Basics

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This section explains the concepts behind transferring files from one computer to another, often referred to as "uploading". This is what sharing file or publishing web pages involves. If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, please read on; if you're an old pro, you might want to skip ahead to the Setup section further on, but be sure to read the Naming Files section as well for important information.

Publishing your web pages or sharing documents and files collaboratively involves transferring them from your computer to a remote computer, a process generally referred to as "file transfer." You generally work on your web pages or documents locally on your computer, and when you're ready to share them with the world, you transfer (or "upload") them to a remote server where other people can get at them.

There are a few different methods for doing this. One of the older ones (still in use today) is called "FTP", which stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It's probably the best-known of the various protocols, but it often involved a complex interface and raised some other issues.

DAV (which stands for Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a relatively new protocol that can do a lot of things that FTP did, and more besides. It has (at least) the following advantages over FTP:

1. Simple interface

With DAV, you get a "shortcut" to your web directory that you can put right on your desktop; once you configure it, you can just double-click it, and a regular window opens right there on your desktop. You can upload (or download) files to and from the remote site just by dragging and dropping into it, exactly the same way you copy or move regular files.

2. Better security

Right out of the box, DAV uses HTTP authentication, which is a kind of code for enciphering your username and password en route to the server, so that it's significantly harder to read if it's intercepted. Determined hackers can always break anything given enough time, but DAV makes casual snooping harder.

Furthermore, DAV supports "strong encryption", meaning that it's possible to establish military-grade security in connections if you want to. This entails using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to establish a secure, heavily-encrypted channel for sending the username and password (and all of the transferred files), and using "https" instead of "http" in your DAV client when making the connection. Support for this is still evolving: some clients support it and some don't, but all eventually will, and the coming year or so will probably see a lot of movement in this direction. Keep an eye here for updated information as it becomes available.

(Thanks to Joachim Feise for emphasizing the importance of security in his feedback on this site. We couldn't agree more. DAV basic security is a step up from FTP, but the ideal is to use SSL for everything, and as time passes, more and more of us will.)

3. Support for versioning, etc.

Although DAV is very useful for easy uploading of files to a web server, it is also designed to allow groups of people shared access to folders on the internet, which is very useful for working collaboratively on shared documents. It means the end of the headaches involved with emailing ten people the latest copy of your Word document, getting back three different sets of revisions from three different people, and trying to figure out what to do with them.

With DAV, files in the shared folder can be "locked", preventing other people from copying over the file while someone else is working on it. The DAV protocol is still emerging, and plans are in place to allow "versioning" for shared documents, allowing a complete history of the document's evolution (every changed version) to be automatically preserved, in case there's ever a need to "back up" or revert to a previous version.

Naming Files

One more word about an important subject regarding DAV and sharing files (or really, sharing files using any method, but it certainly applies to DAV): it's important to follow a short list of rules when naming your files. Files that are shared on the internet have stricter rules about the kinds of filenames that are allowed, and if you don't follow them, it may cause trouble for other people trying to access them.

1. Use alphanumeric characters, hyphens, and underscores only. No punctuation or spaces.

Although some systems (like Macintosh and Windows) allow elaborate file names like "My letter to Grandma, don't delete: 3/15/01", this kind of filename will choke most internet servers. In addition to the letters and numbers in the name, it also has spaces, a colon (':'), a comma (','), an apostrophe ('''), and two slashes ('/'), any of which will cause problems on various other file systems.

The rule is this: only letters, numbers, hyphens ('-') and underscores ('_') are absolutely safe when naming files. Use underscores in place of spaces, and hyphens in place of all other punctuation. For example, the document above would become "My_letter_to_Grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01". Not as pretty, perhaps, but safe.

2. Give each file a .suffix indicating its type.

If you want other people to be able to easily open your document, it should have a short suffix at the end of the name to indicate what kind of file it is, so it can be opened with the right application. Imagine a document titled just "my_document". If you received such a file, how would you know what to do with it? It has no other information that would give you a clue, so it could be a word processor document, a spreadsheet, a graphic file, a web page, a video clip... it's anybody's guess what it might be.

This information is best presented with a short suffix indicating its type. There are many (here's a longer list); some of the more common ones are:

.txt - plain text 
.doc - Microsoft Word 
.pdf - Adobe Acrobat 
.xls - Excel spreadsheet
.jpg - JPEG image 
.gif - GIF image 
.mov - QuickTime video
.avi - Intel video
.psd - Photoshop 
.htm or .html - Web page

So, if your document is a Microsoft Word document, add ".doc" to the end of its name. "My_letter_to_Grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01" becomes "My_letter_to_Grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01.doc"; this indicates that it's a Word file that should be opened with Microsoft Word.

