[whatwg] Features for responsive Web design

[Markus Ernst]

Am 10.10.2012 20:36 schrieb Ian Hickson:
> On Wed, 10 Oct 2012, Tim Kadlec wrote:
>>>
>>> That's actually exactly why it's better _not_ to plan for it. We can't
>>> design features for problems we don't understand. It's better to wait
>>> until we have real problems before fixing them.
>>
>> You may not be able to predict every future problem, but surely you need
>> to keep it in mind as you create solutions for today, right?
>
> Sure, that's why for example the srcset="" syntax is extensible and
> already supports arbitrary densities, not just 1x and 2x.

Tim's objection does not only apply to the spec, but also to the code 
that can be written according to that spec.

IMHO as an author, the "bandwidth" use case is not solved in a future 
proof manner, if I have to indicate pixel densities (or other device 
properties) that I serve images for, because I have no idea what devices 
will be available in a few years. I would have to change my code when 
new devices with other characteristics occur.

I'd rather indicate some properties of the image files, such as pixel 
width or heigth, and/or KB size, and let the device resp. browser decide 
which one of the set it considers most appropriate for the browsing 
situation.