Almost every website must collect files from users. Whether they’re job applications on a company website or images and videos on social media, you’d wish to make a user-friendly file upload form to accept content. But there are some questions that you need to consider. How can I make it user-friendly? What functions should I implement for this form? Would I like to implement this functionality myself or find a ready-made solution? If these questions have crossed your mind, this article is for you.
We will be providing you with an in-depth knowledge of the working process of the file uploading functionality. Not only that, but we will also bring the features of a top-notch angular file upload solution to your understanding. Lastly, we will show you how to implement this file uploader in your project.
What is File Uploading?
File uploading is a process that involves receiving and controlling a user’s file. These files can be in different formats. They can be images, videos, PDFs or other documents. A majority of websites implement this feature into their system for user-generated media. Examples include user profile pictures on WhatsApp, Resume/CVs on Job application websites, images on blog articles, and so on.
For users, uploading a file would be like clicking a button on a website. Doing so would present a dialog box to the user which gives them access to choose, attach and submit either a single or multiple file(s).
File Uploader features
With some basic knowledge of HTML, one will assume that creating a file upload form using the <input type=”file”> is nothing complicated. But taking a careful look will reveal to us the need for a friendly user interface, reliable storage, high-level security, and so on. So, what makes a good file uploader?
- Friendly User Interface Every user wants to explore a website that allows them to do more with less energy input. They want an all-in-one solution to their problems. The ideal file uploader must have a beautiful and customizable UI that makes uploading from any source painless and intuitive. Here are some features of a user-friendly file uploader.
- Preview feature: the user should have the option of previewing their files before uploading them so they can be sure they picked the correct files.
- Multiple Uploads: a user wants to have the ability to select multiple files at a time instead of going back and forth to upload several files.
- Responsive interface: a file uploader should let the user use it consistently across all devices.
- Fast upload: this is to ensure that a user’s file is uploaded as quickly as possible regardless of the size.
- Different sources of file upload: By far the most common and easiest form of file upload is users uploading files from their device storage. But with the provision of cloud storage, we might need to integrate a wide range of options for users to upload their files. With a solid third-party file upload solution, you can connect to content directly from the sources where your users have it without the hassle or effort often involved. Examples of file sources across different platforms are:
- Cloud storage: uploading from cloud storage like Google Drive, iCloud, Mega, Dropbox, etc.
- Remote URL: uploading by copying and pasting a link into the dialogue box.
- Social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram etc.
Not every website needs this, but giving a user numerous options always makes a website more user-friendly.
Basic Uploads, Upload from URL, Cloud Uploads, Upload tags.
- Secured file uploads With the rise of cybercrime and the stealing of digital information, it is worthy to take potential security risks into consideration. These include malware injection, hosting of illegal files, stealing of users’ data and so on. Hence, there’s a need to authenticate file upload forms. Here are some security practices that can help you secure files:
- Make a list of allowed file types: This depends on the kind of business you are in and what files you need to collect. This list is to determine what types of files you’ll accept or reject. I’m sure that accepting executable files is a bad idea, because these kinds of files might be capable of executing commands and running malicious code.
- Use of multiple anti-malware tools to scan uploaded files.
- To avoid the occurrence of a service outage, set a maximum and minimum file size.
- Setting up SSL encryption to secure the passage of data between the web server and the browser.
- Image Editing Within the Browser
Users might need to edit images to align with the design of the website or app. Well-designed file uploaders should provide this functionality that aids these kinds of manipulations inside the browser: crop, resize, rotate, and so on.
File uploading implementation
There are basically two ways of implementing a file uploading feature on a website: integrating an already-made file uploader or developing a script from scratch. Each of these methods fits into different needs and has its pros and cons.
To create a simple file upload script, you can use any programming language, framework, or library: JavaScript, PHP, AJAX, React, Angular, Node, etc. Let’s take a look at how to implement the best angular file upload.
Developing a file uploading script
Every time you think about creating software from scratch, you need to gauge the time investment as well as process and running costs. You would need to keep storage, UI & UX, security, and compliance in mind. In most cases, computing for such costs will show you that investing in developing everything from scratch is unnecessary and not worth the effort.
One indisputable rationale for going this way is the limited nature of some systems, in which they can’t outsource file uploading to a third party. For all other use cases, here are the pros and cons of crafting file uploaders in-house:
The Best Angular File Upload
Let’s take a look at what the best Angular file upload is and how it should work.
So what is the best Angular file upload? It must be one that is responsive and mobile-ready.
It must also have a tab-based user interface and provide an intuitive user experience.
The best Angular file upload should cover all the must-have features described earlier and even more:
SDKs for quick integration
The best Angular file upload should never let you worry about updating API integrations. Instead, it should come with SDKs and libraries that are regularly maintained.
Reliable mobile uploads.
Mobile uploads often fail, so you’ll need a file upload solution that makes uploading a lot more reliable. You should be able to increase your mobile application’s upload success rate with multipart uploads and location/region-based upload processing. These advanced features are often found on the best third-party file upload solutions.
Powerful image transformation for you and your customers
The best Angular file upload solution gives your customers the power to manipulate their images before they upload. Easily transform, convert and optimize images or apply beautiful effects and filters to any image.
Reliable, Secure File Delivery
Applications require responsive files. Prepare responsive audio, video, image, and document files to be delivered fast, optimized, and secure.
Content Filters
- Virus detection protects the integrity of your system and apps.
- Copyright detection means no protected image will be displayed.
- Understand the content of your images.
OCR Support
With an advanced file upload solution, you should be able to digitize documents and extract data from them without lifting a finger.
Virus Detection
The ideal file uploader lets you scan every file during upload to check for malicious content. This helps you quarantine potential threats hidden in files, making your app even more secure.
Over to you,
So here we are: now you have all the information you need to manage file uploading on your website in the way that’s best for you. Measure your needs, weigh your options, and implement a fast and reliable file uploader for your users.
The best angular file upload solution is one that has all the features we’ve discussed. It should be able to handle all your file upload requirements while providing a seamless user experience and an intuitive and clean user interface. It should help you save time and resources and remove all maintenance work from you.
In the end, you should go with the file upload solution that you resonate with the most, as most third-party ones are highly capable of greatly improving your upload experience. For me, this Angular file upload solution is a perfect fit for all my upload needs.
In this article, we’ve seen that file uploaders are an essential part of any modern frontend application. Most of them are becoming more and more content-based, so users need to have a way or two to share their files across the internet. And wherever file sharing is, you’ll also find file upload solutions.