it, go back to those radio buttons and select BINARY this time. All images, sound files and executables have to be sent via FTP as binary files.
Click the --> arrow to transfer the image. This transfer may take longer than your web page itself. Image files are bigger than web page files. When done, you should see your image listed in your www folder.
You may remember that we used CHMOD to set permissions when we created our www and images folders. You can use WSFTP to set or check these permissions to make sure they're set correctly. To do this, simple point your mouse at your www or images folder on the RIGHT side of your screen and click the RIGHT button.
From the popup menu, select CHMOD (Unix). A screen will pop up that looks like this:
You'll notice that the owner (you) can read and write. The Group can read, the World can read. This means your permissions are set correctly. Click OK to close the window.
You can also click the DirInfo button to see the familiar Unix pattern
drwxr-xr-x
Finally, you can create directories using WSFTP. To do so, go to the folder where you want the directory to reside then click on MkDir.
If you need additional help using WSFTP_LE, please don't hesitate to ask by posting a question in the classroom or by emailing me.
