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Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred over a period of time. For a personal internet connection a boradband connection has a higher bandwidth than a “dial-up” connection. In practicle terms, the higher the bandwidth the faster web pages load.

But just as data has to flow across the internet into browsers the same amount of information has to flow out of the web server each time someone views a web page. If you site is doing its job, there should be hundreds or thousands (or even millions) of visitors. That multiplies the amount of bandwidth that is required to host your site. If there is not enough bandwidth at the server then anyone who visits your site will see the pages loading slowly even if they have a fast connection.

Most hosting companies have plenty of bandwith so availability is not a problem. However, they do often set limits on the amount of data that can be transferred in any given period. If your site is very popular this limit may be exceeded and they may either suspend you site (ie stop anyone accessing it) or charge you more for their service.

Bandwidth is not the main thing to worry about but it is still something that needs to be considered especially if you are expecting very large numbers of visitors or your content contains media like movies or Flash files. And it is also important remember that many people do still use dial-up connections and keeping web pages small and efficient is important if those visitors are to have a good experience.

We are always conscious of bandwidth issues whenever we build sites and will always try to steer web content to smaller and more efficient ways of working.

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