Multiple image upload

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by philoo

This is purely a problem of competition between classifieds websites

Keep in mind the ability to upload a 10megapixel image has nothing at all to do with 68 classifieds. This is purely a limitation of your server and the servers settings.

If you skimp and pay for a shared server you get what you pay for in terms of server resources. If you run a professional site and pony up for the $$$ for your own leased server with lots of memory, then crank up the memory variables for PHP and the timeout limit and your users wont have to resize anything.

Does anyone here think E-bay runs on shared web server plans that cost $5 a month?

[philoo]

Originally Posted by Lhotch

Keep in mind the ability to upload a 10megapixel image [...] is purely a limitation of your server and the servers settings.

Sure

Originally Posted by Lhotch

If you skimp and pay for a shared server you get what you pay for in terms of server resources. If you run a professional site and pony up for the $$$ for your own leased server with lots of memory, then crank up the memory variables for PHP and the timeout limit and your users wont have to resize anything.

Sure.
I run a dedicated server that is 2x2.66 GHz CoreDuo Intel 4Go RAM and 2X750 Go RAID 1 HDD. It costs about 69 euros (USD 95) per month and I set my PHP.INI 'upload_max_filesize' to 8M

Originally Posted by Lhotch

Does anyone here think E-bay runs on shared web server plans that cost $5 a month?

Does anyone here think that anybody can run professionally a classified business and cannot spend more than USD 5 per month ?

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by philoo

I run a dedicated server that is 2x2.66 GHz CoreDuo Intel 4Go RAM and 2X750 Go RAID 1 HDD. It costs about 69 euros (USD 95) per month and I set my PHP.INI 'upload_max_filesize' to 8M

its not just the max upload size that matters, its how much memory PHP is allowed to use. The deault setting is 16mg for most flavors of unix. A 5megapixel image in jpg format needs to be uncompressed to be resized and when uncompressed will consume about 45 megabytes of memory......thats a bit higher than 16mg eh? Script runs out of mem, you see a white screen end of story.

So, if your allowing people to upload 8mg images they have roughly 3,504 x 2,336 pixels and consumes about 74mg of memory when uncompressed so you better make sure your congis is giving the script a good bit of mmory higher than that.

[philoo]

I do not want to fight technicaly : you are probably right.

The facts I note from years are that customers switch to other websites that are more easy to run for them, instead of resizing each picture they want to upload for size and kb match to software settings .... and, by the past, I had dozens of complaints about this. No one about multiple images upload ...

I did not want to lose more customers, so I set upload limits very high and now there is no more problems about this...

[Lhotch]

Originally Posted by philoo

I did not want to lose more customers, so I set upload limits very high and now there is no more problems about this...

Im just trying to explaine to you that upload limits are only one peice of the puzzle. You can have your upload limit set at 5mg and still run into problems because the server config does not allow enough working memory for the scripts to resize the image. In your case, at 8mg if your npot having problems it could very well be that your dedicated server has memory limits set high enough to process these images.

Im simply trying to clarify that allowing people to upload larger images can cause MORE problems if the scripts arent allowed the memory to process them.

In almost all cases of people having problems with image uploads its because of constrictive server settings.

In the end, as you have stated, if your having image upload problems, then pay for hosting to accomidate your needs.

[philoo]

Lotch, we are saying the same thing, via a different way.

- If you run a small classifieds website that does not allow to run a dedicated server, you have to set 68C to accept small size pics and that requires the customers must resize their pics before upload.

- If you run a real classified business, you can run a dedicated server and manage your Apache/PHP settings to allow large file uploads and set 68C to accept large pics without any manipulation by customers, before upload.

It is the reason why I do not consider this question is a 68C issue, but a global issue of the business you run ...

[bearcat]

Originally Posted by philoo

And they all resize their (hundreds) pics before uploading them ?.

Yes, of course! Professionals have their own websites with web-sized images, and typically any given classifieds site is one of many marketing venues for them.

Beyond that, virtually all photo editing software has simple batch functions allowing you to resize the images. Not to mention that virtually all digital cameras allow you to set sizes within the camera itself itself.

From your comments, you are dealing in a market niche that is different from that of many people here. That is fine, more power to you! But I would respectfully add that saying a feature is unnecessary or part of 'webmaster fantasy' because it does not fit your particular needs is, imho, not the best forum etiquette. Others here will have different needs from yours.

Of course, if there is a technical or user interface problem with a given feature, that is good to bring up as well.

[juven14]

Back on the original topic.....

I think multiple image uploads would be ideal and very possible (even on shared hosting). The way I'd go about it would be a little different than what people think of as multiple uploading. Upload 1 at a time in batch. Let them select all the images and then use ajax to begin uploading them once they are selected or started at the submit button. Then you can bring back in the preview of the uploaded image. Sometimes the resizing quality will not be ideal and they will want to make a correction. I've seen these work fine on shared hosting, albeit the sites weren't swamped with traffic.

I've seen a few flash uploaders I like as well (progress bars). I think it would be a fine addition to the script as long as it was something that could be used by the majority of 68c owners. This would be a fine module idea as well.

[philoo]

Originally Posted by bearcat

From your comments, you are dealing in a market niche that is different from that of many people here.

I run a website for Buying and Selling Vintage cars. I have around 12.000 registered users and around 400/500 new listings per month. I don't know if it is a market niche, may be you can tell me if it is or not...

My customers are not specialized in web publishing and/or image processing. They want to easily upload the pics when they sell a car or parts. In the competition between different websites, the simplicity of use for the customers is very important. It is something I learned during my 4 years of experience.

But I would respectfully add that saying a feature is unnecessary or part of 'webmaster fantasy' because it does not fit your particular needs is, imho, not the best forum etiquette. Others here will have different needs from yours.

My words were probably not the most appropriate. English is not my native language and I do not know all the subtlety of each words. Sorry if I have hurt somebody.

Of course, if there is a technical or user interface problem with a given feature, that is good to bring up as well.

The most important regarding special features is to make them switchable by admin. If the multiple upload is implemented in a futur 68C version, admin must be able to set, for example, saying the number of fields it wants to be offered on upload form

[Maffo]

My dynamic checkout handles multiple image uploads if thats what the subject of the post is. And I might add that it seems to handle them extremley efficiently.