Many web hosts try to sell you a large amount of web
hosting space that then costs you a lot each month.
However, you may not need this much space. Have you
ever calculated just how much disc space (MB) your
web site uses? Do you really need an expensive hosting
solution for your web site?
For my first web site, I purchased 20mb of disc space
and wondered if this would be enough as I added pages
to it. Well, recently I checked the size of this site
which had grown to over 20 pages. To my surprise the
size was only 3,269KB. This means it only uses a little
over 3Mb of disk space.
Most of my friends sites also only use 2-3Mb for
their sites. Therefore it is not necessary to purchase
a large amount of space for a small site (if 20 pages
= 3Mb, then 20Mb = 140 pages approx). Are you paying
TOO much for the actual space you need?
How Do You Calculate The File Size Of Your Web Site?
1. First you need to understand how file size is measured.
The smallest unit on a computer is a bit. One bit
is one electronic on or off pulse. 8 bits strung together
make one byte. One byte of information can put a letter,
such as "B" on your screen.
If you put 1024 bytes together and then you have
one unit of information called a kilobyte. Put 1024
kilobytes together and you have a megabyte. (Most
floppy disks hold around 1.4 megabytes of information).
Most of your graphics and web pages are measured in
megabytes.
2. To determine your total site file size, right
click on the root folder where your web site is housed
- this will not only give you the total site size
but also how many files and folders are contained
in your site.
3. If you use an editor, such as FrontPage, go to
the reports view, click on the site summary and you
will get a reading of the total site file size. In
Dreamweaver, just use the method in No 2.
Prepare To Expand Your Hosting Plan You may want
to add pages, graphics, features eg scripts, databases
etc, to your site in the future. Begin with a small
hosting plan at first (even 5mb is enough to start
out with), and then expand it as you add new features.
Check with your web host, if you can easily upgrade
your hosting plan as you grow your site. You don't
want to go through the hassle of changing hosts every
few months.
Once you have determined your total site file size,
check what hosting plan you have purchased and how
much disc space has been allocated for your site.
If you are only using 3mb of disc space but are paying
for 100mb, then you may want to switch hosting plans
and save yourself a ton of money each year.
