Need advice on images and displaying them.

[Anxious]

I am creating a database to which hobby enthusiasts can contribute by filling out a form. Think of this database as a sort of wiki.

I am using Airtable in conjunction with pory.io to display this database for access to the public.

Since attachment space is limited, I was thinking about using external images. This is doable by making a URL field, then setting the image on pory to the URL field.

The problem with this is each row of data can have many images. How do you provide images without having to create 10+ URL fields? My base is already a mess and I am currently trying to work on the best way to go about collecting and presenting data.

Images are a vital part of this database, sort of how product images are vital for a product page.

I was also trying to implement a tinypng script I found on the internet (for making file sizes smaller), but it deletes all but one image when it runs. I am so glad I tested it out on a dummy base first. 😲

Please keep in mind this is all on a free plan and everything is done on a volunteer bases. I am not a large company that can spend $400 a month on things such as "miniextentions" and the like. I have literally $0.00 for this project. That being said, I understand there will be major limitations when using free plans.

Currently, I have also maxed out rows on the free Airtable plan. I will probably have to switch to a paid plan, but that's totally out of my budget right now.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to seeing some ideas or suggestions.

Update: Actually, I just figured out that you can use a text field and separate the image URLs with a comma and they display as separate images!

On another note, would it be best to store the images within Airtable or use the URL method? Is there a way to still have an upload button on a form, but send that upload to an image board and send the URL back to Airtable? If that makes sense...?

I am worried because if a user uses an image URL from their own host, such as imgur.com, they could delete the image and the item profile would then have broken images.