Special Topics: Dealing with Travel

One of the issues with content intensive websites is that even if you are away on vacation or simply staying overnight at a friend’s house, you may still need to update your content, especially if you have a commercial site that requires maintenance. Most people can get by with just borrowing their friend’s computer but there are special situations where you may need to access files from your main computer. There are a few common solutions to this.

So if you need files you have on your main PC, Mac or laptop… the first three options are the most economical but you CANNOT forget anything you might need. You can’t go home and retrieve files. The last one is convenient if you ever forget anything on your computer at home but costs a nominal fee after the free trial.

FTP

The most hassle free solution is to upload everything you’ll need onto your server and simply download them later. I know there are paranoid people who refuse to put sensitive information such as passwords onto other computers so here are some other options. Another thing is that some webmasters do not have access to FTP for one reason or another.

External Drive/Laptop

If you backup your website on an external drive or laptop (as you should), then you can bring it with you and plug it into an outlet or computer at whatever place you are moving to.

Email/File Uploading or Sharing

There are more and more collaborative file sharing programs nowadays such as Google Docs. You can also email items you will need to yourself or put images on Flickr. The biggest issue is the supported file size if you are using large images. And of course, you could simply email yourself the items you need if you know what files you’ll need to maintain your site while you’re away from home.

Remote PC Access

Another viable option is remote access to your PC. These options generally cost money. Remote Access tends to be used by webmasters of higher end websites and outside of the web industry, it is used by many business executives. Basically, as long as your home computer is on and has internet connection, you can access it remotely to check email or files. You can also allow other people, (trusted partners and friends) to access your PC remotely and help you maintain your website.

PCNow is the leader in this field and has a free 30-day trial if you would like to see if it suites your purposes.

Note* There are also non-standard uses for remote access. I have personally used it to install programs for friends remotely or help them solve software issues. For a full list of features, visit PCNow’s website.