[kwlug-disc] How does a Newbie use the Ubuntu GUI to copy files into dirs owned by Root?

[John Johnson]

Hi List

How does a Newbie use the Ubuntu GUI to copy files into directories 
owned by root?

After a few months away from my Ubuntu/LAMP/web-server I have returned 
to it to update my website(s) on the server.
As an old UNIX hack, I can move around in a terminal window and use the 
command line to move files around with "sudo [command]".

I found that cannot use the GUI to move or copy files into directories 
owned by root, such as /var/www/[website-name-here].
Understandably, I get permissions errors logged in as a typical login 
user. And I found that logging in as "root" is a non-starter.

I am sure I can go back to the command lime and do a sudo chmod xxx 
/var/www/[website-name-here] to open up the access.
But I would like know if there is a GUI equivalent to "sudo cp source 
dest" where "dest" is owned by root (or other).

Still a Newbie after all these months.

BTW: I am not even sure what GUI is running, but I do not think it is 
Unity. Unity would not run on my ram-starved PC.
How can I tell what GUI is running?

Thanks
JohnJ