Have You Thought About the Filesizes of the Images You Upload?
When you write an article and upload an image to accompany it, it impacts upon the speed of the site and the page loading. So, do you think about the image sizes you're uploading to the site and how large they are?
Typically, in the past, a website designer would be looking for a total pagesize of 100kb, for speed - and, over time, one of the criteria Google judges a website on is the speed to load. It therefore makes sense that the image size you use should be big enough and appropriate for the audience.
Take my image above, my red beach glass image that's on my profile - the filesize of that is just 19kb. That means it's small and, so, makes for quite a fast loading page. I've been having a look at some of the profile images of some of my contacts here and discovered quite a few in excess of 600kb in size - I wonder who has the largest image on their profile, or in any of their articles. I first looked at this this morning when I noticed one person's profile image was loading very slowly on my PC, so I wondered "how big is the filesize of that?" and took a look.
When I upload images to accompany my articles here, I generally use Pixabay as it's quick/easy to find a great image, check the rights and do the attribution (even though it's not required). But, what I do is tick the box to download the smallest image available, then I resize it in Paint so it's 300-400 pixels wide, thus making it large enough for the purpose, but without hindering the pageload speed.
You can tell the filesize of any image in a variety of ways, depending on what you're using, so I won't explain how to tell here - but if you can find a way to copy/download any image, then save it to your PC, look at the directory and you'll be able to see the filesize when the directory is displayed in "Details" view.
Every little helps, as they say - and if we can each do one little thing to speed up the site then we'd all benefit potentially.
TAGS: Filesize ImageSize PersonaPaper PageLoadTime Optimisation Tips TechTips 022015 ___
C/1200/1467/220
Image Credit » My Photo taken with my camera of my red beach glass
Comments
Koalemos wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:09 AM
I always resize any photograph that I wish to use with Adobe Photoshop and check that the size is appropriate.
Dragonfairy1 wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:12 AM
I'm guilty as I'm struggling to upload them, but I'm not sure how to resize them, I'll have to goggle it.
Koalemos wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:25 AM
It is very easy and can be done with any image editing program. You could even use Paint if you do not have any other program. Just open the image in Paint and click on "Resize" which is on the toolbar. You can now select a smaller size and then use Save As from the File button and select jpeg as the format.
bestwriter wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:33 AM
Persona will not accept if the images are larger than what is specified. When I upload to photobucket which allows us to place multiple images directly in our posts without going to the 'gallery' I already reduce the size by using 'paint'.
Kasman wrote on February 13, 2015, 8:13 AM
Dragonfairy1 - if you are talking about images used as the header image in a post then PP will resize it for you when you upload it to your post. You just have to make sure it is less than 2mb
CountryWine wrote on February 13, 2015, 9:13 AM
I'm used to article writing that includes pictures so am very well aware that the size of the picture does matter. However, I personally don't use them here because the site has major adverts as it is.
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 10:11 AM
If you use Adobe Photoshop to resize images you've a lot of cash to waste :) I'm guessing you use it for other stuff too then!
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 10:13 AM
If you go to paint.net you can download some free software called Paint - it's safe/good. Open up the image, on the top menu bar choose Image, resize, ensure the box is ticked to say maintain ratios, then just type a number between 300 to 400 in the top/width box, then do OK. Then File Save As and give it another name so you've kept the original/large and the smaller one.
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 10:14 AM
It resizes the look of the image, but the image is still the original size. They don't create smaller versions and use the smaller versions, it's only the display size that's altered.
1Koalemos wrote on February 13, 2015, 10:15 AM
The majority of home computer users tend to use Microsoft Windows, which has Paint installed by default.
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 10:15 AM
I just figure every little helps - and with the big adverts already the pages need that little extra help :)
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 11:33 AM
Paint and Paint.net are different. Paint is inferior. Paint.net is very similar to a free copy of Photoshop. It even does layers and stuff.
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 11:34 AM
I've never hit a limit, nor been aware of one - probably as I always resize my images without thinking about it.
nbaquero wrote on February 13, 2015, 12:11 PM
UK_Writer Good advice to be taken into account by everyone.
Koalemos wrote on February 13, 2015, 12:50 PM
Oh yes, it is brilliant for creating avatars and various images. It even came in useful when I was creating my letterhead because I was able to produce embossed text on a transparent background to overlay on the template.
It is an extremely versatile piece of software, but it can be quite difficult to use to it's full capabilities.
Koalemos wrote on February 13, 2015, 12:52 PM
The best free software that I know is GIMP. It usually comes bundled with Linux installations, but can be downloaded separately.
Kasman wrote on February 13, 2015, 1:32 PM
bestwriter - are you currently using Photobucket for images on Persona Paper?
Kasman wrote on February 13, 2015, 1:35 PM
UK_Writer - I didn't even think to check that! I just assumed . . . and you know what that makes me!
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 1:52 PM
Yes, there's a donkey in there somewhere - and us two. It is easy to assume though, or many may misunderstand what I wrote ... but all they do is take the original file and do a width= command on it, without generating smaller images.
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 1:52 PM
I think I looked at that once and didn't like what I saw. The name's a bit offputting too isn't it :)
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 1:53 PM
No. I have them on my PC and I upload them from here one by one, on demand.
crowntower wrote on February 13, 2015, 4:08 PM
LOL! U don't really mind, because I have no idea about the image size, and I don't really post my article with image on it. Hehehehehe. But maybe I will next time. thanks for the heads up and God bless.
bestwriter wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:09 PM
Yes. for my own images. I first reduce them to the required size. They can be posted directly in the article without first having to upload them in the 'Gallery'
UK_Writer wrote on February 13, 2015, 7:32 PM
I've never seen/found this alleged gallery yet, but then I only upload one image to a post, maybe if I tried to upload a second it'd be there, but I'm not interested in multiple image posts here. If I've something that large to write I'd write it on Hubpages :)
bestwriter wrote on February 13, 2015, 8:12 PM
Here is a post that explains everything.
http://personapaper.com/article/8690-multiple-images-per-post-are-here
bestwriter wrote on February 13, 2015, 8:21 PM
Here is a post where I have posted the image from my photobucket account.
http://personapaper.com/article/23661-when-nature-decides-to--paint
I have done a few others too. It is easy and fast. They as you know provide the html code. One needs to just copy it and paste it in the article. I got the idea after reading the recommendation from MaeLou . We cannot use this mode for images from the Net as photobucket is only for our own pictures
Kasman wrote on February 14, 2015, 2:24 AM
UK_Writer - AngelSharum has written a post on how to include multiple images from the gallery: http://goo.gl/sSzjIC
Kasman wrote on February 14, 2015, 2:26 AM
I tried GIMP but found it awfully complicated. I don't use it.
cheri wrote on February 15, 2015, 12:36 AM
It is better that we have a file of images that we want to go with our posts. It only takes time resizing them.