To generate a zip file or not to?...

hostcord

Ok, I have a website with 6,000+ fonts on it. Each font is located in its own seperate folder. Would it be too resource intensive to generate a zip file of the subfolder and serve the download every time someone chooses to download it. Should I just upload the zip files(and thus doubling the space I'm currently using)?

mjax

This all depends on the number of concurrent users you are having and the resources to handle them. If the hardware can handle the load, there is no reason for you to upload the same font twice.

So, if possible go by the on-the-fly approach. The generates some other possibilities, like adding a personalized password to each downloaded zip for instance.

hostcord

Thanks, but I am on a shared hosting plan so I'm not too sure how that would work as far as intensive on the hardware. Is there a link in cpanel to check? Also is there a better method?

mjax

OK, so how many downloads a day do you have right now? Also, you could just go ahead and try this on-the-fly system. It's not that difficult to build.

hostcord

Because I have ample space and there seems to be some issues with zipping in php such as errors unzipping files in some programs...

I have decided to just go ahead and upload the font zip files.

It seems the best method to me considering I have the amount of space I have and makes the other option impractical.