[thelist] to upload or to include image urls

Ben Dyer radicalbender at gmail.com
Tue Oct 7 17:30:50 CDT 2008


On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 4:56 PM, Bob Meetin <bobm at dottedi.biz> wrote:
> Is there a consensus on whether it's better to allow the audience to
> upload images and include them in a page they have access to write to or
> include URLs only?

It really depends on what you think the expectations of your user will
be and how much additional work it will be for them.

If you are offering an online service, you need to make it as easy as
possible for the user to accomplish the service you are offering.  If
you do online task management, it needs to be easy to set up a To-Do
List. If you do online bookkeeping or invoicing, you need to be able
to easily set up your books or send invoices to your clients.  Every
extra step in the registration, every page of extra options, every
single thing that they have to do that they weren't expecting is a
roadblock for the user.

Since you're offering a service to allow users to sell auto parts that
is (I'm assuming) structured kinda like Craigslist (classifieds), but
more resembles eBay (user-oriented, searchable online market), you
want to make it as easy as possible for a user to post their ad.  Set
up the ad quickly and upload the images right there (or allow them to
be linked in if they already have them elsewhere, like Photobucket,
Flickr, etc.), then collect personal info and payment info and you're
done.

So, that's the rationale.  The short summary is that I'd recommend
against forcing the users to host images elsewhere.  It's an extra
step that a new user might not expect.  Online applications are really
about managing and meeting user expectations.  If you don't or can't
meet user expectations, it's very easy for them to go elsewhere.

--Ben


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Radical Bender
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