Helpt using ftp to change the colour and text

[forest-fairy]

Hi there, I spent a morning reading loads of posts about changing colour and editing the front page text and read "don't use service provider or oscommerce for this use ftp" & "dont' forget to back up before you play around " Well I asked service provider how to back up a file when I finally found the files for oscommerce under catelog, the man said just compress the file that backs it up. Now here is where I need help,

do I bring the style.css file over using smartftp then what do I do with it, where do I edit it and when I do, do I just take it back over to server into the same file ??? Same with the front pagewhen I edit the text in there remembering to stay within the ' ' ?? Also I cannot find the posts I read about this subject already, does someone have the links or topic numbers so I can save and read once again.

Also can one have an oscommerce store without having a website?

 

Thanks I await you help from a confused fairy mind,

Lynn

[BigMark]

Use the admin tool for editing files live... Your css file can be edited there, no need for ftp... Back up means, download the original file, BEFORE you edit it, so if you need to revert back, you can....

 

Good luck,

Mark

[Dustin]

I use a free program called smart ftp. You can download off the web. Just do a google search, and you will find it. FTP is where all your files are located on your server. It stands for File Tranfer Protocol. You will need to contact your hosting service to find out what your ftp username and password are, then you can either use something like smart ftp, or point your browser directly.. If you do this, it should look something like ftp://yoursitehere.com. Then it will ask for a user name and password. If you are using the new internet explorer, then after you enter your password, you will have to click the page icon in the upper right corner and scroll down to "Open ftp in windows explorer". Hope that helps

 

 

Good Luck,

Dustin

[Dustin]

I forgot to add that after you access your ftp, make a folder on your desktop labeled something like todays date. Next select all the files on your ftp, then right and select copy. Then open the new folder on your desktop that you just made without closing your ftp, and right click and paste. This will download all of your files off of your ftp, and give you a backup of your web site. What I do is everyday I make a new folder with the date. I will then download my files from my ftp, modify them, and save them to another folder on my desktop. Next, I will upload the modified file to the correct place on the ftp, and overwrite the original one there. Then I will test my site out and see if I like the changes. If I dont, then I will just grab the same file from my backup folder on my desktop, and overwrite the file on the ftp that i just changed with the backup. Then check your site and make sure that it is back to normal, and move to your next thing.. This is backing up...

 

 

 

Good Luck,

Dustin