download without a hosting site?

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galactus

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I was just wondering how much trouble it is to implement a 'download attachment' option on site, thus eliminating the need for an outside hosting service(ImageShack,etc.).

I seen other sites set up like this and was just wondering.
 
Hmm. I'll look into it but I'm not sure I want to start hosting people's images. Lots of space and bandwidth demands there.
 
Just a sugqestion. Admittedly, I don't know much about bandwidth and space. Just wondering.
 
Ted, like galactus, I don't know much about bandwidth and space;
would a "size limit" (with message "too big") work?
 
Are you guys talking about having images embedded in your post hosted right here? Or other files that are "attached" and available to be downloaded? I'm just not sure that having images hosted here would make things much easier. Since you'd still need to insert the IMG tag in your post to put it in the right place it would require a few steps. Some of the free image hosting services are awfully easy to use as it is.

Can you guys elaborate on this a little more? As to what exactly you want and why it would be better?
 
Hello Ted.

Yes, I mean embedding images right here, such as graphs, pictures, etc.

math2.org and mathhelpforum.com do it. I just thought it'd be nice here.
 
So the user could have the graphic (say, the scan of his page of homework) on his computer, do a "browse" of his hard drive, and plug the image into his post, which involves uploading a copy onto the FreeMathHelp server...?

Considering that many of the posters are using images because they're too lazy to copy out the text of their homework or to show their work, and considering that some of the files we've been pointed to on the free services have been as large as multiple megabytes, I think this would only serve to fill up the server. Especially since old posts (and thus old images) do not appear to get pruned.

Just my two cents; I could be wrong....

Eliz.
 
I think it's something that could be done, but I'm guessing I'd have some serious server requirements there. I'd obviously have to enforce a strict limit on filesize but that would probably confuse those who don't immediately know how to optimize an image. Either way, I think I just don't have the ability to host several thousand images that might be up to a megabyte each.

I don't like to delete old posts, and so all those little LaTeX images are still sitting on my server. Those are less than 1kB a piece usually, but there thousands and thousands of those that account for 40 megs already. That's not a big deal, but I don't believe I can handle the hosting requirements for large scanned images. Sorry guys.
 
Hey I always appreciate suggestions... didn't mean to sound abrupt in dismissing it.
 
The images I post are not into the MB's. ImageShack likes small images, too. Most of the images I host are GIF and take around 4KB.
 
galactus said:
The images I post are not into the MB's.
Click to expand...
And the tutors (such as yourself) aren't generally the ones posting the "problem" images, such as the one attempted here.

Assuming a one-kilobyte filesize each, there are more than forty-thousand LaTeX images currently being hosted, and that includes posts just since June of 2005.

Assuming a "small" filesize of 250 kilobytes for graphics, and assuming 1.5 gigs of server (storage) space for this domain's hosting account, you're looking at about six thousand images being all it would take to entirely fill the server. (That's assuming the scripts and databases and such take up no space.)

How long would it take, at that rate, to clog the server or over-tax the CPU? (I don't think this site is on a "dedicated" server, so CPU usage could be of crucial importance.)

I would like the convenience of uploading, too; but the "back end" considerations (to which we users aren't privy, but with which, as a web-site owner myself, I have some passing familiarity) may be such that it just isn't reasonable, at least at this time.

Just my opinion; I could be wrong, of course....

Eliz.
 
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