Chapter 2 [ 37 ] The built-in Media Manager is a wonderful tool for Joomla! administrators. In fact if you have a Joomla! website that has been built by someone else, then this may be your only tool for uploading new les to your web server. So we agree that it's a cool tool; one, which can limit le types and allow you to create directories and upload les, but unfortunately one that is simplistic and has its limitations. One of these drawbacks is the lack of ability to move les about once they are uploaded. Remember, we can create as many subdirectories as we wish (under our main media directory). So the trick is to analyze your site purpose at the start of the project, and set up these directories accordingly, which will save you time and frustration down the line. If your site is already established with les and links to these, then the job will certainly become more time consuming to do. A spring clean of the established site is possible though, and will require new directories to be created, les moved into these, and content and links checked to make sure they go to the correct destination. Alternative method of managing files and media Depending on your circumstances, you may or may not have login access to your web hosting server. If you do not, then one of your only options for uploading les will be to use the Joomla! Media Manager, or the option of third-party Joomla! Extensions. If you do have web server access, then by using a method called FTP (File Transfer Protocol), you will be able to gain greater control over your le management. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 38 ] FTP is a standard network protocol that is used to exchange and manipulate les over a computer network. A common use of FTP is to transfer les over the Internet between a local computer and a web server, which is exactly what we are after! FTP clients There are numerous FTP clients (programs) that can be used to transfer les. Some of these graphically show the le and transfer processes, making the management of your les from your computer to your web server very easy to do. FTP programs FTP programs range from no cost applications through to commercial software. Which one you choose to use will be down to personal preference. Most of these programs provide drag and drop features as well as easy directory navigation tools: This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Chapter 2 [ 39 ] There are excellent FTP programs for all major operating systems. Some popular options for Windows and Mac are: Windows FileZilla CuteFTP SmartFTP WS_FTP cURL Mac FileZilla Transmit Cyberduck CuteFTP Fetch FTP Command in Terminal If you perform a search using a popular search engine, you will obtain a denitive list of FTP programs. A suggestion would be to download a trial version of these to see which one suits your operating system and requirements. For the purpose of this topic, I have chosen to use and take screenshots from an FTP program called "Transmit". It is a commercial product, but personally one of my favorites. For those whose use MAC computers, Transmit is recognized as a wonderful FTP tool. Connecting using an FTP program Almost all FTP programs require similar information in order to connect to the web server. Depending on the program you are using, the naming of these elds may be slightly different. In order to connect, we need the following information which is usually derived from setting up a user account (with FTP permissions) on your web hosting control panel: 1. Server This is the server address that you wish to connect to. Typically this can look like ftp.yourserver.com. Depending on the domain name settings, it can sometimes be your domain name, such as www.yourserver.com. • ° ° ° ° ° • ° ° ° ° ° ° This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 40 ] 2. User Name This is your web server account username. Often this can be in the format of yourusername@yourdomain.com. 3. Password This is your web server account password. 4. Initial Path Some programs offer the ability to set an initial directory to navigate to upon login. If you do not have this option, then do not worry. 5. Port If the server requires connections on a port other than the default one, some programs offer you the ability to enter in a port number. It is best to leave this as the default setting unless you know what you are doing. If you are having any issues connecting, then it's best to contact your web hosting administrator in order to check your login access details. There are typically three types of FTP login methods available. These are: 1. Anonymous FTP access This is an easy connection method as you do not need to include any user information. Sometimes software companies offer updates or corporate and government websites offer forms and content to be downloaded via an anonymous connection method. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Chapter 2 [ 41 ] 2. Username A simplied but restricted access level where you will be required to enter just a username. This type of FTP login is often used in school and intranet environments. 3. Username and Password This is a more restricted security access level where the user requires both a username and password in order to access the server. This method is often used by web hosting companies who offer people the ability to upload les to the web server. If your FTP connection is set to username (or username and password), then you should see a dialog box on the screen. This will prompt you to enter your security access details: Once connected, you will need to navigate to your webroot folder. Depending on your web server, this area may be named httpdocs, mainwebsite_html, public_html, or other naming conventions. It will be inside this directory where your Joomla! website les will reside. