Iowa Internet Service Provider | River City Internet

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Upload Your Pages Using FTP

Done with your page? Now the next step is to put it online.

Putting your page "online" means that your files will sit on our server in your own personal "public_html" directory allowing the world to see them. Using FTP - File Transfer Protocol - is easy and fast depending on how many pages you are going to upload. Once your files are on the server, your page address will be http://www.rivercityinternet.com/username.

The Rules:

You must have an FTP program. Some computers come with an FTP program already installed. Others that do not will need to download a copy to use. River City Internet recommends using WS_FTP made by Ipswitch. It is easy to use and can be downloaded for free to qualified noncommercial users from http://www.downloads.com/
You MUST be connected to RCI. If you are not connected to RCI via dialup, FTP will not work.
To log on to our server via FTP you will need some important information:
- Host Name: www.rivercityinternet.net
- Host Type: Auto Detect
- User ID: Your user name@rivercityinternet.net
- Password: Your password
If you are using WS_FTP, a window titled "Session Properties" will pop up. The first box is Profile Name, type in a name like "My RCI Account". Enter alice.mach3ww.com in the Host Name box. Select Auto Detect from the Host Type pull-down menu. Type in your user/account name in the User ID box and your password in the Password box. You can leave the Account and Comments boxes empty. If you want the program to remember your password, check the Save Pwd box on the right. Click on the APPLY button to save your information.

Click the OK button when all the information is entered. Voilé! You are connected to your account on our server. If by chance you get a red message saying "Connection Failed", click the Connect button and recheck your information then try again. If you still cannot get it to work, give us a call at 641-424-1511 or drop us a line for help.
Now that the connection is made, you will need to actually transfer the files to your public_html directory.

WS_FTP will show two file listings as seen below. The list on the left is the files on your computer. The list on the right is the files on our server.
1. The very FIRST thing to do is to double-click on your public_html folder in the Remote System listing to open it. All of your web page files, graphics and sounds have to be in the public_html folder for them to be seen.
2. Now for the tricky part...finding the files on your computer. Remember when we said to remember where you saved your files? Well, this is why. You need to locate those files on your computer. Let's say you saved them on your Desktop in a folder named "Webfiles"
3. If you know the exact path to your files, click the ChgDir button to the right of the Local System listing and type the path - "C:\Windows\Desktop\Webfiles" then press Enter. Your files should be seen in the Local System listing on the left.
4. If you do not know the path, you will need to click the green arrow at the top of the Local System listing to get to the C:\ directory. Clicking the arrow takes you up one level in the directory/folder system. When you have reached the C:\ directory, scroll down the Local System listing to find the folder named "Windows" and double-click the folder. Scroll down the listing again to find the folder named "Desktop" - double-click. Locate the "Webfiles" folder - double-click. Your files should now be seen in the Local System listing.
5. To transfers the files you can do one of three things:
  - Double-click each of the files, graphics and/or sounds you want for your page. This will copy the files to the public_html folder on the Remote System. OR...
  - If you want to transfer selected files at once, click on the first file, press and hold the Ctrl key and click on each of the other files you want to transfer. When all files have been highlighted, click the arrow in the center that is pointing to the right. Your files will be copied to the public_html folder. OR...
  - If you want to copy ALL of the files, click on the first file, press and hold the Shift key and click the last file in the folder (scrolling down, if necessary). Click the arrow in the center that is pointing right to copy your files to the public_html folder.

You have done it! Now try visiting your website with your browser. Remember your address (known as URL) will be http://www.mach3ww.com/~yourusername. If you need to make any changes to your page, do so to the files on your computer then FTP the changes to the server now that you know how.

EBay Information

If you are posting pictures for EBay, follow the above instructions to transfer you files.

If you are going to be selling many items on EBay you should probably dedicate a directory on your computer solely for storing you item pictures. If you are going to have a website and use your webspace, you may want to create a directory on your server under your public_html directory to keep only your EBay pictures in.

You may want to read EBay's "How to Add an Image to Your Item's Description" document before you go much farther.

When you add your picture to EBay, it's form will ask you for the picture's URL or location. If you have uploaded your picture correctly into your public_html directory, your picture should be located at http://www.rivercityinternet.net/yourusername/yourpicturename.gif (or .jpg). If you have created a subdirectory called "ebay" on our server and placed "yourpicturename.gif" in that directory, the location would appear as http://www.rivercityinternet.net/yourusername/ebay/yourpicturename.gif.

If you want to post multiple pictures on a particular auction, you will have to know a little bit of HTML. EBay allows users to post some HTML in the DESCRIPTION of the auction. You will need to know your picture location and put it inside an <IMG> tag.