Info on hotlink protection needed.

[ianric]

Hi I read in a thread about hot link protection on jpg, TIFF files etc and am very interested in adding this to my site as there are a lot of graphics and pictures on it. My problem is that I have some free downloads and wonder if they will be affected if I add this hotlink protection.

If they would be, is there a way to separate the downloads from the rest of the site?

Thanks to all who reply.

[dougnez]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hi ianric... Why don't you share the the hot link protection with us .. I'd like to know more about what you are talking about... just copy the browser address and paste it in... Thanks Doug

[ianric]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hotlink protection is a thing inside the CP that stops people linking to the graphics on your site.

There is a video tutorial here http://www.vodahost.com/demowolf/cpa...2_hotlink.html

It looks good but I come back to my original question.

[navaldesign]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hotlink protection prevents excactly this: hotlinks. It wil NOT affect your downloads. Hotlink enabled will disallow others from using as source for images on their sites the ones you have on yours. However, they can always copy the image and use it.

[dougnez]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hi iaric and naval... Thanks for the information.. Doug

[ianric]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hi Naval thank you for that. I guess I better get on the case and put it in right away.

Do you know if some body has already put a hot link in, when I put the protection in will it stop or because it was already there it will carry on?

Just a thought.

Great info as usual.

[limebrook1]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Good info - I didn't know about this. Just one question, does it affect Google from indexing images? I get a large amount of traffic relating from image searches.

Cheers

[navaldesign]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

No, it doesn't affect Google indexing, it just disallowes hotlinks to your images. However, as i said, i consider it useless. the only reason for which someone would create a hotlink to your own images, would be that of having always an updated version of your image in his site. For static sites as the ones that 99% of the users have, there is no purpose for a hotlink. The "thief" can simply copy your image and embedd it in his site.

[ianric]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Would it be a better idea to disable right click on the web site to prevent theft of images ?

[navaldesign]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Disabling the right click wil NOT prevent stealing your images. If someone has a minimum of knowledge, he can see the image path in your source code, and take it from there. Not only, but it is enough to copy the entire screen in a graphics program and take the picture from there.

There is NO way to protect your images other than watermarking them, which of course, has it's own disadvantages.

[ianric]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Thanks Naval, just an idea, if man can make it, make can get around it or something like that.

[PlayItByBeer]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

The "how to protect pictures" topic is often discussed and I have a twist on making it difficult for those that feel it's necessary to borrow artwork from others.
I use the Photoshop slice tool and save for web (html). I then take the image (s) into BV using “from existing HTML page”
Go to www.addoadventure.com and right click save the elephant for a good example of this method.

Cheers,

[pioneerVicki]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

Hi Captain,
I did just the above; right clicked & saved the elephant photo. Guess what I now have? An elephant photo in my document folder I can use!

I guess we're back to watermarking...........

[Tomissan]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

The "how to protect pictures" topic is often discussed and I have a twist on making it difficult for those that feel it's necessary to borrow artwork from others.
I use the Photoshop slice tool and save for web (html). I then take the image (s) into BV using “from existing HTML page”
Go to www.addoadventure.com and right click save the elephant for a good example of this method.

Cheers,

After going to your site and right clicking & saving I get the elephant exactly as it's shown on your site. Didn't see anything different. Am I missing something???

[PlayItByBeer]

Re: Info on hotlink protection needed.

After going to your site and right clicking & saving I get the elephant exactly as it's shown on your site. Didn't see anything different. Am I missing something???

Hi Tomissan,

I have a couple of elephants on my home page, the example of slicing is of the main elephant (3 slices). I am in the process of put a "How To" together which will feature better examples.

Cheers,