File size advice

[murphyz]

I have 1GB total for my webspace. I have one forum and a blog currently running on it (the forum using an external database).

I am just adding another 'site' to the domain that has this gallery and a related forum. I'm therefore wondering what file size I would be best off setting for users to upload.  I don't generally take photos so don't really know about all the sizes and what the 'average' filesize would be.  Would 200k be enough to keep the quality of the image?

Are the uploads compressed by the software for storage? 

I don't want to restrict the quality of the images people can have, or the fact they are able to upload at all.  At the same time I want to be able to attract 100 members without running out of space to store them.  Each member will be taking circa 26 images each, perhaps more.

Cheers

Mxx

[Joachim Müller]

currently, the pics aren't being resized on upload (although this is a feature we're planning to implement in future versions). This means: if you allow a user to upload 3 MB per pic, he's allowed to do so, and coppermine will only resize the intermediate pics and the thumbnail to the size you set in coppermine config. This might soo lead to you running out of webspace. The alternative is to reduce the individual file size the user is allowed to upload, but this would require the user to be capable to size down large pics (that come out of modern digital cameras) to decent sizes (that work on internet pages), but alas most "regular" users don't have the skills to do so.
There's one workaround for users running Windows XP: they can use the XP_Publisher tool to upload, which will resize the pics on the client without the user noticing it (the drawback of course is that not every user has Windows XP).
This being said, it's hard to give a general advice on what file size you should limit your users: if they are expereinced (e.g. if your site is dedicated to webmasters), you should set the allowed file size low (e.g. 200 Kb). If they are unexperienced (and using XP_Publisher is not an option for you), you should allow high file sizes (e.g. 2 MB per pic), but then you (as an admin) should regularly use the feature "Delete original size photos" from the admin tools to delete the big full-size pics your users upload, leaving only the intermediates in place.

Hope I have made my point and my posting is helpfull for you.

GauGau

[murphyz]

Yes, this information is a great help, thank you.  It would be great for this feature in the future.

I think I will keep the upload at 650k just now, but prompt users to keep them as low as possible.

I'll also be sure to amend the upload message to mention the file size and point the user in the direction of the faq section where I will give instructions on how to change the image size in photoshop (I think resizing in Paint Shop Pro loses the EXIF info).

Finally, I shall think about making a dedicated page as part of the forum where the user is able to upload the image that is too large so that it is only viewable by the mods and admin who will then resize it for them. That should work as solution to most of the problems, even if it's not the ideal solution.

There was just one part of your post I was unsure about, which was the intermediate images. I assume it goes as thus.

Goto gallery and you see a thumbnail image (smallest size). Click on this and you get taken to the album, also thumbnail view. Click on this to go to the photo page.  Is this one the intermediate image?  Click on that image to open full view, I assume the original image?

Deleting original size photo would thus get rid of the last page and make the image on the photo view page unclickable...yes?

Cheers

Mxx