Beyond the Sig ~ Part 4: Using The Transloader

When I made my first website, I had to rely on "remote loading" – linking to others' images hosted on other sites. I didn't know about "bandwidth" or that if the webmaster deleted or renamed an image, my page would come up short one image or sound.
Since I was primarily on WebTV, I had no way of getting the images, sounds, and text files from here to there. Oh, I managed to use Geocities' "EZ File Uploader", but that necessitated numerous trips to the public library or university computer labs. I had to look for images, download them to floppy, then log in to Geocities and upload. Too much of a chore for me. Then came the transloader.

You can read about the original Starblvd Transloader – and it's demise – on Net4TV Voice. It details the need for WebTV users to get their files from here to there, and how Anthony Chu designed the transloader for practical use. He even coined the term "transloader". Then come back here for a quickie tutorial on using this wonderful invention, a necessary tool WebTV users can't live without.

The transloader is very easy to use. All you need is a web host that allows FTP ~ File Transfer Protocol. FTP is the means to get files from here to there. Computer users already have FTP programs; they can simply upload from their hard drive or floppy. WebTV has none, which is why we really rely on the transloader.
Be sure your web host allows some form of file transfer or else transloading won't work. Some hosts have an in-house transloader/file mover/beamer, e.g., Angelfire, Zone, Domania, 250free.

Now, say you have a web host but no built-in file mover/transloader, but you can transload files to your account. Easy! Choose one of the many transloaders out there. (Those are listed and linked on the Resources page). Follow these basic steps:

1. You found the image, sound, or HTML file you want to transload. Be sure it's on your screen.
2. Bring up your GOTO box. Hit "Show Current". The URL will show in the box. Highlight (CMD+A) then copy (CMD+C) the entire URL.
3. Now, hit the GOTO box again, type in the URL for your transloader, i.e., http://www.transloader.com.
4. On that page, you will paste (CMD+V) the file URL into the box where it says "File to copy, transfer, etc...Something to that effect."
5. You will need to enter the FTP address of your web host, your username, your password, the subdirectory you want the file to go to, and change the file name (if needed). If you're sending it to your main directory, leave the "directory" field blank. Note: FTP addresses look like this: e.g., ftp.angelfire.com
6. Hit the Transload button then wait. Do NOT hit your Back key.
7. If all went well, your FTP session log will show on the next page.
8. Double-check if the file transferred. Just bring up your GOTO box and enter the file's URL. If it's there, good! If not, there might have been glitches in the transloading. This is rare but it happens. Try again later or use another transloader.

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