This tip was printed from the MalekTips Computer and Technology Help and Tips website at http://malektips.com.

Web Development - Misc. - Download Software From a Website Without FTP

Do you have a website and want to distribute software from the website, such as a screensaver <big grin>, a software package you wrote, music, or other files, but do not know how to do so? You may have heard about FTP which stands for File Transfer Protocol, a means of transferring files over the Internet. If you do not have access to an FTP server to distribute files, or if you do not want to hassle with setting one up, there is another way to set your webpage to transfer files.

You probably know the <a href="xxx.xxx"> tag provides a link to a file. Well, you can use this same tag to *link to a downloadable file*. If you have a program, say, "shareware.exe," and you want people to download the file, just put this tag:

<a href="shareware.exe">Download my shareware program</a>

Note that not every web browser supports this easily. You may need to instruct people, especially those using Internet Explorer, to right-click on the link and choose "Save As..." to download the file. This is a small price to pay for not having to set up an FTP site.