Should I Give FTP Access to My Web Designer?

I am buying a template for my web designer to edit and complete for me but she asked me if I will give her access to my FTP server. I thought she could just do it and publish it. What else do I need and is it safe for her to have access?

pawdres2 answered:
When you signed up for your hosting service, your provider gave you FTP information (a user name and password) for uploading (and downloading) your files. Your designer needs that access information to get into your main directory, where all your files etc. are already saved, in order for her to put her files up there. An FTP acts a middle man between your computer and your provider's servers.

It's safe for her to access it only if you trust her. Even then, you would do good to change the login information after she has made the updates. Otherwise, your site(s) could easily be hacked into and mutilated, and you certainly don't want that.

John Michael answered:
Websites are files. Like the very files your web designer is going to edit. These files need to be hosted (saved and made public) on a computer somewhere so that people can view your website. This service is called a hosting service. There are a lot of hosting companies out there.

Your web designer wants FTP (file transfer protocol) access to your host so that she can upload (save) your website files that she edited.

owsleysk answered:
FTP is File Transfer Protocol. She needs the access to load the web page files onto your server, also called publishing the web page. Without the access, she can't get it onto your server/hosting site. After she's done, you can change the password on the site and she won't be able to access it any more.