Adding Photos vs Page Speed

[KempRugeLawGroup]

I need to add more photos to our site, since I believe it'd be a better user experience, but I don't want our page speed to slow down. Is there an optimal size or quality photo parameters that work best for this? If so, is there a site or service someone would recommend over photobucket to get them?

Thanks,

Ruben

[KempRugeLawGroup]

We run on wordpress. The WP Smush.it plugin sounds like just the thing we need. Thanks!

[TomRayner]

Hi Ruben

Before you begin, you want to be sure that you have the permission to use or re-use any photos.  Thought that was worth mentioning.

A .jpg is a good file extension to use, as you'll barely lose photo quality over a .png, which is much larger.  As for dimensions, try and pick the best dimensions for where the image will be.  I believe in focusing on the best user experience here, so go with what you thinks best.

A further step, which I think is vital, is to losslessly compress the images you want.  This process removes the unecessary bytes in images, reducing file size and subsequent page load speed, without compromising the quality of the image.  The online Yahoo Smush.it tool works great for this, or if you're running Wordpress the WP Smush.it plugin will compress all the images you upload for you.

As for where to host the image, you're fine to use your own server but if you want or need to externally host images, I don't think there's a quicker or easier service to use than Imgur.

Hope this helps.