[csswg-drafts] Possible way to have gradually higher resolution images and browser understanding of low bandwidth situation (#11691)

ell1e has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts:

== Possible way to have gradually higher resolution images and browser understanding of low bandwidth situation ==
**Problem statement:** I sometimes talk to people from countries with rather limited internet speed, or also rather limited internet total traffic contingent available. I also often encounter myself on mobile data various websites that take way longer to load due to giant images. I think there should be a standard where the browser understands how to show low bandwidth placeholder images first.

**Proposed solution:** There seems to be [srcset for img elements, and sources for picture elements](https://stackoverflow.com/a/30312995/1204141), but for now these seem bound to layouting needs and page sizes only, and not meant for bandwidth needs.

Since both of these mechanisms seem to work with CSS media device queries, I assume one straightforward way to solve this problem would be 1. popularize some low bandwidth or low data usage mode in browsers, in a way that actually makes it visible for average users and/or even suggests it automatically when the connection is slow, 2. add a media query for use in img srcsets and picture sources where an image can be provided in multiple versions.

To make this even more useful, even in high bandwidth mode, browsers should perhaps be incentivized to load the low bandwidth versions of everything first (if available), and only load the high bandwidth versions once the page is fully layouted and shown and working.

Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/11691 using your GitHub account


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Received on Monday, 10 February 2025 23:37:36 UTC