ftp & scp / sftp comparison

A small suggestion for you

In the protocols section of the web site a small paragraph
explaining to the uninitiated differences, improvements & speed
differences to be expected between ftp & the 2 SSH protocols
would be helpful in putting the bigger picture into perspective

Yes it would be. But I do not know much about FTP protocol to write this down. What exactly are you interested in?

FTP -- File Transfer Protocol -- suffers from a vulnerability similar to telnet. Essentially, FTP is used to transfer files from one computer (such as a personal workstation) to a remote host (such as UMBC's gl server cluster). Like telnet, FTP broadcasts sensitive information in cleartext, meaning your username, password and (quite possibly) the contents of your transmitted files could be exposed during an FTP session to anyone between your computer and the destination server.

The cleartext problem with FTP can be effectively remedied by using an alternative, more secure protocol such as scp (Secure Copy). Scp, much like ssh, uses secure shell encryption to protect your information in transit.