When you are new to the world of web development hosting and web space can seem like alien concepts. The trick is to ensure that you have enough space for your website, related email accounts and sufficient room left over for any future expansion that you might be planning. It is not always a case of the more space you have is the better, especially not when this space comes at a premium; it is generally best to start small and grow from there.

First of all decide what sort of media your site will be using. Will it be mostly text or will it be image rich? Will you be using standard HTML or will you be having a dynamic Flash site? Sites dominated by text take up very little space indeed and therefore cost very little money with regards to hosting. However, sites filled with unbroken text are unlikely to attract new clients or impress current ones, at least a few images are required. The more images you have on your site the more space you will need. Online brochures and catalogues can be particularly demanding when it comes to space. There are several steps that you can take to reduce the space requirements of an image. First of all ensure it is in a .jpg (JPEG) or .gif format - these take up a lot less space than other formats such as .bmp. Next, resize your image to the dimensions you wish it to fill on your pages. It is possible to scale the image using simple HTML code but why store a larger image than is necessary? It will simply take up much needed space and in the world of web hosting - space is money.

Flash can be used to make a site more striking, engaging and interactive. It can certainly provide the ‘wow’ factor. However, it is particularly greedy when it comes to space, taking up more room on your server than HTML code would. The solution to this is to use Flash in moderation. There is nothing wrong with an HTML-Flash hybrid site that is both visually appealing, interactive and space efficient.