The portion of video and images in the typical payload of a website is significant. Many project holders would not be willing to cut down media resources from existing applications. Fortunately, image lazy loading is a solution that lowers the initial page payload and load time, though it does not skimp on content.
What is lazy loading?
Lazy loading is a method that postpones the loading of non-critical resources at page load time. How to lazy load images is a need based activity. The process of lazy loading replicates the following steps
- Load an initial HTML response
- Load the lazy loading library
- Load the image file.
If you are not familiar with lazy loading, you may not be aware of the concept to load images faster on website. A careful observation indicates that there are numerous benefits.
Why lazy-load videos or images instead of merely loading them?
There is a possibility that you are loading stuff that you may never see. This seems like a problem for a couple of reasons.
- Data is wasted. On an unmetered connection, this is not the worst thing to happen. Though you could be using that precious bandwidth for downloading other resources that may be seen by other users. On a limited data plan, loading the stuff that a user is never going to see is a waste of money.
- There is a waste of time and resources. Once a media resource is downloaded, the browser needs to decode it and render the content according to its viewpoint.
A correct idea about how to lazy load images and video reduces the initial page load time, system resource usage, and initial page weight, all of which have a positive impact on performance.
Implementation of lazy loading
There are numerous ways in which you can implement image lazy loading. A choice of solution needs to consider the browsers that you want to support as well as what you are trying to lazy load.
Image Lazy loading is implemented by modern browsers. The loading attribute on I frames and pictures can be used to activate it.. To ensure compatibility with older browsers or to perform lazy loading on elements without building in lazy loading, you may be able to implement a solution with your own JavaScript. Numerous existing libraries are also there to help you in this regard. Before exploring how to lazy load images, there are a few pointers to keep in mind.
Positioning is important.
If you are planning to implement lazy loading on your webpage, you need to position it correctly. A user will come across the top content first, so ensuring that their interest lies in the page is important. As the top of the fold loads, engaging data and content need to be shown in order to keep the users interested.
Optimising videos and images
When loading a webpage, video files and images take up a lot of resources, as these files are bigger than the content files. Optimising these videos and images will enable you to download the web page faster. Just lazy loading the images, compressing the photos with a compression tool, or hosting the videos on external sites are a few things that you may do.
The benefits of lazy loading
Lazy loading can be useful if you’re operating an SEO strategy.
Increases the speed of page loading.
There has to be stability between allowing users to access the data and saving bandwidth. Lazy loading allows the user to grab the data quickly. If the information that a user is looking for is right on top of the page, the user does not have to scroll to the bottom. This prevents any bandwidth waste.
The streaming user experience is also important. If the information is available right at the top and easily accessible, then the chances of returning them to the website increase.
Faster connection to the content
If you are planning to load the entire content in a single shot or figuring out how to load images faster on website, then this is a major challenge. This means that the users have to wait a long time to obtain the information they need. A benefit of lazy loading is that a user can establish a connection to the content faster.
The moment the top of the image loads, they get to view the content. Once they start scrolling, they can view the content below. They are able to read and engage with the content they need. In addition, this saves the website bandwidth if a user is not interested in scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Maximize resources
Not every user will go through the website in depth. While some may observe the top of the page, others go through every page in detail. Lazy loading helps cater to how much information a user needs.
With lazy loading, you will be loading the top of the page first. The moment a user starts to scroll towards the bottom, data will be loaded. This leads to the maximisation of resources. You save data and bandwidth and require less work on the browser.
Prolonged visit time
For any growing business, it is important to keep the customer base engaged. When customers spend more time on your website, they know more about your brand. Customers spend more time on your website, they know more about your brand. If information is assessed quickly, customers tend to stay on the website, leading to better business leads.
A faster website also means that the user will return to the website in the future. This brand similarity leads to further conversion of leads.
To conclude, when used with care, video and understanding how to lazy load images can trim down the initial load time and page payloads on your website. On a slower connection, users won’t engage in pointless network activities, such as network connections. It includes the processing cost of media possessions that they will never see, but they will still be able to view the resources if they want.
When it comes to performance improvement modules, lazy loading assumes a controversial approach. If there is a lot of imaginary inline on your site, it is a perfect opportunity to cut down on unnecessary downloads. The project stakeholders and the site users will appreciate it.