What access level should public_html be?

[aewarnick]

I'm using WS_FTP and it does not use numbers for access level so please write
r= read
w= write
e= execute

for

1. Me
2. Group
3. Other

Example:

1. rwe
2. r
   3.

[aewarnick]

I'm really confused about this because if I don't set public_html to ---RWX--- at minimum, then my site cannot be accessed.

But the folders inside of public_html need to be set at ------RWX at minimum not ---RWX---! What is with that?

[LoganK]

I'm not a UNIX guru, so my instinct would be to chmod the entire folder to 777...however I hear that is really quite insecure, so you can disregard my advice.

I think I saw an online utility once which converted those strings like "---RWX---" to the number format.

[laserlight]

I think 0755 is normal for directories.
It should correspond to:
drwxr-xr-x

EDIT:
The conversion is pretty simple.

Remember the relations:
1 -> execute
2 -> write
4 -> read
Then add (or bitwise AND, depending on how you look at it) as necessary.

So -rx corresponds to 1+2=3

[aewarnick]

755 works, but is it safe?