I think it’s a waste of Norm’s time to be trying to build in an FTP-client. I’ve seen it done to other products that have teams of people, not just a sole developer and they’ve had all sorts of issues trying to make it reliable for just small changes.
In many ways we’re lazy in wanting one tool to do everything for us. Let’s make blocsapp the best static website creation tool rather than have a diversion of Norms time in making something new we can all live without.
I think we have beat the I want a built in FTP-client enough. There are so many FTP programs that work great I really don’t see why we need it. I use Yummy ftp pro and I’ve created bookmarks for each of my sites. One click and I’ve got my site updated.
I remember my old Dreamweaver days and I had all kinds of problems with the built in FTP.
Casey
Blocs 3 is a testament to that, stay the course and keep with your ideal for the app and its direction. You’re making great bounds in those areas, with much more to come with the dot release features for Blocs 3. These threads/requests for native in-app FTP, CMS, etc., would deter resources from the core feature development and instead also escalate user trouble ticket numbers.
Your focus is in the correct place, regardless if users realize it, they will all benefit better from this focus. 
Totally agreed.
FTP built in Blocs sounds like the cherry on the cake to me.
I wouldn’t complain about it, but definetly prefer Norm to focus on other things that are the priority.
Why? Because, yes, there are apps for it. I personally use Fillezilla, which is doing a great job.
It’s not that I wouldn’t like to have the FTP integrated, but I can imagine that it can be a big work to put that it place when I would prefer to see other things before.
Just one example: I would love to be able to create a real parallax on the background. I can’t do it without having it in Blocs, but doing a FTP transfer I can.
So, for the moment I don’t see it as a priority for the developper.
Let’s focus on the cake, not the cherry.
Rapidweaver is in it’s 8th major version and I believe it has always had FTP. It still isn’t reliable and cannot come close to the flexibility of a professional FTP app. Web hosting server accounts are constantly being updated and login requirements like TLS in explicit mode can cause all sorts of FTP difficulties.
I am a longtime Yummy FTP Pro user and fan, but with an uncertain future I recently picked up Forklift 3 for $8 on bundlehunt and that should see me right for the next few years. Seriously, we don’t need FTP in Blocs.
Maybe what I need top do is team up with an FTP app developer and try to arrange some kind of discount/promotion for Blocs users.
It’s tempting to say yes, but how do you find something that appeals to everybody and covers all the bases? The moment you suggest something like that it becomes “your recommendation for Blocs”. They forget about the server bit…
FTP is a fiddly damn business and I currently have three clients in my apps folder. My old favourite Yummy FTP Pro is no longer being developed or supported and already running into issues. The venerable old Fetch is a 32-bit app that will probably be allowed to die off, so I recently purchased Forklift 3. It’s definitely capable, but there are a couple niggling points and I don’t think it would be for everybody.
Absolutely, and this would be a perfect partnership solution. Creating a reliable and well supported FTP is not a trivial thing and requires specific skills and experience.
Anyone interested in aquiring a first rate FTP App should get the current $8 promotion for Forklift3 that Flashman mentioned above.
It seems that users whom are accustomed to having built in FTP (elsewhere in other apps) or new to things altogether are simply overwhelmed with the notion of using a separate FTP app. I think the Get your site online - Knowledge Base is good, but maybe expand the FTP section to not only list each apps homepage, but also each apps documentation links and if they have a video also link to that as well.
Better yet expand the Knowledge Base, by making a quick short video for each FTP app yourself showing the basics of how to export from Blocs and upload a site with various FTP programs. I think maybe its more about those whom are not accustomed to using a separate FTP app workflow just being overwhelmed. They look at these FTP apps, see various technical jargon and think I just want to upload my site what does all this mean?
Ultimately once users understand how it works they will be better off having this further knowledge, along with realizing how easy, flexible and powerful using separate FTP apps can be.
I had built in FTP with Freeway and it worked relatively well, but they were simpler days when FTP had fewer configuration options. Given that I now work extensively with remote assets I just want a capable FTP client that will connect to anything with excellent sync abilities.
It might me more fruitful to extend the knowledge base by suggesting say Forklift 3 and Transmit as capable options, then perhaps link to FTP documentation for half a dozen of the biggest web hosts, such as Go Daddy and Dreamhost etc. I am currently using Kualo as a web host and this is their FTP guide as an example https://my.kualo.com/knowledgebase/5_ftp/1305_ftp-getting-started-guide.html
I wouldn’t want it. I usually do some post production on some files exported by Blocs so I need to be in control of this. The fact that Blocs outputs every file/page on export (not just ones that have updates) makes this important. No need to redo the post edits and upload the entire site every time I make a minor change to something.
Hi guys,
I know this is not a priority feature. But let me explain why this would be very useful.
As a web designer, I spend quite some time in meetings with my customers, making live changes as we go. But I spend quite a lot of time exporting the site and then re-uploading it using a separate FTP client.
If I could just do CMD+E and it export and upload in one go, that would make life easier. I know there are ways around this but this adds another layer of complexity.
Blocs for iPad is the first version of Blocs to support publishing via SFTP and FTP. I think it is a reasonable bet to assume this will come to desktop as well in Blocs 5.
I 100% agree 
And it works very nicely already in the iPad version.
I am so glad to hear that this is coming in blocs 5 and the iPad version. I know its the million dollar question, but is there an idea of when blocs 5 will be released?
John
More info coming next week