A Quick How-To about FTP

FTP is the abbreviated form of file transfer protocol. It's basically a way to upload files to a server by a quick drag and drop. It's very useful when you are uploading several files. The program I use and will reference is called CoreFTP lite. It's free and you can download it here. If you have your own program of choice, then you probably don't need this guide and proceed as you normally would.

When you open CoreFTP lite, you will see a button that looks like this:

Now click that and you will see this screen.

Site Name -  Can really be whatever. This is basically how CoreFTP saves your different logins for easy access.
Host/IP/URL - This needs to be rpg-host.org WITHOUT the http://.
Username - When I create your FTP account, you'll be given a username that you'll use when you login. So say you want your username to be betty. Your login for this would be betty@rpg-host.org. If you don't have the @rpg-host.org in the username, it will not log you in.
Password - Pretty self-explanatory. When I ask you for info I will also ask you for a password and that's the password you will use here.
All the other options should be default. I've never changed them. Except for the don't save my password. If you don't want it to save your password, check this box. When you've got all your stuff filled in, click 'connect.'

Once you've connected, you will see a screen like this.

On the left you will be browsing your own computer. Just go to the folder you need to access that has the files you will upload. As you can see, my folder here is deeply rooted within my computer. Kind of annoying, but I'm too lazy to move it up. On the right you will see your folder that I created for you. When you log in, it will not be empty like you see here. There will already be files and folders because I will have installed your forum. Do not touch those files unless you know what you are doing and I encourage you to periodically download backup copies to your own computers if you do intend to make some edits. I will not backup your files to my computer cause of space reasons, but I may periodically backup the database for you in case a problem comes up. I'll probably create a scheduled time for this. You can make new folders and whatnot, but be aware that you will have a space limit. It won't be too terribly small, but I don't want my host to think I'm hogging resources.

OK to upload files from your computer to your folder you just simply highlight the files on the left and drag them over to the right. Where it says "No transfers..." will change to reflect the upload. If you want to do multiple files, hold down the shift and click the top file then the bottom file to select the ones between them. If you want to select specific files, hold down the ctrl key and click the files you want. If you want to download files from the server to your computer, you'll do it the same way, just in reverse.

If you want to create a new folder, just click the button that looks like a folder with a star on it. To go up a folder, just double click the topmost icon within the list that has a ... beside it.

That's pretty much the gist of it. Once you've got the basics down, everything else should be self-explanatory. If you need further help, feel free to contact me or ask on the forum.