www.imageshack.com

Upload your favourite photos at Imageshack.com!

ImageShack is a popular image hosting website. The ultimate photo and imaging portal, Imageshack has been ranked 52 in the Alexa rankings. Although the website has a subscription service, a majority of the revenue is generated from advertising related to their free image hosting. As per the statistics of Nielsen//NetRatings, ImageShack was the fourth fastest growing web brand in July, 2006.

Launched in 2003, this user-friendly website has seen an amazing growth in its popularity ratings. The main page of the website has a file selection field, where the user can select the image file to be uploaded. The image file format should be JPEG (JPG), PNG, GIF, TIFF (TIF), BMP, or SWF, and the file must be either smaller than or equal to 1.5 megabytes. The uploaded BMP, TIFF (TIF) images will be automatically converted to PNG format.

With its beautiful blend of light and dark brown hues, Imageshack.com grabs the attention of a first-time visitor. Simple, organized and properly maintained, the website offers only the most relevant information needed for the user. The website also offers numerous technological products and accessories like free ring tones, music, movies, MP3 players, cell phones, games, notebooks, online dating, people search, shopping and lots of competitions where you can win cash prizes and lotteries!

When the file is uploaded, the user is redirected to a page which contains various versions of URLs to the uploaded image. The URLs are preformatted in HTML and Bulletin Board code and can be used to hotlink them on websites and message boards. As these URLs can't be publicly accessed, only the user and the people the user gives the URL to, can track the file location.

Images are forever stored on ImageShack unless the image or the user who uploaded it violates the Terms of Service. The image will be made inaccessible if it uses over 100 megabytes during a one-hour period. The website offers a free registration service which enables the user to see and delete the previously uploaded images.

Imageshack is reported to have served 100,000 concurrent user requests during its peak operation period in 2006. The website allows users to create galleries for their splendid images and provides even guestbook and rating functionality. ImageShack's Terms of Service prohibits uploading of pornographic materials. Users can purchase credits for performing bulk upload of images. This makes use of Windows XP publishing after downloading a free plug-in or uploading several images in a single zip file. However, file size limits are still applicable when this method is used for uploading images.

Nayanathara. S

Hi-Tech Editorial Division