Protecting your work is important, but before you rush to set all of your Image Settings as Protected (Flash), take a moment to consider the pros and cons of both settings.
First, a little background as to your setting choices:
Protected (Flash) displays your images inside of a Flash “movie” that people can't download as easily as HTML.
Shared (HTML) is the most common way to display images online and means images on your site can be downloaded by people, which seems like a bad thing, until you think about all the potential good that can come from this.
Although using the Shared (HTML) setting does allow people to right-click download your images, and people could then theoretically print them out -- at their size and quality, there is little risk that a print out of your images could be sold.
As you decide which setting to use, please note that no method is foolproof! Remember that the internet is inherently a public arena. For example, regardless of the choice you make, nothing can prevent your visitor from screen capturing your images while viewing your site on their computer.
By using the Shared (HTML) setting, you are:
- Allowing your site to be viewable on mobile devices (Virtual Business Card!)
- Increasing the chances of your Images being indexed by Google Images
- Allowing the images on your site to upload more quickly and smoothly
- Eliminating the possibility of anyone having trouble viewing your images due to outdated components in their browser
Concerned about your larger, Zoom Images being misappropriated if you set them to Shared (HTML)? You can still use our Watermark Feature, to try to ensure that you get credit for your work.
All of the benefits of using the Shared (HTML) setting outweigh the cons, in our humble opinion. It will also assist with the Search Engine Optimization of your site -- a topic that is so hugely important and complex that we're dedicating two blog posts to it. Until next time!