Some galleries and artists seem driven to include all of the information about a work, such as the medium and size, as part of the image file name. You do know there are practical limits to the length of a file name, don't you?
The maximum length of a file name depends on the computer system used. Newer Mac computers allow file names up to 255 characters long, but for most computers running Windows, the limit is 128 characters. Older CD formats are limited to 64 characters, and "classic" Mac computers are limited to 31 characters. And then there's the practicality of viewing the entire file name when you're looking at an image of the artwork. Most file and image viewers only show a portion of long file names ... just enough of the beginning and end of the name to help you correctly identify the file. Reading the entire file name is more difficult than it seems.
The file name has a specific purpose, and the best practice is to use short one. The title of the artwork is always a good choice, but avoid using using the special characters that are common in titles (like & " : or #). Then put the supplemental information on an "slide list" to accompany the images ... either as part of an email or as a separate document on a CD. This makes it easier to read the information about your artwork while viewing the images, and avoids the problems with file names that are too long.
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