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In the following examples,

HOW TO TELNET TO INCH.COM

From Windows, click on "Run" and type "telnet inch.com"

You will get a login prompt:

login:
Type YourInchUsername (making the obvious substitution). Unix distinguishes between upper and lower case.

You will get a password prompt:

Password:
Type the password for your inch login account.

You will be logged into inch.com. You will see a prompt that looks like this:

YourInchUsername@inch.com: $

HOW TO FTP

At the prompt, type "ncftp -u www.YourDomainname.com" (without the quotes). The "-u" tells ncftp to log you in as a user, not anonymously (which is the default). This will take you to your web site. You will get a login prompt. Enter your username for the your web site (YourWebUsername). Enter the password.

You are now in the directory where all the web files are. If you type "dir" you will see a long listing of your files and directories. If you type "ls" (mneumonic: list) you will see a short listing. Use "cd" to change directories. cd to the directory you want to go to. To retrieve a file (transfer the file from the web server to inch.com), type:

get filename
For example,
get index.html
This will get the file and place it in your home directory on inch.com. To get multiple files, you can type "mget filename1 filename2 ..." Again, this puts them in your home directory on inch.com. If you need to delete a file on the web server, type "del filename". Things are very DOS-like with ftp. You can also "rename" files.

So when you're done getting the files, type "bye" to exit the ncftp program. You are now back in your account on inch.com. If you type "ls" you will see the files that you just downloaded and maybe some more.

HOW TO EDIT THE FILES

The editor you will use is called "pico". The simplest way to use it is to type "pico filename" for example "pico index.html" You will then enter into an editor. You use the arrow keys to move around, the backspace key to delete, and there is a list of keystrokes with the basic commands at the bottom. *****Note that the "^X" that you see means to hold down the <control> key and type "X" at the same time. pico is very self-explanatory.

So, now that you've edited the file, you'll probably want to upload it to the website. Go through the same login procedure as before, and cd to the proper directory. To upload the file, simply type "put filename". With our example, that's "put index.html" (without the quotes of course). As with "get" you can put multiple files with the "mput" command.

ncftp also has a "help" command which will give you a list of topics so you can learn more and use it more efficiently.

That's about all there is to it. These programs are extremely powerful, and once you get oriented, you'll find that you'll be able to do things quickly. One example is when you learn how to "leave" ncftp (i.e. go back to inch.com), edit the file you just downloaded, and then go back into ncftp without having to login again, and upload the file.