How do I use Transmit to publish my website to my FTP server?

[mandochild]

I am brand new to website building and loved using iWeb. But then I tried to publish it. I kept getting error messages about not being able to locate the file/path. After checking that our web account was active and verifying all my settings with velocitynet (our ISP) I discovered on the Apple web site that I may not be able to publish my website without a client such as Transmit. Client? Never heard of it before. But, since they mentioned Transmit, I went with that. I'm just using the demo version at present to see if it will work - if it does I'll certainly pay for the full version. The trouble is, Transmit seems to have absolutely no basic user info for newbies at all. I finally worked out how to save my server settings as a favourite but got stuck when I was told to drag and drop files to the dock icon. What dock icon? Where? What does it look like? I can't find it at all. I tried using "synchronise" which apparently worked, but - no web site. I can't find any basic info at all on "how to publish your web site using Transmit". Any suggestions?

 

[angelwatt]

Probably can't find much help for it because it's generally considered common knowledge. I don't use Transmit, I use Cyberduck. It also has a decent Help section.

 

[jsw]

I think panic's instructions for using Transmit with iWeb are pretty easy to follow, but, if you've tried that and are having problems, please post back.

 

[jsw]

Also, in the main Transmit screen, you can click the little "+" to add a favorite (click on any image to enlarge it):

Fill in your details. The "Local Path" and "Root URL" are optional:

Click the "Save as Droplet..." button, and the following screen comes up:

Fill in the details, and click "Save".

Now, when you drag files onto the droplet (the file you just saved), they'll automatically be uploaded with Transmit.

Some details:

(1) You need to be sure the "Remote Path" is right. For example, I use Dreamhost to host my stuff, and so, if I have a server named "jsw_dreamhost", and I use it to store a website named "MyOnlineSite", my remote path will be "./www.myonlinesite.com" because of the way Dreamhost works.

(2) You need to remember that what you drag onto the droplet all gets copied. For an iWeb website, 99% of the time, this means you want to drag the contents of iWeb-saved folder, not the folder itself.

(3) You likely want to set Transmit's preferences for Transfers to replace files when uploading so it'll always copy the latest from your iWeb folder without asking you about existing files.

 

[mandochild]

Thank you all so much

Thank you all for taking the time to put in so much useful info. I hadn't managed to find those helpful instructions before for some reason. I've saved them and learned that what I was trying to do instinctively was in fact correct. I did connect to the server, open the files and drag and drop from "my stuff" to "their stuff". Each time it told me that the upload was complete but when I went to the site, the site still didn't exist (ie nothing had been published to it). I would try again today, but for some reason, while I have full internet access, I can't actually access anything to do with the server itself and therefore can't get Transmit to connect to it.

In the meantime, I've decided to stick with something easy - Blogger!!! At least I can add to it from any computer anywhere...

Thanks again everyone - I'll try again at a later date.

 

[jsw]

Thank you all for taking the time to put in so much useful info.

No problem.

Each time it told me that the upload was complete but when I went to the site, the site still didn't exist (ie nothing had been published to it).

I'd make certain that where you uploaded the files is actually where the site wants them to be. I'm guessing they're either one level too low or one level too high in the directory structure.