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FTP Client

	CuteFTP	Internet Explore ¹	WS_FTP
Price	$39.99	Free	$39.95
Required Hard Drive Space	3-5MB	8.7-12.7MB Most likely, you already have it.	8MB
Required RAM	8MB	16-32MB Most likely, you already have it.	16-32MB
Note	Integrated text-based HTML editor, CuteHTML LE, allows you to edit HTML files on the remote server. This is a simple text-based HTML editor, so you need to know how to edit HTML codes with simple text editor, not with WYSWYG software. This comes with a lot of other features such as scheduled upload, file search, and so on. (Please visit their site for the complete list of features.) But, most of webmaters won't need those features. Unlike WS_FTP, CuteFTP displays current file permission. This simple feature makes big different if you regularly work on lots of script files.	Currently, I am using IE for uploading files because IE can do the job (uploading files) without any difficulty. It is as easy as moving files on your PC. Fully integrated with Windows (better file navigations than other FTP Clients). You cannot set the transfer mode, ASCII or Binary ². You'll have true XP style interface if you are using Windows XP.	Active Edit feature lets your favorite software (i.e. FrontPage, and Photoshop) directory to edit files on the remote server. Of course, you need editing software. For example, you need Photoshop to edit image files. Can display thumbnails of all image files on your PC and on the remote server. This can be handy if you have a lot of image files. You can change file permissions, but this soft doesn't show you the current file permissions. You have to re-run the file permission changing command to be sure.

Note: Direct Editing feature won't make copies of files on your PC,
so don't forget to make backups.

To using Internet Explore as an FTP client, type

ftp://your_ftp_server_address

in the address bar. You will be prompted to log-in with your user name and password. If you type

ftp://log-in_name:password@your_ftp_server_address

in the address bar instead, you will be logged in right away. You can ad the ftp location to "Favorites" or "My Network Places." After logged in, drag and drop files to transfer.

To change files permissions, right click an icon of file, then select "Properties."
The difference between "ASCII" and "Binary" is end of line. For Windows, the end of line is Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF); for Unix/Linux, it is LF only; for Mac, it is CR only.

In ASCII mode, FTP client replaces CR/LF or CR to LF. In binary mode, FTP client sends the exact copy of file.

Basically, you can forget about transfer mode if your PC and the server run the same type of OS. For example, your PC runs Windows XP and the server runs Windows 2002 Server.

Also, it doesn't matter for transferring plain HTML files because the end of line is <br> (or </p>) for Web browser.

But, when you are transferring a script file between different types of OS, i.e. uploading a CGI script file from Windows PC to Linux server, you have to select transfer mode correctly. Otherwise, the script won't work.

If you don't want to buy FTP client because you upload script files once in a blue moon, you can upload files in binary mode by using command line. You can find complete information in Windows' help.

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Akinori Furukoshi
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