my church has a web site and the man who was running it left. so how can i go into my web site and edit it?

Question

i have the ftp address but i dont know how to change anything (please help)

Answer 1

I would advise contacting your Web host and asking them to immediately change the user name and password to your site. Lord only knows who can now log in to your Web site and mess things up.

Also contact your Web host and ask if their control panel includes a Web page editor. Many Web hosts provide you with a Web-based, template-based way to create and edit Web pages. That's a great way to start.

You can also get a copy of "Web Design for Dummies." It's a $20 book that really takes you from the ground up on how to make Web pages.

Answer 2

First, go to
http://samspade.org/
and find out who your host thinks owns the site. If the man who ran it set it up with an eye to the future, the owner is "First Church of abc", not "John Smith", and the address / phone will be the church, not his house.

If it is registerd to him, you will have to get it changed. The technical support people at your host can help.

Editing a web site is two-fold. You make changes to the copy on your home machine, then move the revised pages to the host.

Some tools do both. Front Page and Dream Weaver do both. You can use something as simple as Notepad to edit, if you learn some HTML, and download an FTP utility to make the moves. (I have done that for 8 years; I'm old, cranky, stuck in my ways and hate the way Front Page inserts a tag every time I cough.)

Write to me via my profile if you want even more advice. This problem happened last week to another church in our denomination.

Answer 3

If you don't already have FTP software you can find freeware ones on the Web.

Along with the FTP address you will need the user ID and password for the account.

Then you FTP to the site, download the page you want to edit, edit it, and then upload it. You'll need to learn to edit HTML, either directly or with an editing program like FrontPage. But for starters, if you have to, you can leave the HTML code alone and just edit the text. Use a text editor like notepad or wordpad; don't use MS Word as an HTML editor, it makes a mess.

Answer 4

You need the ftp info, yes BUT you also require web developement software like Flash and Dreamweaver, or older programs like GoLive.

With Dreamweaver you need basic understanding of how to build a site (basic coding too) as well as some clarity of page and visual design but you do not need a serious amount of coding thanks to the programs ability to be used in a visual mode.

Once you have the software required to edit the exisiting site pages, you can then re-upload them to your ftp location using ftp access software like Fetch, etc.

Answer 5

You have to have the password. You can capture the website by looking at it and saving the various pages to your machine and you can work on them there. But to put them back up you have to have the password for the site. I did this with a site of a non-profit group where the original author put all the files on his machine and referenced them from the named web site. He originally volunteered but then wanted money.
You may have to have the minister of the church (or the other registered owner of the site, hopefully not the man who left) contact the ISP and work on authorization to change the password.

Answer 6

You'll need the FTP credentials to gain access to the files on the server. You will then need to use Notepad or another HTML editor to make the changes. Once they're complete, you can upload the files to the server.