Okay, so I'm basically computer illiterate.

I want to put a design somewhere, so I can link it in a post in the design forum.

There are apparently some yahoo/geocities supported stuff that will allow me to make a cheap freebie page for this sort of purpose.

What I'm missing is how one goes about putting the text or pdf up online.

Oh, yeah, and I'm computer illiterate and can seem to type the right question to get an answer through any help menus.

Anybody able to give me a quick answer. I'm guessing this is actually startlingly easy, but I don't know where to start...

Thanks,
Robert

before you get started, ask your internet provider or check their help pages to see if they give you free homepage or free webspace. they may use either term. most ISPs do. AOL members have homepages, so do EarthlLink members, and I imagine MSN does, although I can't verify this.

this is important, because if you get free space from one of these places, it will be less annoying than through GeoCities or most other freebies like them. they put ads on your site, plus they often have weird restrictions on what you can upload. also, I've never had a GeoCities site, so I don't know how they want you to upload files; it might not match what I'm about to tell you.

assuming you get the free space from your ISP... most internet providers have the same basic procedure: you use something called FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to upload files. some of them have easier-to-use web interfaces to build your own website: these have limited functionality, but for what you you need, they're perfect.

assuming they don't have a web interface and you have to use FTP... look at their help page for the basic directions. they're going to tell you much of the same thing I'm going to tell you, possibly with screenshots but they will in particular tell you three things they will know but I will not:

• your FTP (website) username
• your FTP (website) password
• your FTP (website) server, sometimes called a host

the first two are probably going to be the same as your email username/password. you may also need the name of your web directory; there's usually a folder called "www" or "home" or "public" or about three or four other common names that ISPs use. sometimes, the ISP sets this up so you're in the right directory automatically after you log on, but sometimes they don't.

once you have the three bits of information, you need an FTP program (called an FTP client.) which one you get depends on your OS:

• Mac OS X: the one everyone seems to use is Fetch. it's shareware, so if you prefer a free one, got to VersionTracker and search for "FTP".
• Windows: get FileZilla. it's free, safe, and easy. make sure you download FileZilla and not FileZilla Server.

setting up FTP clients is different for each application, and I only have FileZilla at the moment, but many of the others will be similar. the basics are: you're going to open something that essentially keeps bookmarks/favorites for FTP servers (FileZilla calls it the Site Manager, but I think others call it Bookmarks.) you add/create a new site in the Site Manager, give it a name like "My Website", then in the box labeled "Host" or "Server", type the FTP server you found out earlier. next, you have to change the settings from "anonymous login" (which is usually the default) to "normal login" or whatever else it might be called. this will make it so that you can type stuff in the username and password boxes; that's where you're going to put your username and password. save the info, then connect to that server. the FTP client will show you folders or directories on the FTP (web) server. you can now double click on folders to open them, just as if you were opening folders on your own computer. you can drag and drop files on these folders and your computer will upload the file for you.

it takes a while, even on DSL/cable.

all of this will make a lot more sense when you look at your ISP's help page for creating your website, because most of them have step-by-step directions with screenshots to help you out. if you are on AOL, as I said, they have a homepage for you, but I bet you will need to look at the help page, because their procedures proibably don't match what I've told you at all.

there's another way. I do not recommend this and it doesn't always work, but it may work in most web browsers without needing to download anything at all. in your web browser, where you would normmally type a website name beginning with "http:", you want to type the following:

ftp://username:password@ftp-server.your-isp.com/

where it says "username", of course, you replace it with your username, and replace "password" with your password. the part that says "ftp-server.your-isp.com" needs to be the FTP server name, like I mentioned before. when you type that stuff in your web browser and press Enter (or Return), you should get a window that looks a heck of a lot like a folder on your own computer -- except it's on another computer: your ISP's webserver. you can now drag and drop files into this folder to upload to the proper place.

no matter how you do it, you want to upload files to that web directory I mentioned earlier ("www", "home", "public", or whatever it is.) there's a lot of other places to put it that won't work. this is why I keep saying "check with your ISP", because even though I worked for an ISP, worked in web hosting, and working in tech support for a computer company, there's like a thousand ways for your ISP to do this.

John's solution is pretty much optimal.  Like he noted, there are a lot of things that will end up being specific to your situation, so you'll probably have to play around with things a bit to get the hang of it.  If you plan on doing revised versions of your files and such then learning how to do this (and especially whether or not your ISP provides you with some webspace) is a great idea.

That said, if you just want to get a file up and stuff, contact me by PM and I'd be perfectly willing to host it for you.

Thomas

If you do use a Geocities site, they have their own interface for uploading files and creating a site, no extra software required (meaning, you don't need a FTP client). It's really easy, they have tutorials and all that. If you just want to share stuff, Geocities isn't bad.

One minor note to John's post above.  If you are on OS X and you need an File Transfer Program, I highly suggest Cyberduck.  It's very easy and free. (Fetch is not)

I'd also be happy to host your file(s) for you.  You could put them up on the Game Lab section of my site http://goldenchainpress.com.  If you want something more independant than that, just let me know.

best

Trevis