What do you want to see in an image host?

[CyberJ37]

Yeah well I've got a few projects coming up soon in the upcoming months, and one of this is an image host.

So yeah just wondering, what features and stuff would you guys like to see in an image host?

CyberJ37 Reviewed by CyberJ37 on 13th Apr 2011. What do you want to see in an image host? Yeah well I've got a few projects coming up soon in the upcoming months, and one of this is an image host. So yeah just wondering, what features and stuff would you guys like to see in an image host? Rating: 5

[Prazsky]

Nothing much really. The just the basic ones like:
1) Support for multiple image uploads at once like Imageshack and Photobucket.
2) Support for wide variety of image formats
3) Support for images upto 10mb atleast
4) Auto resize option during uploading
5) User account to manage images uploaded
6) Images shouldn't be deleted unless its offensive/highly illegal.

[smokestash]

Multiple image uploads at once... if you can integrate some sort of applet (Javascript or AJAX or flash) so that a person simply highlight all the images he wants to upload once, as opposed to having to choose each image manually (look at PimpAndHost for a good example of this).

Secondly, I like an image host to offer auto resize. This is especially useful for things such as screenshots and thumbnails - which can often be large (eg 720p screenshots). I like having 3 size options, as opposed to the normal 2 you find with most image hosts. The original version, a scaled down version (eg 50% of original), and a thumbnail version. Once again, PimpAndHost does this really well, except they offer 4 sizes (Original, medium, small, thumbnail).

Thirdly, I like being able to hotlink the medium sized image directly (or the original, for that matter). I understand many hosts don't like direct hotlinking because it eats up the host's bandwidth, and therefore only allow a small thumbnail version to be hotlinked. However, this is often impractical, especially for blog/forum posts. If you allowed the medium sized option to be hotlinekd, however, it would still eat up your bandwidth more than a thumbnail, but certainly not to the extent of the original.

Finally, somewhere the user can register and manage images. This is often a component that is lacking in most image hosts. If you were able to custom code one to allow it to be more interactive and have previews, then it would be amazing.

Finally, I hate ad-loaded pages - this is my main gripe with PimpAndHost. One, two or even 3 banners is ok (eg one on top, one on the bottom and one on the side), but PAH go way too crazy with their advertising.

[cvrle77]

API (Advanced Programming Interface)
Firefox Plugin
Screen-Snapper
Link-to-Clipboard (When image is uploaded, link is in clipboard)