I have a wordpress site which uses alot images. Is it preferable to host them on an outside site (I use photobucket) or to upload them into the site's database? Thanks
They do not need to be in the database but IMO you should host them on your site. That is the only way you can be sure they will display everytime and for as long as you want. All you need to do this is a simple upload script or an ftp client. Then you just enter the url in the same manner as your are doing now only the address is yoursite*com/some-folder/imagename. More than likely there is even a plug-in to manage this for you though I never used one.
lets make aidstinction here. Images you will be inserting into posts can be hosted elsewhere (and it saves you money) Why it's wise to use a photo-sharing site (like Flickr) over a photo-hosting site (photobucket, imageshack) is that Photo-sharing sites have a community. It's possible that people might find your photos on Flickr and end up going to your website. If you put your photos on Photobucket it's unlikely anybody will find them. Photo-sharing sites can be a great marketing tool for your website. Now, images that are a part of the website's theme itself, small images that load with every page should *NOT* be hosted remotely - not only will this slow down loading time, but it will also look very unprofessional. Best of luck!
I personally only host images on my own hosting, if the image is down because its hosted elsewhere theres little can be done about it.
I would say "Go ahead". There is no problem in hosting images on Photobucket because they are the most reliable image hosting site. Me too host my images there.