Determining Photo Web Site Requirements

12.03.2008 01:27 AM Comment(s) By Jeff

When trying to determine what type of web site you need and how many photos it will support, the size of the photos and the amount of web site storage space are the critical considerations. To help you determine, how large each photo will be (in megabytes), here's a web site that can provide a good reference - http://web.forret.com/tools/megapixel_chart.asp - and below is an example of how you would use this web site to help you determine how much web site storage space you will need.   Step 1 – Look up your camera on the web site. Let's assume we have a 5 Megapixel (MP) camera that is not on the list. We will use the 5 MP camera under the "Standards" list. Clicking on this link shows us that a 100% JPG (JPG100) image will consume 1.5 megabytes (MB) of storage space. The JPG or JPEG image format is the most common format and is the best format for the web. It is the smallest in size of all the formats and provides good quality for viewing on a web site.   Step 2 – Estimate the maximum number of photos you will have on your site at any one time.Suppose you will have no more than 200 photos at any one time on your web site. Total storage required = 200 photos X 1.5 MB = 300 MB Add 20% to the Total Storage Required as a buffer. This makes the total 450 MB of space needed for 200 photos.   Step 3 – Find the lowest cost web hosting plan that gives you enough storage space. There are lots of photo sharing web sites available.  Read this Wikipedia article  to see what sites are available and pick the one that is best for you.  Most of them are free for the everyday user. 

Jeff

Share -