[whatwg] Implementation complexity with elements vs an attribute (responsive images)

[Kornel Lesiński]

On Sun, 13 May 2012 10:36:37 +0100, Jason Grigsby <jason at cloudfour.com>  
wrote:

> On May 13, 2012, at 9:51 AM, David Goss wrote:
>
>> A common sentiment here seems to be that the two proposed responsive
>> image solutions solve two different use cases:
>
> After skyping with Mat (@wilto) last night, I think I may be the only  
> one who didn’t fully grok that the mediaqueries in <picture> could be  
> used to address both use cases.
>
> It is still unclear to me if <img srcset> would address both.

I think layout (media queries) and optimisation cases are orthogonal and  
it would be a mistake to do both with the same mechanism.

Adaptation of images to the layout is page-specific. Adaptation of images  
to bandwidth/screen is UA/device-specific.

Author is in the best position to adapt image to page layout. User-agent  
is in the best position to determine speed/quality trade-offs.

Media queries MUST be interpreted exactly as author specified them.  
User-agents need freedom to choose image resolution based on open set of  
factors, many of which are details authors should not have to think about  
(presence in cache, cost of bandwidth, available memory, external  
displays, etc.)


So even though both proposals are about selecting right images, their  
purposes and requirements are very different.

-- 
regards, Kornel Lesiński