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 42 ] When you have located your main http documents area and clicked to navigate inside this, you will see the default Joomla! media folder named images. When you have successfully navigated to your remote main media folder (or any of the subfolders within this), you will need to make sure that you also navigate locally to the folders or les you wish to upload. Most FTP programs offer you the ability to create new directories, and drag and drop les from your local computer to the web server. By using an FTP program, you can gain additional control over your website les and content. FTP programs can allow you to: Create les and directories Rename les and directories Move les and directories Delete les and directories Set le and directory permissions FTP programs offer you the most exibility in managing your website les, but it is important to take care when using FTP programs. By connecting to your directory structure on the web server, you are navigating amongst core Joomla! les. FTP via a web browser In addition to browsing the World Wide Web, modern web browsers are comprehensive internet tools containing additional features such as RSS readers, the ability to use e-mail, and work with FTP. • • • • • This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Chapter 2 [ 43 ] Although you can use dedicated FTP programs as we have covered, it's easy to connect to FTP servers using a typical web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. For the purpose of this example and screenshots, we will be using Mozilla Firefox. Connecting to FTP via a web browser There are some cases where web browser FTP access can be restricted by organizations, but in general, if you can use an FTP program to connect to your web hosting server, then you should be able to connect via FTP using your web browser. The benets of using a web browser are: Well it's free and you probably already have it in front of you! As when using an FTP program to connect, there are typically three types of FTP login methods available. These are: 1. Anonymous FTP access Authentication methods for FTP via a web browser are the same as when using a software-based FTP program. 2. Username A simplied but restricted access level where you will be required to enter just a username. This type of FTP login is often used in school and intranet environments. 3. Username and Password This is a more restricted security access level where the user requires both a username and password in order to access the server. This method is often used by web hosting companies, who offer people the ability to upload les to the web server. There are usually two methods of connecting to FTP via a web browser. These are: 1. Enter an FTP address into the address bar For most web browsers that offer FTP support, it is possible to type in the syntax: ftp.yourserver.com or sometimes ftp.yourdomainname.com, and then press Enter. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 44 ] If your FTP connection is set to Username (or Username and Password), then you should see a dialog box on the screen. This will prompt you to enter your security access details: If you are having any issues connecting, then it's best to contact your web hosting administrator in order to check your login access details. Once connected, you will need to navigate to your webroot folder. Depending on your web server, this area may be named httpdocs, mainwebsite_html, public_html, or other naming conventions. It will be inside this directory where your Joomla! website les will reside. 2. Entering directly into the address bar The second method of connecting via FTP in a web browser is to enter the user information directly into the address bar. Although this can save you a step, I often nd that users can make mistakes using this method, taking them longer than the previous connection method. Different browsers may have slightly different syntax, but when using Mozilla Firefox you would enter something similar to the following directly into the address bar: ftp://username: password@yourserver.com For example, if my username was john and my password was 12345, then that would look like: ftp:john: 12345@yourserver.com. Quite often the username can contain the domain name. If this is the case, the syntax would look like: ftp:john@yourserver.com: 12345@yourserver.com . This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Chapter 2 [ 45 ] Uploading and downloading Once you are connected to FTP by a web browser (by either of the previous methods), the uploading and downloading of les is usually quite intuitive. To upload a new le, make sure you are residing in the correct remote directory for upload. Browse to a le on your computer and simply drag this le over into your web browser. Depending on the size of the le, this might take some time to upload and then the process should complete. You can download a le in a similar manner, or you might need to double-click on the le to start downloading it. Web browser plugins A number of popular web browsers offer you extension plugins, which can enhance the FTP capabilities when using the browser connection method. The Firefox web browser has a useful extension called FireFTP. This plugin offers you a left and right view to easily manage and move les via FTP using your web browser. FireFTP is just like having a stand alone FTP program on your computer. It's free to use and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. More information about FireFTP can be found by visiting http://fireftp.mozdev.org/. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 46 ] The following screenshot shows the FireFTP plugin: It is important to mention that, if you are performing regular le uploading, then using a specialist FTP browser plugin or FTP program will offer you additional features and make life easier for you. Usually you can save your favorite connections, so you can login to your web server with a few clicks. With lots of free FTP programs available now that provide the options for le moving, renaming, and in some cases server-to-server le movement, there is no reason why you should not be using one of these if you have FTP server access and perform regular transfers. SFTP Secure FTP (SFTP) is a program that uses SSH to transfer les. SFTP encrypts both the commands and data being transferred, creating a secure connection between your computer and the remote server. You can use SFTP via an SFTP client, or the command line. Most FTP clients do offer SFTP support, but not all web hosts support SFTP, so it will pay to check with yours before trying to use this transfer method. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 08724 . sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 087 24 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 44 ] If your FTP connection is set to Username (or Username and Password), then. sole use by jackie tracey on 23rd February 2010 953 Quincy Drive, , Brick, , 087 24 Managing Your Joomla! Media [ 40 ] 2. User Name This is your web server account username. Often this can be in. Brick, , 087 24 Chapter 2 [ 41 ] 2. Username A simplied but restricted access level where you will be required to enter just a username. This type of FTP login is often used in school and intranet