SPECIAL NOTE: WebFTP contains several modules. Some, like Quick Re-Upload It!, are for people who upload their own page files using the Upload Your Own HTML module. Others, like TXT It!, Fav It! and Special File Manager, are for all SBIers.
WebFTP allows you to upload files that...
OR
are brand new, and the "SBI! system" does not need to know about them
OR
are text files requested by Alexa or other services.
Why WebFTP and not "regular" FTP?
Good question. It cuts to the very heart of SBI!.
SBI! "works" because everything is stored in a database. Everything... every page... every graphic on your page, too. Every block of a page (for block-by-block SiteBuilders). When you upload your HTML, it goes into a database first, and then we build the page, filling in tags, adding javascript, etc.
Everything even remotely associated with that page is in the master database...
Every submission. Every spider visit. Indexing. Page ranking. Incoming links. Outgoing links. Click INs. Click Throughs. Tracker links. Every bit of data collected from every form you build with Form Build It!. Web Mail. Every e-zine. Diet.
I could go on and on... Every single thing you see on Site Central, every bit of data from every module, and a whole lot more that you don't see... it's all in the master database. (Just kidding about "diet" to see if you're paying attention.)
It's all about total control for your sake. And that goes so far as to extend right to your domain...
When you register your domain, we need to be the registrar. We don't want to be in "the registrar business," but the SBI! system needs to be able to count on certain matters being handled in a certain way. As in every part of the system, we need to eliminate human errors/variations.
That is what allows all of SBI!'s functionality to be totally integrated. It allows every function to know what every other function is doing. It allows all the automated, repetitive functionality, some of which we don't even publicize to maintain our competitive advantage through customer success, to happen.
WebFTP gives you the convenience of "regular FTP" (well, 99% of it anyway), while still allowing us to make sure there are no variations from the norm that could throw the system off. For example, you could never just FTP up a Web page. We re-build those pages from the database automatically for a variety of reasons (ex., if you make a NavBar change). That would overwrite any upload of a static HTML Web page.
So, essentially, you use WebFTP to "FTP" into the database.
WebFTP is the best of both worlds... 99% of regular FTP's efficiency with all the benefits of SBI!'s 1,000% results.
For example...
"Quick Re-Upload It!" lets you fast-upload files that are known to the SBI! database. What does "known to the database" mean?
It means files that have already been uploaded via the Upload Your Own HTML module. That gets everything properly tucked away into the database via the regular HTML uploading process, the HTML file and all files associated with that page...
Once those files are "in the system," you may simply want to upload minor modifications. We don't need to "know" about these in the same way, so Quick Re-Upload It! allows you to straight re-upload up to 20 files at a time, fast.
XML It! is an example of a WebFTP function that uploads a file that may be brand new. That "works" in situations where the SBI! system does not need to "know" about it. This is purely for RSS use -- you can upload a file with the .rss, .rdf, or .xml extension, even if it's a brand new file. No fuss, no muss.
And you can upload the updated HTML files (for that particular SBI! site) that the XML file references, too, to save you time (as long as the HTML file has been previously uploaded -- this saves you the step of having to upload those files in a second step via Quick Re-Upload It!).
TXT It! allows you to upload .txt files to the root folder. As mentioned earlier, .txt files normally go to the support-files folder. But Alexa gives you the option of changing your contact information by uploading a specific text file to the root of your site.
TXT It! allows you to upload that file to the root folder directly, since the SBI! system doesn't need to know about the file.
Fav It! allows you to upload a favicon, so that visitors to your site can see a small icon for your site in their address bar, and also in their bookmarks/favorites folder.
Special File Manager allows you to upload the media and support files (mentioned above) directly without having to build a dummy page in Upload Your Own HTML.
Bottom line about WebFTP? As we add more and more functionality to this, you will be able to do virtually everything you could do through "regular" FTP, in some cases more. You can eat your cake, and have it too... 99% of "regular FTP" efficiency and SBI!'s 1,000% results!