? For Those w/ Web Sites

[Jim Young]

I use MS FrontPage for my site. It has this little button at the top when you are ready to publish it to the server. The problem is you don't see the server's files. I would like to check the server's files and also be able to update only the files I worked on, my computer is taking a long time to upload the documents. I was just wondering what program others use that shows the files.

[Tim Dorcas]

Maybe it's time to switch to something else. That said there should be an option to only upload the changes instead of the whole site. If memory serves there are a couple of different formats you upload from Frontpage. Take a look at how you are publishing your site.

I use Wordpress for my own site and find it incredibly easy to use once you get it setup. There are a ton of plug-ins, templates, and styles for you download and install. You can check out my website to see what I'm talking about or go here to get more information.

Good Luck!

Tim

[Mitchell Andrus]

My site is a bit more intense than most, being a full bodied cart... but, even as complicated as it is, it's still just files and storage. For the database, I use a resident SQL utility. For the .aspx, .vb, graphics and HTML files, I use Filezilla to FTP to the site. Stable enough to be the file utility of choice for Lucent and IBM, and I think it's still either free or really cheap.

Ask your hosting company for the 'best' way to do this. Also, get a few good books.

My wife and I run a few other websites via plain old HTML (she's an HTML old-timer and hates Front Page-like programs), .aspx. Front Page has it's uses, but it is a beginner's crutch when you get right down to it. Use it or any other sim. program to lay out the page, save the files and load them up manually - it's about the same as saving a Word document. Think of the remote server as another drive in your computer - that simple. Instead of File Manager, use Filezilla. You'll need your site's user name and password, and you're in. Your computer is in a window on the left, the remote server is in a window on the right. You just click and drag files from one side to the other. Done.

Back up locally constantly too.

http://filezilla-project.org/

[Frank Hagan]

I have a small hosting company and have a few clients who use Frontpage. You do need to upload and maintain the site through Frontpage if you have started with that; it does some things "in the background" with its extensions that you'll miss when uploading independently. You'll have things like broken counters, etc., if you simply copy the files using FTP (or wget, for the Linux guys).

If you convert your site and want to learn HTML, you'll need a FTP program to take the place of FrontPage's built in FTP capabilities. I like FileZilla also. Its a free FTP program, but use the prior version, version 2.2.xx (where "xx" is whatever is highest on the page), available from the official distribution site, SourceForge

The newer versions have less features and suffer from the inability to send "keep alive" pings so that you'll end up having to re-connect all the time.

For a good, free text editor to do the HTML programming, I like PSPAD, available from http://www.pspad.com ... I consider it fancy because it has syntax highlighting and color charts, but its not a WYSIWYG type of editor.

[Ed Newbold]

I use Filezilla to FTP to the site. Stable enough to be the file utility of choice for Lucent and IBM, and I think it's still either free or really cheap. http://filezilla-project.org/

Filezilla is really great, and it's still FREE! I use it daily for my sites.