Why FTP

I’d like to ask a question which may sound like sacrilege to some and stupidity to others – Why FTP?

Let me explain. I’ve been advised to learn FTP and use it rather than my long time friend Dreamweaver. I’ve four or five small ‘made for adsense’ websites. Once they are up and running they require little attention – an update here, an update there, nothing to demanding, just something to let tell the search engines it’s an active site. I design my page in Dreamweaver press a button and hey presto it arrives at my server.

I also have a number of wordpress blogs in operation again it’s a simple operation of pressing a button and your article is there for all the world to see. So why FTP?

The week-end past I’ve spent messing around with SMART FTP, transferring small files back and forth from a small website I have and I can see how it would be much quicker to transfer large files if you use direct FTP rather than posting via the like of Dreamweaver, which I acknowledge can be very slow at times.

From a practical point of view then what is the real benefit of FTP ( and I'm not just talking about SmartFTP, I'm talking about any of the hundreds of FTP programs there are out there) to someone like me? It’s an honest question; but one that I’ve not seen addressed.

Isn't Dreamweaver using an integrated FTP client as well to transfer the files from your local computer to the server?

Isn't Dreamweaver using an integrated FTP client as well to transfer the files from your local computer to the server?

Yes that's perfectly true, and I suppose if I download anything from the net I'm using FTP in one form or another.

What I think I'm asking is what advantages, if any, has a stand alone FTP program like SmartFTP over the likes of intergrated FTP facilities in the like of Dreamweaver?