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Web hosting articles
What is disk space?
Disk
space is
simply
the
total
amount
of data
that you
can
store
upon
your web
hosts’
server.
This
amount
will
include
all of
your web
pages,
any
graphic
or
audiovisual
content
you may
use on
those
pages,
any
files
that are
available
for
downloading
by
visitors
and also
any
space
that you
may use
for
emails.
You will
also
need to
allow a
small
amount
of space
for the
various
log
files
that are
generated
by the
server
recording
such
things
as site
visits.
The
amount
of disk
space
available
will
vary
depending
on your
choice
of plan.
For a
low-cost
plan it
may be
as
little
as 10
Mb, with
more
expensive
plans
you may
have
many
gigabytes
for your
use.
A simple
web site
using
HTML-based
pages
will not
need a
lot of
disk
space.
An HTML
file is
really
just a
plain
text
file – a
screen-full
of text
may only
need a
file
that is
10 kb in
size.
Most
simple
web
pages
average
about 40
kb in
size.
Thumbnail
images
will
probably
be about
2 -3 kb
in size
and
full-size
images
can be
kept to
as low
as 150 –
200 kb
without
sacrificing
too much
in the
way of
quality.
More
complex
web
sites
will
need
correspondingly
more
disk
space.
An
8-second
video
clip
will be
about 1
MB in
size.
Audio
files
are
normally
smaller,
but even
a short
low-quality
clip may
be 200
kb in
size.
Any site
that is
graphic-intensive
will
need a
large
amount
of disk
space
for
storage.
Making
files
available
for
download
by users
will
also use
a lot of
space.
There
are ways
to cut
down on
the
amount
of disk
space
you
need,
although
with
hard
drive
prices
seemingly
lower
every
week
this is
becoming
less
important
than it
used to
be.
Firstly,
make
sure
that all
of your
graphics
are
Web-optimized
– as
noted
above
image
files
can be
shrunk
considerably
without
losing
too much
quality.
Instead
of using
formatting
tags on
every
page,
consider
using
cascading
style
sheets,
or CSS.
This way
one CSS
file can
hold all
of the
formatting
data for
your
entire
site.
You may
also be
able to
use the
same
image on
many
pages,
for
example
a
company
logo.
It is
fairly
simple
to
calculate
approximately
how much
disk
space
you will
need for
your
site.
Simply
add
together
the
sizes of
all the
files
you will
be
uploading
to the
server.
This
will
give you
a
starting
point.
You will
then
need to
add in
an extra
20% to
allow
for
email
and site
logs and
to give
you some
leeway.
You will
also
need to
consider
future
needs.
If you
plan on
adding
new
pages
every
week,
then you
will
need to
allow
for
those
additional
pages
when
deciding
how much
disk
space
you will
need. It
is no
use
choosing
a plan
offering
the disk
space
you need
now,
only to
find
that you
will
outgrow
it
within
the
first
couple
of
months.
You may
also
find
that
some web
hosting
companies
will
impose
surcharges
if you
exceed
your
storage
space.
Allowing
space
for
growth
now may
save
some
growing
pains
later. |