WS FTP is a program for PCs running Windows that uses the File Transfer Protocol to copy files from one computer to another computer. One application of this, for example, is uploading your Web page to our server. If you use a Macintosh, you will have a program called Fetch -- Fetch is your FTP program.

WSFTP is available from (among other places) the software area of our website. The file is a ZIP-file, so you will need to use PKUNZIP (on your Humboldt Internet floppy disk) to un-zip it. Instructions on un-zipping files are in the Humboldt Internet Tutorial in your setup packet and on our website.

So, now you've downloaded and set up WS FTP and you just want to know how to use it. Here goes...

Your WS FTP icon should look like this. Double-click on it.

WS FTP will present you with a "session profile". WS FTP memorizes your login name, password, and other information so you don't have to type it every time. This information is stored in a session profile.

You want to create a new session profile for Humboldt Internet, so click the button at the top marked New.

For the Profile Name, enter Humboldt Internet.

For the Host Name, enter humboldt1.com.

For User ID, enter your login name. For Password, enter your password. Your login name and password are on your sign-up sheet. You should have received a copy of your sign-up sheet when you signed up with us.

Check the box on the right marked Save Password.

Now click the Save button to save this profile.

Click the OK button to open an FTP connection to our server.

Once you're connected, your screen should look a lot like this.

The left side is your computer, and the right side is our computer. The top half of each side shows folders, and the bottom half shows the files in the folder you're looking at. At the very top of the right and left, you'll see the full names of the folders you're in. If the folders' names are too long, you'll only see the first part of them - make your WS FTP window larger to see the whole name of the folder.

In the folders windows, you may see a folder named ".." (double-dot) This folder connects to the folder just above your folder. For instance, if you're in the folder "c:\wsftp" on your computer, you would double-click the .. folder on the left side of the screen to switch to "c:\" on your computer.

In your folders, you will also see folders named "[-a-]", "[-c-]", and "[-d-]" These folders point to your A: drive (usually your floppy disk), your C: drive (your hard disk), and your D: drive (usually a CD-ROM drive). Double-click on these folders to change to another drive. This is useful if you want to upload or download files directly to or from a floppy disk or a CD.

Near the top, on both the right side and the left side, you'll see three buttons: ChgDir lets you switch to another folder, if you know the name of the folder you want to be in; MkDir creates a folder; RmDir deletes a folder, if the folder is empty already.

So, let's say you have already created a folder called "public_html" on our system and now you want to upload your web page to our server. Instructions for getting things ready to upload your web page are available on our website - go to the Tutorials menu and look for "How to get Your Web Page on the Web".

First, you would double-click on the "public_html" folder on our server (on the right) to go into that folder.

Now you would look for your web page documents on your computer. On your side of the screen, double-click on the folders (at the top of the screen) to go into the folder where your web page documents are kept. Remember that the ".." folder takes you "up" one folder in your directory tree and that the full name of the folder you're in is at the top of your half of the screen. So, let's say I keep my web page documents in the folder "C:\WEBPAGE" - I would double-click on the ".." folder until I was in the folder "C:\" and then I would double-click on the folder "WEBPAGE". If I kept my documents in "C:\STUFF\WEBPAGE", I would double-click my way to "C:\" and then double-click on "STUFF" and then I would double-click on "WEBPAGE".

If you're not sure where you put your web page documents, you'll want to use your File Manager or your Windows 95 Find function (look in the Start Menu) to search for the files.

Now the public_html folder is on the right (see up at the top?) and the web page documents are on the left (see the folder name up there?). To copy a file from your computer to ours, click on the file and then click on the arrow pointing towards our side of the screen (towards the right).

A status bar will appear as each file is being transferred. The status bar will show how fast the connection is going and will give an estimate of how long the file will take to transfer. If you're transferring files for a web page, each file will usually take less than a second and the status bar will flash on the screen very briefly.

Now you'll see your file on the right side of the screen, on our computer. You've uploaded your document! Go ahead and upload the rest of your documents.

Now you know how to upload files using WS FTP.