This page is part of the Web Communications Guide to Using FTP. It explains how to list and transfer files using a graphical FTP client. If you are already familiar with this aspect of using FTP, then you may want to skip to the permissions overview.

WebCom Servers use Unix, the standard operating system for serving data on the Internet.

Unix is case sensitive. Under Unix, filename.GIF, filename.gif and FILENAME.GIF all refer to different files. This is not the case with some other operating systems (such as DOS/Windows).

There is no "undelete" under Unix. Once a file is gone, it is GONE. Forever. Period. Regular backups are highly recommended. If you make a major mistake, WebCom administration will attempt to restore your files, but we make absolutely no guarantees about this (we also charge a fee for this service).

You are automatically transferred to your WebCom home directory after logging on. The area displaying your files and directories on WebCom will show "/pub/[youruserid]/welcome.html" as the directory where you are located. This is your home directory: all files transferred to your WebCom account must be stored here, or in a sub-directory underneath it.

Several directories and files should be listed. These are created when your account is initially set up. For information on these files, see your WebCom directory.

Find the menu item or button which provides detailed information about your files and directories. Highlight the "www" directory and select the button or menu item. (The program used while creating this tutorial has a button labeled "Dir Info" which does this. For a regular file, the button is labeled "Info".)

Your client should show the last time the "www" directory was modified, and a string of letters similar to "rwxr-xr-x" (these are file access permissions, which control who can access your files).

Highlight and doubleclick on "www". This will change the directory displayed to "www". The file listing will now show files located in the "www" directory. The area displaying your current directory on WebCom will show "/pub/[youruserid]/www".

The "www" directory is where the files and directories you wish to be accessible through the World Wide Web must be placed or created. If you are accessing your account before having placed any files in this directory, only one file will be listed: "welcome.html" (this file was placed in your "www" directory when your account was set up). Use the "Info" button or menu option to view the detailed information about the file as you did with the "www" directory.

If you wish to create a simple HTML page, you may use the WebCom File Manager to do so. Other files, such as graphical images, and compressed files will need to be transferred using your FTP client.

Before transferring any files to WebCom, make sure your FTP client is using "Binary" mode to transfer files. There should be an button or menu item controlling this. The program we used while creating this tutorial has two buttons, right under the menu bar, which turn this on and off. Many FTP clients default to the alternate mode, "ASCII", which damages non-plain text files during transfer.

Transferring a file to your WebCom account should be as simple as highlighting the file, and clicking "Copy" (as in the program we used) or "dragging" the file from a directory on your machine, and "dropping" it into a directory on WebCom. If it is not immediately obvious, the "help" menu of your FTP client should explain how to do this.

Your client should provide information about the progress of the transfer as it occurs. Once the transfer is finished, the file should be listed in the "www" directory of your WebCom account. You may have to "refresh" the listing by clicking on the "www" directory again to see it.

The next step is to alter the permissions of your file, to make sure that people can or can not access it, as you choose.