FTP vs. Drag-n-Drop Dr.Sara Wolf EDMD 7200 Spring, 2007

FTP  File Transfer Protocol Process of moving files from one location to another General term that is used with several software packages  Fetch  WS-FTP  “Command line FTP” (DOS Prompt) Directions provided under “General Handouts”

Drag-n-Drop (DND)  Process of moving files from one location to another using the mouse Usually completed in “windows explorer” view: FTP is preferred process for transferring files to and from Web servers

Why FTP?  Lowest Common Denominator of the processes  Free (or relatively so) software to aid users  Serves as a reminder that files are traveling between remote and local folders  “Old School” = Command line See following Images

Directory Name “P Drive” Command Line

You can see why command line ftp went by the wayside

Why Drag-n-Drop (DND)?  Excellent for moving files between directories/folders solely on a local computer FloppyHard drive Hard driveFloppy Zip diskHard drive FloppyZip disk/Flash drive  Right-click and drag reveals context sensitive menu, yielding more user control

Right-Click & Drag Menu

Cautions  Sometimes “DND” causes file naming errors, particularly on Macintosh computer systems (Adding % to path names)  Sometimes FTP programs can force slight changes in file names that can affect Webpage performance (Capitalization) TourHome.htmltourhome.HTML TourHome.htmltourhome.html

WS-FTP Option Box

Questions?

Practice!  Create a file…any file.  Give it a name: no spaces, no special characters  Create a 2 nd file (same naming conditions as first one, but with different name)  Transfer that file to your P: drive using DND  Transfer the first file to your P: drive using FTP See “Using WS-FTP” under “Course Content & Related Materials”  “General Handouts” inside WebCT