FTP - File Transfer Protocol, otherwise known as "getting it online", or "uploading" is a common way to upload a website to a remote server. We will use a simple application called Fetch to upload our websites to our home spaces in the server in the ETS lab. Fetch is a file transfer protocol program for the Macintosh, which is available to you as a student for download from the OSU Site Licenced Software download page. There are similar programs for PC's. Here is a link to an evaluation ftp program called WS_FTP LE

Open the application Fetch. In the New Connection dialog box make your Host settings exactly as shown in the image below. However, for the User ID and Password boxes, you must use your own user ID and password. This is the same User ID and Password you use to log into the computers in the ETS lab.

Click OK. - HINT: You might get an error message about the password going over the network, click IGNORE and you will be taken to your user area.

Putting your site into your server space:

You have one folder in your user area called SITES. This is where you put your website. Open your root folder and select all the contents and drag them into your "Sites" folder. Or, you can click the PUT button to upload your files. If you want to download any files from your server onto your local computer you can use the GET button, or just drag and drop the files you want from the Fetch window to your computer. Your first page of your website will automatically default to index.html.

Your website's address will be: 128.146.45.3/~username

- or, if you like letters better than numbers -

cypress3.ets.arts.ohio-state.edu/~username

This is the domain name that is attached to those numbers and it works just as well. Understandably, that might not be your favorite address...

Purchasing your own domain name and server space:

So, if you are interested in purchasing your own domain name (www.myname.com) and server space (web hosting), there are companies that will sell you one or the other, or both at the same time. Here is one company I have used: http://www.simpleurl.com/ As of this date, this company is offering domain names at a cost of $12 per year and hosting costs vary from $4.75 and $18.75 per month, depending on the megabytes you need.

If you are looking for the cheapest available server space, try FREE. Tripod is free, but you have to deal with incessant banners and pop-up ads.

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