Connecting your filezila FTP to a remote server(techpreneurs)

 
Although most web host(e.g godaddy,hostgator,sitegrounds) now supports an automatic direct online installation of wordpress into your host server through your Cpanel.
  there are still very many host service provider that will require you to download and upload your wordpress installation files to your host server and in this case it is recommended that you use an FTP client to upload this file and to do any future direct upload into your host server(e.g your sitemap file) this tutorial will show you how to connect an FTP client to your host server and make changes to files in your host directory.

download filezilla ftp client here

install the executable file you downloaded from the download link above. the file is supposed to look like this







[fig 1]

after installing the filezilla open it and you are supposed to see something like this:

[fig 2]

put in your accurate details where applicable.

Enter the hostname into the quickconnect bar's Host: field(1), the username into the Username: field(2) as well as the password into the Password: field(3). You may leave the Port: field empty unless your login information specifies a certain port to use. Now click on Quickconnect.


Note: If your login information specifies a protocol like SFTP or FTPS, enter the hostname as follows: sftp://yourhostname or ftps://yourhostname respectively.


FileZilla will now try to connect to the server. If all works well, you will notice that the right "column" switched from Not connected to any server to displaying a list of files and directories.

Navigating the Filezilla windows.
The next step is to get familiar with FileZilla's window layout.

[fig 3]

Here is a quick introduction: Below the toolbar (1) and quick connect bar (2), the message log (3) displays transfer and connection related messages. Below, you can find the file listings. The left column (local pane, 4) displays the local files and directories, i.e. the stuff on the PC you're using FileZilla on. The right column (server pane, 5) displays the files and directories on the server you are connected to. Both columns have a directory tree at the top and a detailed listing of the currently selected directory's contents at the bottom. You can easily navigate either of the trees and lists by clicking around like in any other file manager. At the bottom of the window, the transfer queue (6) lists the to-be-transferred and already transferred files.

Transferring files

 -uploading files.

First - in the local pane(the part labeled 4 in fig 3) - bring the directory into view which contains data to be uploaded (e.g. index.html and images/). Now, navigate to the desired target directory on the server (using the server pane's file listings). To upload the data, select the respective files/directories and drag them from the local(the part labeled 4 in fig 3) to the remote pane(the part labeled 5 in fig 3). You will notice that the files will be added to the transfer queue at the bottom of the window(the part labeled 6 in fig 3) and soon thereafter get removed again - since they were (hopefully, if nothing went wrong) just uploaded to the server. The uploaded files and directories should now be displayed in the server content listing at the right side of the window(the part labeled 5 in fig 3).


Note: If you don't like using drag-and-drop, you can also right click on files/directories (in the lower local pane) and select Upload to upload them - or simply double-click a file entry (this does not work for directories).

Note (advanced): If you enable filtering and upload a complete directory, only the not-filtered-out files and directories inside this directory will be transferred.

-Downloading

Downloading files, or complete directories, works essentially the same way as uploading - you just drag the files/directories from the remote pane(the part labeled 5 in fig 2) to the local pane(the part labeled 4 in fig 2) this time, instead of the other way round.

Note: In case you (accidentally) try to overwrite a file during upload or download, FileZilla will by default display a dialog asking what to do (overwrite, rename, skip...)

Using the site manager

Now that you are confident in transferring files (if not, practice a little bit), you might want to add the server information to the site manager to make it easy to reconnect to this server. To do this, select Copy current connection to Site Manager... in the File menu. The site manager will be opened and a new entry will be created with all the important information already filled in. You will notice that the entry's name is selected and highlighted - you can enter some descriptive name so you will later on find your server again (enter something like domain.com FTP server for example - you can rename it later if you wish).    Now close the dialog by clicking on OK.

The next time you want to connect to this server, you can simply select it in the site manager and click Connect.
this same process can be used to upload your wordpress installation files to your host server.

note: this post was posted as an aside for web design newbie's using the www.mylastkobo.com web design tutor ebook.