How to put a file on the web

11/1/05
This is a preliminary file and I have not found
anything on the web to point to...  A few points:

I started this document when I finally realized that it is more
complicated to "put a file on the web" than to attach it to an email
message (which is often done inappropriately IMHO).

It would be nice if as many people could easily "put a file on the web"
as they can send an email...

3/18/10 update.
It would be nice if as many people could easily "put a file on the web"
as can send an attachment to an email...
Now they can using  http://posterous.com/

In general, to put a file on the web one must have a place on the web to
put it. Many Internet Service Providers (ISP's - the company that you
may pay to let you get online - like aol or msn) include a place to put
files on the web as a part of their package of services.  Most college
students can have web pages too. Some "free" (advertising based)
services (like yahoo.com ?) may allow users to have web pages.  There
are many places to have web pages. BUT the procedure for actually
putting a file there, getting it to be browsable and the URL that it
ends up at etc vary depending on the provider. Thus it is difficult to
write one set of instructions that work for people who use different
ISPs. Similarly it does not work too well to ask friend who knows how to
do it unless they use the same ISP.

The typical way to put an html file from ones computer on the web at the
space provided by their ISP is simply to "ftp" it to the appropriate
place. "Ftp" refers to the "file transfer protocol" and by extension a
program that uses the ftp protocol to transfer a file. "Ftp" is also
used as a verb meaning to actually transfer a file. Using ftp usually
requires supplying ones password to prevent unauthorized file transfer.
In addition there are "secure" versions of ftp which further complicate
the process.

Please email fred (fholson [at] cohousing.org) if you have suggestions
for the content of this page, links to similar articles or links to
specific instructions for common ISP's such as
aol.com
msn.com
rr.com
comcast.com
yahoo.com

Fred H Olson   Fred's Public Links