Dreamweaver MX 2004: Your Connection to the Internet

File Transfer Protocol

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was one of the earliest methods of using the Internet. Its purpose is betrayed by its name: It is used to transfer files from one place to another, or from one computer to another over a distributed network. Originally, the Internet was used for the sharing of information by researchers and scientists. They would use FTP to transfer entire files of information back and forth. For instance, a researcher might compose notes about his or her current series of experiments. He or she could then upload them via FTP to a common repository where his or her colleagues could download them and comment on them or add to them with their own findings. FTP was a good way to connect users together and allow them to share their computer files.

Today, FTP is still one of the most widely used aspects of the Internet. If you have ever downloaded a shareware program or purchased an upgrade online, chances are you used FTP to do it. As a Web developer, you will find yourself using FTP primarily to place and retrieve the files that make up your sites on your remote server. This will make more sense when you understand how a Web site is constructed.

As a means of sharing information, FTP has been replaced by a more convenient, more dynamic, more appropriate method: the World Wide Web.

Just like FTP, the World Wide Web is well deserving of its name. It is truly a worldwide network, and the way it is constructed can best be described as an interconnected web of information that touches its surroundings like the balled-up string of quantum physics fame. You can start surfing at your favorite site and 30 minutes later there is no telling where you will end up.

The Web is distinct from FTP, though, and it works very differently. Whereas the purpose of FTP is to allow the transfer of entire files of information, the purpose of the Web is to allow the viewing of the contents of those files without having to download them to your computer. Using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the Web provides an infrastructure that allows the viewing of text content, graphics, images, and even movies and sound in a program called a browser.

You are likely familiar with the popular browsers, such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. These programs are the means by which users connect to the content available to them on the Web. The current browser generations are a tremendous improvement over their text-based ancestors. The glitz and flash they allow the user to experience is a prime reason for the exponential growth in the popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web.

In order to develop the content that will make up your own little corner of the Web, you need to be familiar with the underlying concepts that make it work. These include the ways in which the vast number of computers and programs that make up the Internet communicate with one another, as well as the language of the Web, HTML.