You'll probably become acquainted with FTP soon after you've opened an account with a web hosting company and set the DNS so you can begin to publish the pages of your web site.
There are a number of ways to do this but the most common is to use File Transfer Protocol software. SmartFTP is an excellent free FTP program but this is only one of several options.
How They Go
File Transfer Protocol is an Internet Protocol (like HTTP) that is used for sending files from one computer to another. Your web host will tell you how to connect to your web site using FTP.
Usually you'll use software such as FileZilla to access the appropriate server on your website. This server usually has a name such as ftp.mysite.com (where mysite.com is your domain name).
Where They Go
Your web host will also let you know the specific directory to which your files should be uploaded. You'll most likely be assigned two main folders in the root directory: public_html and www.
You'll upload your web pages to the public_html folder. The folder labelled WWW is a mirror folder to help bring visitors to your web site by typing in www.yoursite.com or simply yoursite.com (without the www).
Why They Go
You may need to adjust some of your software settings to ensure your files upload correctly.
For example, you'll need to set the transfer method to passive if you have a firewall installed on your server. Or if you use a proxy server you may have to modify some of the proxy settings.
FTP
< Connect to your Host Server
FTP Settings >
