FTPFile Transfer Protocol or

WEBDESIGN TIPS & FTP
or
"How the heck do I post my WebPages or get my pictures up on

So you've seen al the other people's websites on the Internet and your ready to try your hand at
creating your own. First you'll need to know a little about how a web page works and how you
can get yours on our server after your done designing it.

First a little information and explanation of terms.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol. The program or process that transfers files (WebPages, image files etc.) from your machine where it was created up to the server where the files can be viewed by the rest of the world.
.JPG: Image file used on WebPages.( best for photos)
.GIF: Image file used on WebPages.(best for graphics or lettering)
Both these files are compressed so they load fast. DON'T USE .BMP FILES They take too long to load.
HTML: Webpage files are this type usually this type with a file extension of .HTM or .HTML

A webpage is not just one file but a combination of image and text files put together into a document that can be viewed by a browser (example: Internet Explorer or Netscape) so remember to upload all your image files as well or else your page will show a broken image link like this. >>>
Want to see the source code for this page? Click VIEW, SOURCE on the drop down menu at the top of the page.

yes it's broken!

The free space we supply for client websites is inside of the TCSN domain. But you get to pick the directory name. If you choose something like "mypage" you would have an address like http://www.tcsn.net/mypage when someone wants to view your webpage they simply type in www.tcsn.net/mypage and they will be taken to your home page or your index page. People will see whatever is in the document called "index.html". (You can use "index.htm", "default.htm", or "home.html" if you like; "index.html" is most standard and therefore recommended.)

Things you'll need...
An FTP program. This program simply takes a file on your machine and puts it on our machine or the webserver. They can't see a file on your machine unless your online 24 hours a day so you'll have to put it onto our machine which is called your webserver. We recommend Cute FTP.
You can use it for free as shareware or purchase a copy for 39.95. Now with this program you can upload the files that you want to put into your webspace. While this works fine for Ebay because all they need is an image file but if you want to design a webpage you'll need a webdesign program. Windows also has a built in FTP program but there is no user interface you have to use DOS commands. more info For information uploading and configuring your FTP program You can also use Internet Explorer if you type in the username, password and hostname like this ftp://username:password@ftp.tcsn./net
Webdesign Programs:This is the actual program that makes a website or WebPages. Now there are plenty out there and the costs ranging from free to several hundred dollars but for your first attempts a free one will probably work fine for you. If you are running Windows as your operating system then you'll want to try out FrontPage Express. It's a great webdesign program it's free to download from Microsoft.com some of the more elaborate programs have built in FTP and server side extras Microsoft's FrontPage 98 and 2000 are great programs and Macromedia's Dreamweaver is also a great program that generates clean HTML code and great mouseover effects. If your using a MAC your best bet is Netscape Gold or Communicator it has a built in editor and FTP program and it's free as well but the better design programs are also available for purchase for your MAC.
Tips and Tricks: Now we'll let you in on some of the secrets Webmasters have been using for years and you can learn to make changes to your own pages. Check out the internet for pages you like the look of. Then open them in your webpage editing program and see how they are setup.
Images: This is a great trick for collecting images you run across on the Internet and you want to use on your own page.

Lets try it with the image on the left. Right click on the image.
(I wondered what that right button was for)
You'll get a little menu like the one shown choose "SAVE PICTURE AS" point it a folder on your desk top and you can start collecting images in your own little library and use them on your own page. It's not stealing really, webmasters call it borrowing. Just be sure to steer clear of copyright images with symbols like Š Ž. Create a folder called "web" or "images" to avoid cluttering up your desktop with hundreds of images.

Ebay doesn't want webpage addresses, it wants the URL of the image itself. If you have a site with TCSN the image address will be your address + the name of the picture. Example people type in www.tcsn.net/mypage to get to your directory and ad the image name that you uploaded to the end of the address This is the URL you'll give Ebay http://www.tcsn.net/mypage/hand.gif sweep over the URL and and right click and COPY, paste it into your ebay address line. If you can see the image you did it right. If you can't you might see if the image name has upper case lettering in it but you typed it in lower case. Try not to use spaces in your image names either and try to keep the image names as short as possible to avoid image names like "this_is_one_big_fat_image_name.jpg"