Where do I put my Favicon?

Understanding how to upload your favicon.ico file to your web hosting company using FTP is a very important step in the deployment of your favicon.  In this post I will discuss some of the common FTP programs and give examples for both PC and Mac OS X.

Creating your Favicon is easy using tools found here on FavIconBlog and elsewhere, now you have your own personalized favicon.  What do you do with it?  

What to do next all depends on the system you use for your blog or website.  You have learned her that with Blogger and Google Sites you just have to upload the file to a specific area using a simple windows type interface.

If you host your own site using a hosting service you will need to upload the file to the server.  This task is most easily performed using an FTP program.  FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is just the method and protocol that is used to move files across the internet, really no different than copying a file from one folder to another on your personal computer.  If you wish to get technical you can read all about FTP on the Indiana University IT Knowledge Base Website.

In order to perform the FTP transfer you will need a piece of software to run on your computer.  On windows there are a number of programs.  My criteria for a good program is that it must work well, and I prefer it to be FREE. 

The most "famous" ftp program is Filezilla – http://filezilla-project.org/ In a previous tutorial (Uploading Files to Your Webserver – Using FileZilla) I linked to a youtube video tutorial on how to use Filezilla. 

I also like Win SCP – http://winscp.net/  Just like Filezilla it is a free program and is easy to use. 

A third program I ran across was GoFTP – http://www.goftp.com/ Although I have not personally used GoFTP, it appears to be a good program as well.

I do NOT want to leave out my Mac Friends (I have a mini you know).  On my Mac running OS X I use Cyberduck - http://cyberduck.ch/

The bottom line is:  Pick a client that you are comfortable with and use it.  The interface is not very different between the various clients.  Once you have decided on a program you are ready to upload the file to the proper place on the server.  Follow my tutorials on the specific platform on what to do next. 

Let me know what your favorite FTP program is.  Do you use one of the ones I have mentioned?  What features do you like or dislike?

Enjoy the Day!

-Loren