FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the method that computers of all kinds use to send and receive files over the Internet. It was developed to enable a number of important functions by computer users, including the sharing of data and its transfer between and among computers, including web servers that host personal or business domains. It provides a standardized platform and procedure for storing files on different "hosts" and allows simple offsite backups, too.

FTP sites

An FTP site is, quite simply, an Internet-accessible storehouse holding files of all types, from programs and data to music, video, etc. To up- or download files from such a location, you must have the login information that includes the FTP user name and password. You transfer files in either a binary or ASCII (text) mode. With a binary mode you transfer "executables" (like programs) as well as media files containing audio and/or video data. The ASCII mode is used for text files such as those that are produced in plain-text editors like Windows Notepad or the Macintosh's TextEdit.

In practice, FTP is used primarily for two things. The first is simple peer-to-peer transferring of files, while the other is the maintenance of websites. The web pages made in Dreamweaver, FrontPage or the Mac's iWeb are plain text files that contain instructions for assembling pages in a browser. All of the components of the final web page are transferred by FTP to the server and displayed per the instructions in the plain text web page file.

Anonymous FTP and hosting

Normally you will connect to your FTP site or server with a login name and password. However, "anonymous FTP servers" allow you to login as a guest with no user name and just your e-mail address as the password. This gives you access to the files that have been placed in the publicly available section of the FTP site. This is a very handy way that people can safely allow downloads of files, programs, music or other data without having to manage any requests for the items.

As mentioned above, FTP is used by webmasters to upload their website components to their host server, the computer that will store all of it and "serve" it up to a visitor's browser. Every retail web hosting package will provide you a username and a password to access the FTP server for the maintenance, deletion, updating and replacing of your website files.

FTP on different computer systems

FTP is actually built into the modern computer operating systems (OS). In the Unix system it is invoked simply by typing "ftp" (without the quotation marks, of course) at the prompt. The protocol is also built into Windows and Mac OS X. For the former, you will open a DOS window and enter "ftp" (no quotes here either) to make the prompt change to and FTP one. You can then open an FTP site with the "open" command, and if you enter "help" or "?" in response to the FTP prompt you will get a list of available commands. You then simply "quit" to return to the DOS prompt.

The Mac OS, based as it is on Unix, offers several ways to access FTP sites. You can use Unix in the Terminal, or use a browser. The main thing to remember is that FTP is part of the Internet infrastructure and is available to all computers running all systems, and available in a number of different ways. If you are a "geek" and don't use command line interfaces (CLI), there are plenty of other ways to use FTP.

FTP and browsers

Every modern browser works with FTP. You can connect to a website from Internet Explorer on a Windows system simply by typing in ftp://www.nameofsite.com in your browser address bar. A login window appears, in which you enter your username and password. You are then able to transfer files with the familiar, dead-simple drag-and-drop procedure.

You can work in the user-friendly environment of your favorite OS and browser and skip learning all the confusing (to some) FTP commands. You can do this on a Unix box, a Wintel machine or a Mac, using any of the low- or no-cost browsers now available. The Safari browser for the Mac is just as capable in this regard as any other browser, and Macs are known for making things user-friendly.

FTP programs

If you start using FTP regularly and want all the power and flexibility it can provide, you should consider an FTP "client," which is just another term for a program. They are called "dedicate programs" because they do just the one thing, although most do it quite well. Many free FTP clients are available, as well as shareware and retail programs, and despite the variation in the interfaces (much of which is due to whether they're Windows or Mac applications) they all operate in much the same way.

Windows has dozens of freeware offerings, from FreeFTP and SmartFTP to W3Filer and WS_FTP LE. Unix has scores of them and they range from bare bones to quite full-featured. The Mac, too, has various freeware offerings, including the renowned CyberDuck. In the retail arena, there are cross-platform browsers that work on Unix, Windows and Mac (like the popular FileZilla) as well as OS-specific applications. Windows has GoFTP that comes in free and paid forms, while the Mac has the retail package Fetch and several other stalwarts. No matter what kind of computer you have, you can take advantage of the power of FTP at little or no cost, and it is something every computer user should learn as soon as possible. You'll be glad you did!