All images in one folder - good or bad?

Hello,
I'm currently putting all my product images in one folder. I was wondering if this is a good or bad idea. I'm wondering if it will cause the website to slow down if the products customers are viewing has to pull through all that dat to pick the right file to display the image. I know from windows explorer when viewing a folder that has a lot of images, it takes a long time to view all the images.

So what are your thoughts? Thanks.

The code doesn't have to view each image. As far as I know, the main reason for using separate subfolders would be for human organizational purposes, if you have so many images that you can't keep them straight in one folder.

Be careful, though. Many hosting services limit folders to 2000 files.

2000 image files would be beyond what I would consider reasonable to organize in one folder, anyway... :)

Although the Folder limit of 2,000 is just a Linux default and easily changed by the Hoster, it is also true that the number of files within a Folder should be easily managed by a Human. There is also the maintenance issue, having images separated by some sort of scheme that makes sense to the site Owner is just a good idea. :smile:

Well, one of the reasons I chimed in here is because I am facing that exact problem- I took on a web site that was originally in ColdFusion, and when I got the database and images, there were over 8,000 images in one folder.

Needless to say, I'll be needing a very large bottle of aspirin sorting things out.

Hoo boy! Good luck!

Posted via Mobile Device

Please forgive me if this is a total noon question. I have taken over administration on our website and have found that like bobdog I have an image folder with over 14k images. It takes forever!!!! What I was wondering is, what sort of steps do I need to take to start organizing this. Specifically, do I need to do any sort of code changes to move images into subfolders? I was thinking of organizing them by category as that would keep the folder at least manageable. Any pointers from people who know what they are doing would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind that I know exactly nothing about Zen cart, how it was installed on our server or how to set it up etc etc. I am trying to remedy that as fast as I can.. Many thanks in advance
Posted via Mobile Device

Please forgive me if this is a total noob question. I have taken over administration on our website and have found that like bobdog I have an image folder with over 14k images. It takes forever!!!! What I was wondering is, what sort of steps do I need to take to start organizing this. Specifically, do I need to do any sort of code changes to move images into subfolders? I was thinking of organizing them by category as that would keep the folder at least manageable. Any pointers from people who know what they are doing would be greatly appreciated. Keep in mind that I know exactly nothing about Zen cart, how it was installed on our server or how to set it up etc etc. I am trying to remedy that as fast as I can.. Many thanks in advance
Posted via Mobile Device

@crayoneater, you already have a large task ahead of you with just learning the basics for day-to-day operations. Might not be a bad idea to wait abit before tackling the images situation.

To prepare for that task though and to do it quickly & efficiently, you should download a module called EasyPopulate - v1.2.5.4 is the best one I believe even though there are newer versions. Get familiar with how the mod works and it will make things better for you.

Thank you for that Great Advice! I Beleive the site is already running EasyPopulate, I have NO IDEA at all how it works or the why & wherefore of it... I have only just finished setting up a Local test server as the chap who set this all up for us was editing the live version online which I am extremely reluctant to do, especially since I have no idea what I am doing yet. Any hints on where to look for information on how this EasyPopulate Mod works?

Download the plug-in here
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=897
and read the included information.