Thursday, September 6, 2007
Transferring artwork over the Internet
Internet is the right platform to grow business across the globe. Be it a large web design firm or a graphic artist running his/her own business from home, it is necessary to take complete advantage of Internet technology and advanced communication protocol to meet business objectives. Graphic artists or web design firms require an efficient and secure medium to run business communication as well as to share or transfer artwork in the form of image files.
You can create digital image files in several formats. Some common image file formats are – Microsoft Windows bitmap image file, graphic interchange file, Joint Photographic Export Group (JPEG) file, Landsat Thematic Mapper data file, Microsoft Paint image file, Adobe Acrobat PDF file, PIXAR picture file, Apple Macintosh QuickDrawPICT file. Compared to general text files, the size of image files are too large require efficient communication protocol to transfer them over the Internet.
Problems of transferring large files
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol) is the fundamental communication protocol for exchanging information over the Internet or any other given network. TCP/IP comes with two components, i.e., communication protocols – HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Both these protocols allow us to share digital information through a network.
In general there are two ways of transferring files over the Internet – via Email and via FTP. Email is considered as the simplest method of sending files where you can send any types of files (text, image, spreadsheet etc.) with a text message. But there is a drawback in sending information or large image files via Email.
The size of the file matters when you are exchanging file via Email. The upper limit of the size of the mail (including the attachment) is defined in the Mail Gateway, which transfers digital information in the form of data packets. However, you can send large image files by breaking the one file in several parts, which is not a user-friendly process and requires extra effort to combine the files.
You can overcome this problem by taking the help of FTP hosting service.
FTP Hosting Service
For graphic artists and web designers there is nothing better than FTP hosting service to share or transfer large image files over the Internet. In FTP hosting service files are transferred via a server. FTP hosting service comes with two components – FTP Server and FTP Clients. Files are transferred from one remote computer to another via FTP Server. You can upload all your artwork in the form of digital files or image files on the FTP server. The server will store copies of your uploaded files, irrespective of file size. Authorized people from remote computers can access uploaded images from the FTP server and download them to your computer. Therefore, it can be said the FTP hosting service is the right option for graphic artists and web designers to share or transfer large image files over the Internet.
Advantages of FTP Hosting Service
Graphic artists and web designers prefer FTP hosting service to create preview of the artwork for the client, to display audio and/or video presentation and to exchange password protected images. Based on your need, you can place large graphic images on a secured or public FTP sites. The baseline of FTP hosting service is to allow FTP account holders to access the allocated space in the FTP server. There are two options for graphic artists to upload large graphic files on a publicly accessible server – these are general Web Server and FTP Server.
Compared to Web Server, FTP Server provides more security and comes with some added features to fulfill business objectives of graphic artists and web designers. Sending images, audio and or video presentations in business purposes require secured mode to keep the privacy of the artwork. FTP hosting services allow you to transfer password-protected images in a compressed file format.
Following are some file image formats, which are supported by FTP hosting services:
•BMP (Microsoft Windows Bitmap Image File), a common image file format with extensions – '.bmp', '.dib', '.vga', '.rle', etc.
•DCS (Quark Desktop Color Separation EPS File), is an extended form of EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) format. With the help of QuarkXPress you can save files in five EPS documents – one master file with PICT preview of the image and four files, which contain information on high resolution of the color, in CMYK format.
•GIF (Graphic Interchange Format), a compressed format for image file to transfer the files efficiently through a communication protocol. The extensions are – '.gif'.
•PEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is another compressed file format to transfer image files over the Internet.
These are some common file formats for images, however there is no restriction on the file type and size. Graphic artists and web designers can store or share large images for business purposes on the FTP server. With FTP file hosting services you can protect the quality and privacy of the artworks from unauthorized users.
Finally, FTP Hosting That's Simple and Fast
There is nothing safer than File Transfer Protocol (FTP) hosting services to exchange files on the World Wide Web. Compared to Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), people found FTP as an efficient communication protocol for exchanging digital data. If you are looking for fast and simple hosting service that can maintain the privacy then go for FTP. Though it is true that HTTP is a widely used communication protocol to share files but has some drawbacks. HTTP gives no guarantee about the privacy of the information that you are sharing with someone else over the Internet. Moreover, types and size of the digital file matters for exchanging information through Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.
