How do you handle big images on your site

[Arturo99]

what is the best way to handle a page with 6 big images of 200k upwards.
Can i leave to clousdflare CDN, or is there a plugin that can do the job?

I also know it is best to have your image size (width x height) as an exact fit to what the html on the page, is calling up
Any advice is appreciated
thanks
arturo

[ErrlyBird]

You could do some viewport image resizing for various screen sizes. That way you're not serving more than you have to.

[engine]

I've always served optimized images, enabling a download for anyone that wants higher resolution. That way it saves bandwidth.

[Arturo99]

errlybird: what is viewport image resizing ?
Is this in conjunction with cloudflare?

[lucy24]

There are really two different questions, and they have almost nothing to do with each other.

#1 filesize (in bytes). Once it's been downloaded, your server and the user's ISP have already done the work, no matter what ends up being done with the image. Even setting it in some environments to {display: none} doesn't keep it from being downloaded in the first place.

#2 visible size (in pixels). If you're resizing based on viewport size, make sure the image never gets bigger than its real size, and take care that the proportions are constant.

[ErrlyBird]

It's just CSS changes. Not optimum as you have 3 copies of the same picture most of the time, each scaled to mobile, tablet, and desktop. Just a suggestion for if you cant optimize your current photo. I like engines idea of providing a download for higher res. Not sure what you're using it for though.

[Pjman]

If you are using WP, I highly suggest using ShortPixel plugin. It saves you a ton of time compressing images. That plus a CDN do a great job.

I use it on all my WP sites, I find the PDF optimization to be a bit quirky though.

[tangor]

The image on page is properly sized for presentation plus content. If the user wants a larger image a link (either image or text) will provide that separately, again proper for that purpose in size and intent. Been doing that for years ... and I am not too surprised how often the users IGNORE that offer and just keep going. :)

[Arturo99]

Pjman, thanks for that plugin. It also Integrates well with cloudflare.
Thanks to all contributors for your comments and input.