Resizing images BEFORE placing them on the site...please

Barefoot TJ

Barefoot TJ

Administrator
Staff member
Mar 5, 2010
21,528
7,055
113
#1
Since we are a private club funded by its members, and in order to keep our bandwidth down, therefore web hosting costs down, please be sure to resize your large pictures before placing them on the site. 250 to 400 pixels WIDE is a good size to start with. Anything approaching the 30K range is way too large; they can even stand to be much smaller.

Resizing your pictures will require an external program. You can download a great, FREE program called IrFranView here http://www.irfanview.com/. Until we can afford to get an auto-sizing module on the site, we have to manually shrink the files' sizes. Also, if you do use IrFranView (and some other programs, so be sure to check), you can choose "Save for the Web," which optimizes the files for the web by stripping out all of the nonessential bits used for printing images but leaves a great quality-looking file in place.
 
#2
does this include images

does this include images stored elsewhere like photobucket? I like to inclcude pictures with some posts, so I want to make sure i'm not making things any more difficult on anyone.
 
#3
If the sizes are already

If the sizes are already small, then no problem. If they aren't then they will need to be resized first. (right-click > properties) Thanks!
 
#5
Wait a second-- I think we

Wait a second-- I think we may be misunderstanding HTML here. Someone who knows more than me tell me if I am wrong here.

If you put an image in a post that is hosted on another site such as flickr (for example using the
picture.jpg
makes the picture 400 pixels wide.
 
#7
So I/we don't need to worry

So I/we don't need to worry about this? As far as the members photos are concerned? Of course, I still have to consider our own images. I've had some members link images that were approaching and exceeding 1MB, no concerns on my part then?

I found this very useful link: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/03/reducing-your-websites-bandwidth-usage.html

Now just to find the time to accomplish some of this housework.

For off-loading images, of those free services here, they would be helpful to the members who don't already have some sort of photo storage service:


  • Imageshack

    ImageShack offers free, unlimited storage, but has a 100 MB per hour bandwidth limit for each image. This sounds like a lot, but do the math: that's 1.66 MB per minute, or about 28 KB per second. And the larger your image is, the faster you'll burn through that meager allotment. But it's incredibly easy to use-- you don't even have to sign up-- and according to their common questions page, anything goes as long as it's not illegal.
  • Flickr

    Flickr offers a free basic account with limited upload bandwidth and limited storage. Download bandwidth is unlimited. Upgrading to a paid Pro account for $25/year removes all upload and storage restrictions. However, Flickr's terms of use warn that "professional or corporate uses of Flickr are prohibited", and all external images require a link back to Flickr.
  • Photobucket

    Photobucket's free account has a storage limit and a download bandwidth limit of 10 GB per month (that works out to a little over 14 MB per hour). Upgrading to a paid Pro account for $25/year removes the bandwidth limit. I couldn't find any relevant restrictions in their terms of service.
  • Amazon S3

    Amazon's S3 service allows you to direct-link files at a cost of 15 cents per GB of storage, and 20 cents per GB transfer. It's unlikely that would add up to more than the ~ $2 / month that seems to be the going rate for the other unlimited bandwidth plans. It has worked well for at least one other site.
Author writes: "I like ImageShack a lot, but it's unsuitable for any kind of load, due to the hard-coded bandwidth limit. Photobucket offers the most favorable terms, but Flickr has a better, more mature toolset. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the terms of use restrictions at Flickr until I had already purchased a Pro account from them. So we'll see how it goes. Update: it looks like Amazon S3 may be the best long-term choice, as many (if not all) of these photo sharing services are blocked in corporate firewalls."
 
#8
Just to follow up on what I

Just to follow up on what I wrote, if you do link to an external image and resize it using the WIDTH keyword, remember that it is just the user's browser that is doing the resizing. So it is not nice for you to link to a huge image and then use WIDTH to resize it to some modest size for the BRS site... you're still abusing the other site's bandwith. Instead, try to link to an appropriately sized image and then perfect it with the WIDTH keyword. For example, one of the standard flickr sizes (use the "see all sizes" link for each photo on flickr) is 500 pixels wide. So I can link to that and then resize it down to 400. No need for me to link to the full-quality image which is 2500 pixels or more wide.
 
#9
We have some images people

We have some images people link to that are ginormous. I'm sure you all have seen them; they take up the whole page. Let's keep the images small, regardless of where they sit. It looks better that way anyway and lessens the junkiness.
 
#10
Wish I would have came across

Wish I would have came across this post before I posted those ginormous pictures. So sorry. :( I will make sure I size them down next time for sure... even though I'm still a little confused.

If I load a picture on photobucket, then resize it on photobucket before posting to BFR, is that OK? Or do I need to do something else. I would even be willing to use one of the different sites if it were easier.
 
#11
Whatever makes them appear to

Whatever makes them appear to fit within the framework of the post field is fine with me. We've had some people post pictures that nearly filled the entire screen and went way out of the post field.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Support Your Club

Luna Sandals

Forum statistics

Threads
19,158
Messages
183,644
Members
8,705
Latest member
Raramuri7

Latest posts

Share this page

Share this page
Top Bottom
Back
Menu