[whatwg] Defaulting new image solution to 192dpi

[Kornel Lesiński]

On Thu, 17 May 2012 14:42:19 +0100, Andy Davies <dajdavies at gmail.com>  
wrote:

>> Try browsing the web on the new iPad today. That's how every display is
>> going to look like in 10, maybe 20 years. Then DPI negotiation will not  
>> be an option, it'll be absolute requirement for *every* *single* image.
>>
>> HTML5 is designed for the next 50-100 years.
>
> The last line is exactly why baking in an assumption on the defaults
> isn't the right way to go.

I know, somebody will quote me on "192dpi is enough for everybody", but we  
have 1x scaling assumption baked in already, so I'm suggesting changing  
existing bad assumption to a less bad assumption.

> I don't disagree that higher DPI resolutions will be come the norm but
> then what are we going to do about lower DPI devices, serve them a
> higher DPI than needed image and let them work it out rather than
> serve them appropriate images?

Yes. You do the same for 256-color and monochrome displays today, because  
potential bandwidth savings are small and popularity/quality of those  
screens is not significant enough to care.

> The Zombie Apocalypse is coming there will be plenty of lower DPI
> screens around for a long time...

Bandwidth will increase to the point that serving highdpi image to  
everybody won't be an issue.

Would you care about 100KB image vs 200KB image on 1Gbit connection?  
Google Fiber project is experimenting with such speeds already.

The answer is no: it takes only 0.8ms more, so even with *100* such images  
on the page the delay is literally comparable to blink of an eye  
(http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=100KB+%2F+1Gbit+*+100)

The scaling factor won't increase forever, it's only going to be  
increasing until it matches capabilities of human vision. Depending on  
screen and viewing distance 2x is already claimed to be perfect ("Retina"  
display).

-- 
regards, Kornel Lesiński