Publishing to your web host

Setting up the connection

1. Open Publish.
2. In Your web host, choose yours if it is listed (o2switch, OVH, IONOS, Hostinger, LWS, Infomaniak, PlanetHoster, Free…): the protocol, port and folder are filled in for you, and TOWeb remembers your choice. Otherwise, choose Another host. For Free, see also Publishing to Free.
3. In Method, choose FTP or SFTP. When your plan offers SFTP, prefer it: it is the safest, as it also encrypts your password.
4. Fill in the Server (host), Username and Password: you will find them in the welcome email for your hosting.
5. Enter the full Site URL: for example https://www.mon-site.fr/.
6. Click Test connection. TOWeb usually finds the web folder by itself; otherwise, use Browse server directories to choose the Remote path (often www or public_html).

The password is stored encrypted on your computer.

If the server refuses the secure FTPS connection, as OVHcloud shared hosting does, the test explains it in plain words: untick Secure (FTPS) and test again, or switch to SFTP if your plan allows it.

Publishing

Click Publish site. TOWeb saves the site, generates the pages, then uploads the files. The following times, only modified files are sent. If files are missing online, tick Re-send all files (in Advanced options).

The first publication of a site to a server asks you to confirm: it replaces everything online at that address, for example your old TOWeb 14 site. To try first, publish to a test subfolder or subdomain.

Before uploading, the screen flags what would not work online (a form without a recipient address, for example) and what your edition will put online. After uploading, the Site optimizer reviews the site (broken links, missing titles and descriptions, heavy images, near-empty pages with their word count…) without ever stopping you from publishing. It checks the pages in the main language: automatic translations are not reviewed, only their links are checked. The Check online button also tests your external links and your certificate.

Once the site is online, the top of the screen shows its address (one click opens it in your browser), then the Last publication, the Files uploaded, the Duration and the Site size, rounded.

Checking the server

Forms, shop and bookings require PHP hosting. The screen tells you whether your site needs it. Click Test the server: TOWeb uploads a small test file, checks PHP, its modules, the data folder and email sending, then deletes it.

Some hosts filter automated visits (bot protection from SiteGround, Cloudflare or Imunify360). The test tells you so, instead of wrongly concluding that PHP is not enabled: your forms, payments and bookings work for your visitors. Check it by sending a form from the published site.

No FTP hosting: the local folder

Choose the Local method, an Output folder, then Build & export: the complete site is written to that folder, ready to be copied wherever you like. A site without PHP features can be hosted anywhere. This method is reserved for the paid editions.

Build without publishing builds the site without uploading it, so you can check everything first.

Your own .htaccess rules

TOWeb only writes to your server’s .htaccess file between the “# BEGIN TOWeb” and “# END TOWeb” markers. Rules added by you or your host outside this zone, such as a redirect or a PHP version, are kept at every publication.

In Settings › Advanced, the Redirect visitors to HTTPS setting sends any visitor who arrives over http:// to the secure address. It is on by default when the site address starts with https://. Turn it off only if your host already redirects to HTTPS itself (behind a proxy or a CDN, for example) or if the site shows “too many redirects”. The server test and the online check clearly report a redirect loop.