On the deprecation of FTP

[HansR]

Recently I found this (on an appreciated twitter account).
Draw your own conclusions and go for PHP upload. The world is changing.
Note: I am not sure how far this has actually penetrated all existing systems but it serves as a warning on what is going on in the world.
So use SFTP or PHP uploads.

Deprecation of FTP.png

[packman2008]

FTP has been on a downward trajectory for many years so it doesn't surprise me that it's being dropped by some people/software. SFTP is just as easy to use as FTP and it's widely supported these days. If your ISP doesn't support it then ask them when they will do. It's not really difficult to set up so there shouldn't really be an excuse for it not to be provided by default.

[ConligWX]

Likewise for http but don't see people wanting to deprecate that protocol.

[packman2008]

http will go but it will take much longer because it's used far more widely than FTP is (or was). Search engines are already putting http pages lower in the results list than https pages and browsers are starting to complain when you access http sites. So if you're not already using https it's worth looking to see how to do it...and it's not really that difficult.

[freddie]

http will go but it will take much longer because it's used far more widely than FTP is (or was). Search engines are already putting http pages lower in the results list than https pages and browsers are starting to complain when you access http sites. So if you're not already using https it's worth looking to see how to do it...and it's not really that difficult.

It's free too.

[packman2008]

It's free too.

It mostly is but it depends on your hosting company. When selecting a hosting company check to see if they offer free certificates.

I had a few domains hosted with a company who made it difficult, although not impossible if you knew what you were doing, to use LetsEncrypt certificates. I think it was protectionism - "Why should we let you use something that's free when we can charge you £x/year for one of our certificates?" kind of stuff. Needless to say, it didn't work. At the earliest opportunity I dropped them and moved where I could use free certificates, so they lost even more money by that tactic. Last time I looked I think they'd learned their lesson and

Note: If you're selling stuff or want commercial protection you should still pay for a certificate. LetsEncrypt certificates are great for most of our sites that are just informational though.