SFTP Access

The SFTP protocol allows you to access your site's files. If you have used FTP before, SFTP is similar, except it provides a huge benefit: your connection to the server is encrypted, so your password is kept safe.

The downside (if you can call it that) is that you will need a reasonably-modern FTP client, since SFTP is "new" compared to FTP (2001 vs. 1985).

Client Software

We recommend FileZilla. It's free, open-source, works on every platform, and easy to use. Plus, it's free.

The steps below will all reference FileZilla.

Connecting to Your Site

Let's set up access for www.example.com. You should be able to replace example.com with your domain name everywhere that follows.

  1. If you haven't already, download and install FileZilla.
  2. Open the site manager. This should be the first icon in the top-left-hand corner of the FileZilla window.
  3. Click New Site.
  4. Type a name for the new site. A good one is, "www.example.com".
  5. In the "Host" box, on the right, enter www.example.com.
  6. Choose SFTP from the "Protocol" drop-down box.
  7. For "Logon Type," choose Normal.
  8. Enter your username and password. Your username is most likely example.com.
  9. Hit OK
  10. To connect to your site, open the site manager, select it, and hit "Connect."

If this is your first time connecting to the site, you'll receive a notice about the server's "host key." It's safe to check the box that says "Trust this host and continue connecting," and then hit "OK."

Using FileZilla

The pane on the left shows the files on your local computer. The pane on the right shows the files on our server (your website).

To change a file,

  1. Download the file to your computer by dragging it from the right pane to the left. You can drop it in a particular folder if you like.
  2. Edit that file on your computer.
  3. Drag the file back over to the right pane. This will upload your modified file to the server.
  4. Choose to overwrite the existing file, if asked.


WYSIWYG Editors

Unless you know HTML, you'll probably want to use a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor. Here are some free ones: