Whats the difference between ascii and binary modes?
Binary mode transfers the file exactly the way it is. This is for files such as images. Ascii mode is for plain-text files such as HTML and other web documents. It changes the file format from your computer’s (Windows or Mac) to the server’s (at MHC, UNIX). If in doubt, use binary mode. Your HTML won’t really care, but it’ll make a huge difference to your animated gifs.
Binary mode transfers the file exactly the way it is. This is for files such as images. Ascii mode is for plain-text files such as HTML and other web documents. It changes the file format from your computer’s (Windows or Mac) to the server’s (at MHC, UNIX). Basically, if you can open it in Notepad and it doesn’t come out with all sorts of funny characters, it’s ascii. However, if in doubt, you can use binary mode. Your HTML won’t care (most of the time), but it’ll make a huge difference to your animated gifs. If you’re using WS_FTP, you can also let it choose the mode automatically. Here’s a table of file extensions to help clarify which should be transfered in which mode. This is, however, not a comprehensive list of either category.
