If you are publishing a web to a Web server that has the Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions installed on it, you can publish using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). Otherwise, you must publish your web using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is a method of transferring files from one computer to another. Usually, it is used to copy files from a personal computer to a server, so that they can be accessed by others. There are several common software programs that are used to transfer files (depending on which operating system your computer is running): WS_FTP, Internet Neighborhood, or Fetch. FTP is often used to download files from Internet sites, many of which allow users to log in anonymously and download public repositories of material (programs, images, text, etc.). These sites are called "anonymous ftp sites." (catalyst.washington.edu/glossary.html). WS_FTP is available at various locations as a free download... I suggest downloading from Tucows as this is a very secure site without much danger from viruses. Under the INTERNET heading, select WS-FTP LE and follow the instructions to select the appropriate version for your Operating System. NOTE: This is not part of your web! Download this to the hard drive of your computer -- it is an Application Program.
Once you've downloaded and installed WS_FTP, you can now begin uploading to your server (providing, of course, that your server supports File Transfer Protocol). This information can be obtained from your ISP. Some ISPs, like Yahoo (Geocities) requires that you purchase a domain name in order to upload via FTP... therefore, it is important to check this out before acquiring space on an Active Server.
To Open WS_FTP LE (or any other version of the program) simply
select the appropriate Icon from the Desktop (this should have been created in
the setup for the application). The Icon will look similar to this one: 
.
Once the program is opened, you can begin uploading by connecting to your remote
server (ISP). Upon signing up to a server with FTP support, you will be
given certain information which is specific to FTP. This should be
inserted into the Connect To Server dialogue box which appears immediately upon
opening of the program. The screen looks like this:
Your server information will include: Host Name/Address,
Host Type (possibly), your User ID, and your personal Password. The
Profile name, if not already in the dropdown list, will need to be
created. To do this, click the New button and follow the
instructions. Once you've inserted all of the required information, simply
click OK and you will have direct access to your upload folder (Root
Directory) on the Active (Remote) Server/ ISP. Once connected, your WS_FTP
Interface Screen will look similar to this:
Here I have shown an active upload screen for cool-teacher.com. Note that the screen is divided into two halves: Local System and Remote Site. The Local System is shown on the left and indicates the information (files, folders, etc.) which have been created in my web folder. On the right, you see the Remote Server contents -- the things that have been actually uploaded from my computer to the ISP. Ideally, these should be identical (unless, for example, you have some information that you don't want to be shown all of the time, like different index pages which change every month, etc.). To upload a file, simply select it and click the right arrow. To take something from the net for editing in FrontPage, simply select it from the right hand list and press the left arrow button. NOTE: if you take something down from the net, you do not remove it... you simply download a copy of the file. In order to delete an item entirely, you must highlight it and click on the Delete button on the right.
Organization-- BE CAREFUL to maintain equality in all aspects of file transfer... if a file is spelled differently on your server than it is in the web folder on your computer, nothing in that folder will be accessible! Remember, the things displayed on a webpage are not actually there... they are only representations of images which are located somewhere on a server.. the HTML of the page tells the browser to locate the specified file and display it according to the instructions on the page. I show my students the effects of a misspelled word by going to our school page and changing the folder images to Images. A small change indeed (lower-case to capital letter)... the effect of this change is that no pictures previously available for viewing on our site are able to be seen. By changing the spelling/case of the word back to reflect what is located on the computer at school, everything goes back to normal. The rule of thumb: Everything Must Be The Exact Same in both the web folder and the root directory.
Compression-- File size is of great importance to webmasters... we don't want to upload files that are too large because (i) they take up too much room and (ii) they take too long to download. When you upload files, such as images, sounds, etc. consider the size of the file and whether or not you really want to sacrifice that much space and time -- is it worth it? Compress your images by resampling them in FrontPage, Irfan View, or another image editing application. Use MIDI files where possible. Don't include superfluous items that will not only take away from your space but cause your viewers to get bored/annoyed and leave your site.
WinZip: An application which compresses files for transfer and decompresses them afterwards. Think of going on a long trip... you have a lot of items you will want to bring along. You pack everything tightly into a suitcase... otherwise, you would need much more room in your vehicle because your clothes and personal items would be everywhere... WinZip is the suitcase. Your documents are packed or zipped up for travel. Once you get to where you are going, you will open the suitcase (and if you're anything like my wife) everything will pop out like you're the owner of the Tickle Trunk. Note, however, that this won't help for items that you want to display in the web browser. You can download this program for free from Tucows.
PDF Files: Portable Document Format files... these are files generated and viewed using Adobe software. This type of file compression is useful for applications where WinZip won't help. Undoubtedly, you have seen these files and you are aware that to download and view these files in your web browser, you must first download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. PDF is the file format for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. A PDF file can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device-independent and resolution independent format. These documents can be one page or thousands of pages, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, colour, and images (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=portable%20document%20format).
Unfortunately, to create these documents, you must first own the
appropriate Adobe Acrobat application. If you want to test out the value
of these documents, you can create a .pdf file over the internet at Adobe's
Website. You can also purchase a variety of application software on
this site as well.
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