Update from June 3rd

I received a shout-out in the “hot drama” section of Shop Talk Show (E073) — bucket list checked, I love those guys — however my point was somewhat missed I feel.

On June 3rd I wrote an article entitled The Raster Image Paradox which prompted a response from Tim Kadlec on Why We Need Responsive Images — which I agree with 100% — and also Shop Talk Show host Dave Rupert who wrote “Ughck. Images.”

Both of whom make perfectly valid points around two contradictory concerns. The concept of a responsive image implementation in the browser would allow two main abilities:

• To serve smaller images to smaller screens to save bytes downloaded
• To serve high definition images to high-PPI screens for better visual quality

These ideas are often at odds. No technology can find the appropriate line between performance and quality. This is a human decision that we should already be making today.

Let’s say a responsive image patch lands in the next set of browser updates — what’s changed? We’ll have more flexibility sure, but when we weigh up the pros and cons we’ll end right back in the middle. I guess it’s fair to say I’m “throwing in the towel” — but only on a silver bullet.