FTP hosting service comes with all the features, which simplify the process of sharing information online by keeping the privacy of the content. Not only for sending files or messages, you can use FTP hosting services for several purposes like – online auction, business communication, downloading graphic and/or multimedia files, downloading software, etc. FTP hosting service supports uploading/downloading all types of files (e.g., text files, image files, audio files, video files, multimedia files etc.) irrespective of their size.
To enjoy the fast and reliable communication protocol you have to register for a FTP hosting service. FTP hosting service comes with wide array of features and two basic components – FTP Server and FTP Client. FTP hosting service transfers digital information from one node (computer) to another through the FTP server. FTP service provider will allocate space for you in their server and allow you to create FTP account for the users to communicate. Files are uploaded and stored in the server. FTP account holders, who are authorized to access the allocated site, can download copies of the files, which are uploaded. This is considered as a convenient and safe way for exchanging digital information by protecting unwanted third party from accessing the content.
Easy to configure
Initially you have to configure an FTP Client to upload and download digital files from a registered FTP hosting account. FTP hosting service provider will allocate required space in the FTP server with a domain name. It is recommended to apply for FTP hosting service with a domain name that is similar to the web address of your business. The configuration of FTP Client is as simple as creating an Email account. You have to set FTP Client under the registered FTP site. You have to define a unique username and password. For example, ftp.domainname.com is a host and john@domainname.com is the username through which a registered FTP account holder can upload and download digital files.
Managing sites through Control Panel
FTP hosting service comes with the feature of Control Panel. As you register for an FTP Site, the service provider will supply you a unique username and password to administer the allocated space. You can administer your own FTP Site through the Control Panel. The design of the control panel is quite user friendly and allow you to perform following tasks:
•Add or remove FTP user for your domain
•Change the password of FTP user account
•Integrate users in groups to share information
•Allocate disk space for FTP users of your domain
•Manage directory and the service period for the FTP users of your site.
Cost of FTP Hosting Services
The market has become competitive and you can easily find a suitable FTP hosting service at an affordable price. Though the price of FTP Service varies from one service provider to another but the price of FTP hosting service depends upon the service period and facilities applied by the customer.
Therefore it can be said that the cost of FTP hosting services and FTP Software are quite inexpensive and suitable for all types of business processes. Moreover you can easily manage your FTP site with little knowledge on FTP Software and related technical issues.
5 Common Web Hosting Mistakes
Mistakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, but if you can learn from other people's mistakes it can save you from having to deal with them yourself. When it comes to web hosting, there are basically two kinds of mistakes - technical and general business.
Technical mistakes usually come up because of a misunderstanding of the internet and how it actually works. The first mistake many people make when creating a website is to cram as much information, photographs, images, etc. on each page as possible.
This makes the site take longer to download, leading to many visitors just moving on and never actually looking at the site. It also makes it more difficult to find what they're looking for if the page is unorganized.
Another common error is creating a web site that isn't search engine friendly. If the search engines can't determine what your site is about, they aren't going to be able to send you people who are searching for what you offer.
A mistake that many people make when starting out is to choose a host solely based on price. This is obviously an important factor, especially in the beginning, but if you choose the cheapest host you may be limited in your scalability as the website grows in popularity and traffic.
On the business side of things, the most common mistake is trying to be everything to everyone. You should have a plan for your website - a purpose for its existence - and build according to that plan.
Choose your target market and stick with it. Advertise in places they would see. Market in ways that would be of interest to them. Resist the urge to branch out into other areas just because something catches your eye. A site that tries to do everything usually ends up achieving nothing.
Another common business mistake is following the competition's lead. You'll obviously want to keep an eye on them to see what they're up to, but if you copy everything they do you'll always be one step behind.
Use your creativity and come up with unique ways to stand out from the rest of the websites in your market.
About The Author:
John Lenaghan writes about web site hosting and other related topics for the Hosting Report website. For more helpful web hosting information visit http://www.hostingreport.org