Please note: although many suffixes are 3 characters long, that's not a hard-and-fast rule; it has its origins in the old world of MS-DOS and even earlier systems, which the greybeards among us remember as the "8+3" rule - you get 8 characters for the name and 3 for the suffix, and that's all, which leads to wonderful, informative filenames like "rg2catdb.exe". Some people still follow that limit as if it were a rule, although it is only on the dusty old PCs from the early 1980s that are sitting in a box in the basement.

However, there's an annoying (to us internet purists) tendency among some people to end their HTML files in ".htm" rather than the full ".html". Most people who do this are from the old DOS/Windows world. Please don't do this; use the full ".html" extension for your web pages. (This is an editorial comment; you can name them ".htm" if you want to, but it's confusing to have two different suffixes for the same kind of file, and ".htm" reflects an old DOS/Windows limitation that has nothing to do with Unix, the birthplace of the Internet.)

3. Use all lower case.

Some filesystems don't care about the difference between upper- and lower-case letters and treat them the same: "My_Document" and "my_document" and "MY_DOCUMENT" are all considered to be the same thing. Some filesystems DO care about case, and treat these names as distinct from each other.

The best way to simply sidestep the whole issue is to always use lower case in filenames -- at least, for files that you plan to share or publish on the web. That way, you know you're safe. So, further refining our example, "My_letter_to_Grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01.doc" becomes "my_letter_to_grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01.doc".

4. Use 32 characters or less.

Keep your filenames short and manageable. Just because some systems allow you to use up to 255 characters in a filename - the size of a short paragraph - doesn't mean it's a good idea. 32 characters, including the suffix, is a practical maximum, and the shorter you can make it without getting really obscure, the more people will love you.

To give you an idea of how long 32 characters is, including 4 characters for a '.' and suffix, consider:

0        1         2         3
12345678901234567890123456789012
this_is_a_32_letter_filename.doc

So, "my_letter_to_grandma-dont_delete-3-15-01.doc". will have to be cut down a little; it's 44 characters long. How about:

0        1         2         3
12345678901234567890123456789012
my_letter_to_grandma-3-15-01.doc

That's 32. Or, better yet:

0        1         2         3
12345678901234567890123456789012
grandma-3-15-01.doc

That's much better. Keep them short and simple, it'll be easier for everyone.

Setting up DAV

OK, you're sold on why DAV is better than FTP. So, how do you get it set up? It depends on whether you're using a Mac, a Windows PC, or Linux (or one of its variants).

Before we get into the platform-specific steps (Mac, Windows and Linux setups are each covered on their own page), let's prepare the information you'll be entering after you install whatever DAV software you need (if any). This information is the same regardless of how you connect, so it applies to all platforms.

You will need three pieces of information when you set up your DAV connection: your URL or Location, your username, and your password. These are all assigned by LiteracyTent staff when your project or web site is created. If you have lost them, mail help@literacytent.org. Your URL will be one of the following, depending on your project type:

  1. For LiteracyTent hosted domains, the URL/Location is http://YOUR-DOMAIN, where YOUR-DOMAIN is your full domain; for example, http://www.mydomain.org.
  2. For LiteracyTent hosted sites, the URL/Location is http://sites.literacytent.org/YOUR-SITE/, where YOUR-SITE is the short name given to your site, exactly as in the URL you use to access it. For example, http://sites.literacytent.org/mysite/.
  3. For LiteracyTent Shared Folders, the URL/Location is http://dav.literacytent.org/YOUR-PROJECT/, where YOUR-PROJECT is the short name given to your project. For example, http://dav.literacytent.org/myproject/.

Next up is to configure your system for DAV, and the way you do that depends on your platform type (Macintosh, Windows, Linux, or whatever you use). Please select the appropriate link from the navigation menu at the top of the page.

(Not sure what platform you use? If not, you may need help in setting things up - see if you have access to someone who can sit down with you and help. If your computer screen has a button with the word "Start" in the lower left corner, you're using Windows. If you see a small apple in the upper-left corner of your screen, you're using a Mac. You probably won't be using Linux by accident, but if you see neither of these things, you might be; again, ask your local support people for help if you're not sure what do to next.)