Silly and obvious question after site is live

Hi, I actually haven't used Cyberduck, but a good way to think about any FTP client is in the same way you'd think about and external hard drive or memory stick. You can access/edit/delete the files on any computer that it is connected to. I hope this analogy helps?

I'll be following this question. Although I have built some websites myself, I have always been struggling with keeping updates nice and clean.

Gerben Dol - How do you mean? Are we talking as in using ftp? or do you use an automated process? For work we use Jenkins to compile out & version control everything we do.

In my freelance work I am much less technical. My work flow is as followed: (I have 3 folders with in DropBox as a backup. The Current live version, the Last live version & Working copy)

• I take a copy of the live site and override the Drop Box Last Live version folder
• I write/edit a file locally (making sure to regularly back it up to DropBox Working copy folder
• I drag my local copy to the FTP
• Then I take my local copy and replace the The Current live version

That way I end up with a make shift version control and know that Whatever happens to my macbook or ftp server, I will always be able to access, The Current Live Site, The Previous Live Site and a Working Copy of the site, in Dropbox

The plus side of this technique is that it's pretty much free and super safe.

Ah, yes. I am talking about using a FTP client. I am just hoping to find some cool tips in here as soon as someone answers.

A problem I would run in to for instance, when editing my website, is ending up with all kinds of unnecessary files. Let's say I edit my website and change a file name. After that I will copy my root to the server and it will overwrite where possible and add the new files. But this way the old file with the old name will be on the server along with the one with the new name.

But I feel like I'm completely sidetracking from your question. So don't mind me - just waiting to see if any interesting answers follow. ;)

Thanks you two for responding. The analogy helps somewhat, but still hoping to hear more answers.

Is dropbox the way to go? And then using dropbox to interact with the FTP server?

I also assume you have to delete previous files as you can't have two index.html files (for example) in at the same time, yes?

Many thanks

That's fair enough.

If you have 'index.html' and then you drag in a new version of 'index.html', you should be prompted to copy and replace or keep both files. Just select copy and replace.

As for with dropbox, I use it as a completely manual task. I do all of the moving of files, as the only reason I use it is to make sure i have plenty of backups. I've been burnt before by not having enough backups.

Thanks Ryan, that is helpful... and I'll just practice and see what works best and what does not work at all.