Google Chrome lazy-loading aims to speed up page loads and reduce bandwidth use

Posted on Thursday, April 11 2019 @ 12:01 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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Google announced it's adopting lazy-loading to make websites load faster in its Chrome browser. This technique speeds up page load times, cuts bandwidth usage, and reduces memory usage by only loading images and iframes that are above the fold.

Up until now, web developers had to implement it manually via JavaScript, but now Google is integrating it into its browser. Google Chrome engineering manager Addy Osmani reveals the team is hoping to ship support for lazy loading in Chrome 75. It will be enabled by default, unless told differently.

A new loading attribute for the img and iframe tags is being worked on as part of the HTML standard.
What if the browser could avoid loading these offscreen images for you? This would help content in the view-port load quicker, reduce overall network data usage and on lower-end devices, reduce memory usage. Well, I'm happy to share that this will soon be possible with the new loading attribute for images and iframes.
GOOGLE lazy loading example


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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