Up, up and away

## Blowing up

Ars Technica published a [Sunday-night feature about `picture` and the 
RICG](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/)… 
and the internet weighed in.

The feature (written by Scott Gilbertson) is excellent! [Go read 
it](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/) 
if you haven’t already. Whereas most of the many articles about 
`picture` have been explanatory how-to tutorials written for web 
developers – focusing how the new markup works and how to use it – 
the Ars piece is all about people and process. It tells the story of the 
spec’s inception and maturation for the benefit of a general (though 
still tech-y) audience.

And boy, did that audience have things to say in response. The internet 
commentary that’s sprung up in the article’s wake is full of 
[pedantry](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27500637#comment-27500637), 
[hyperbole](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27501505#comment-27501505), 
[hand-wavy reductionism](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8257830), 
[jokes](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27499265#comment-27499265), 
[misinformation](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8257888), 
[excitement](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27499743#comment-27499743), 
[congratulations](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27499141#comment-27499141), 
the inevitable suggestions that we should [just use 
CSS](http://gizmodo.com/you-can-already-do-something-similar-with-media-queries-1629524947) 
or 
[JavaScript](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27499297#comment-27499297), 
referendums on [responsive 
design](http://beta.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5619865&cid=47810153) 
and [XML](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8256664), 
[nostalgia](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27507917#comment-27507917), 
[wackadoodle 
trolling](http://beta.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5602569&cid=47789507), 
[a call to return to table-based 
layouts](http://beta.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5602569&cid=47790359), 
[nonsensical arrangements of 
words](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27502091#comment-27502091) 
and even the odd [good 
idea](http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/how-a-new-html-element-will-make-the-web-faster/?comments=1&post=27499215#comment-27499215).

You know what? I love the internet.

## Growing up

Meanwhile, Yoav’s Blink implementation of the spec has – [with some 
fanfare](http://blog.chromium.org/2014/08/chrome-38-beta-new-primitives-for-next.html) 
– made it’s way from Chrome Canary into the [Chrome 
Beta](https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/beta.html) channel. Huzzah!

Here I’ll remind you that that same implementation is slated to ship 
to millions of Chrome stable users in 3-4 weeks. When it does, [we’ll 
be able to track developer 
usage](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=408797) on 
the excellent 
[chromestatus.com](http://www.chromestatus.com/metrics/feature/popularity). 
I, for one, very much look forward to having a front-row seat from which 
to watch the responsive-image-ification of the web in real time.

## Oh and [we’re big in 
Japan](http://kia-king.com/blog/tutorial/responsive-images-with-srcset/)

[Germany, 
too](http://blog.kulturbanause.de/2014/09/responsive-images-srcset-sizes-adaptive/)

See you in a couple of weeks!

—eric