FTP: NOT Flowers To People

I am of a generation that used to think of FTP as a way of wiring bouquets of flowers to people anywhere in the world where there were florists.

Not any more.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol just as HTTP is a protocol. FTP actually used to be about the only way you sent files over the Internet. FTP still remains one of the most efficient ways of managing files on multiple servers. You can move many files, including complete directories in a single action. As you develop in your use of the Internet you will want to acquire an FTP application. For Windows, WFTP is a popular and readily available application. I was once a fan of the Mac-based application known as Fetch, but have moved on to a shareware program called Transmit.

These applications provide a ready means for uplaoding and downloading files. Uploading means that you PUT a file from your computer to a remote server. Downloading means that you GET files from a remote server and bring it to your computer.

Most FTP applications today enable you to see files on the local and remote sites, and permit you to simply drag files and folders back and forth between the sites.