Hi guys ..I am a newbie here..

I am currently designing a photography website on Joomla.
I think there will be around 1000 images (approximately 200 kb each) all together.
My site will also have e-commerce facilty and a slideshow facility.

I really want the site [photos & slideshow] to load crisply. How many images can I upload without slowing down the site?

I am a bit unsure whether shared hosting will be enough? Or will I need VPS/dedicated?

In case I go for a shared hosting when I select a package what aspects should I go for..i.e bandwith, transfer rate , disk space etc..

Your suggestions/help is much appreciated..

Hi there Nutz, firstly based on the size of images and number you would use around 200MB for your disk space which should by most standards be covered by many hosts low end shared packages. Bandwidth wise it will again depend entirely on the number of visitors and number of image views.

Speed wise it will depend how you show your images with joomla/ performance of the plug-in (are the images resized by the script or uploaded at the correct size) and the performance of the providers' server (note the above performance as it will take effect), an example be below of showing thumbnails then using java to show a larger preview on a shared hosting using pre sized images down from 10mp.

Lookout for hosts who allow you to process up through packages as you need them as such if your requirements expand your host can accommodate that expansion, saving you the downtime or time involved with changing provider.

As a summary, shared will provide you with a good start, eventually you may need to progress to vps, deepening entirely on the performance of the above.

Portfolio example (html/js): http://www.insideout.me.uk/portfolio.html
Newer demo of the same site using wordpress/js http://steve.csn-uk.net/lainsmead/

Greetings,

Go with a provider who promises "real" restrictions. Avoid "unlimited" hosting space and bandwidth hosts as they promise the world and do not deliver.

Go with "real" businesses and avoid start ups that are not registered businesses, as they typically end up closing up shop relatively quickly after the find out hosting is not an easy buck.

Shared hosting SHOULD be enough. That being said, if you go with a provider who offers additional services, once you outgrow their shared hosting, you could always go with their VPS/Dedicated services and typically if you as a customer before hand and are upgrading, in my experience, hosting providers will work with you to lower the pricing (giving a better deal for a long term customer, or a customer who is upgrading)

Slideshows, photos, loading crisply, yes it is also very possible. Just be very careful which hosting provider you choose, and you should end up satisfied as long as you are careful.

Given these specs most any shared account will work. There is nothing disk intensive or processor intensive going on with this site. I'll reiterate AquariusRyan recommendation of staying away from unlimited though.

Mark

3.4 Participants may not post or otherwise transmit promotional materials, or any other form of solicitation, except in those forum sections where advertising is expressly permitted.

http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/rules.php

Thanks for reply..

I am expecting [obviously hoping] for a good visit count as I will workon the publicity side so that I can sell more..

Hmm...I guess as the advices here shared hosting may be a good starter..

Agree on this. I hope you were able to find solutions to your problem.

3.4 Participants may not post or otherwise transmit promotional materials, or any other form of solicitation, except in those forum sections where advertising is expressly permitted.

http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/rules.php

My suggestion would be if you would ask any of webhosting company for free trial just to test your account it would be helpful to you to determinate what web hosting company you would need.

Try to minimize the size of the image maybe 100-150kb will be better

try to get a powerful server which can processes it quickly.

This would be enough for you to complete your Joomla work.

Not all unlimited hosts are a bad thing, but you certainly need to read the host's Terms of Service as every host's interpretation of "unlimited" varies.

Trying not to deviate from the original topic, but the unlimited discussion has been had at length and almost all hosts that offer such packages have the same stereotypical line in their post for example:

Still not sure what 10% of unlimited is and most would heavily recommend avoiding unlimited providers as it can lead to issues especially those who use their common free domain offers, an as above read the Terms of Service in depth

There is no such thing as unlimited and just the fact you are putting in "interpretations" says as much. We could offer unlimited in as much as you are willing to pay for....unlimited $ = unlimited bandwidth

For the OP, do some shopping for a small dedi, should run you between 50-100/month. You will have best speeds etc.

The 10% quota for databases should have been removed from our TOS when we decided to not set quotas, but seems it was accidentally overlooked. Thanks for taking the time to peruse our TOS and point it out.

What sort of budget do you have for this? This information will help us to point you in the right direction