Optimizing images: Should I use more than 1 version?

Hi dear Enfold users & srcset advocates,

Sorry to weigh in on an already lengthy discussion here and elsewhere, but this is just my two cents for those who may benefit from it. If not, please ignore.

I have read many long rants over the years about Enfold and WP srcset. For everyone almost starting a holy conversion war about the (alas) much-coveted WP srcset implementation, please consider this and then think about the consequences long and hard:

1.
Smaller viewports often have higher resolutions than desktop screens these days. And no, pixel density cannot be accurately determined for now remotely (too many ‘standards’).

2.
ALL devices (desktops, tablets, phones and whatever else) have zooming capabilities, be it inside the device or in the browser. Zooming is also heavily used for accessibility reasons. What do you think happens to your precious scale-served image when zoomed 5 times? Try it. Enjoy 1980’s pixelation.

3.
Whether you like to admit it or not, WP srcset is primarily targeted to cater to users and webmasters who are not willing (or able because of multi-user setups) to do manual calculations and preparations on their images, in other words: ease of use for those who don’t want to (or can’t for some reason) do the math and extra work. The same goes for Enfold’s automatically created image sizes: it’s very convenient and handy for those not willing or able to do their own calculations based on their own setup, and works well that way. Good job Enfold team and excellent compromise.

4.
If your audience is mostly in badly covered network areas with high cost bundles, then by all means help your users minimize data consumption by using srcset where you can. But if your audience is mostly in well covered network areas, you may want to think again. And please stop thinking PageSpeed or Lighthouse are the holy book with their advice. Think for yourself.

5.
My take on this therefore has been for years: it’s better to serve up ONE double-size image (calculated for each particular element) with high compression (so-called low quality) to all devices, because more pixels beat a higher quality setting EVERY time. Images are not even larger in that way. And perform well on high-resolution screens and when zoomed. Except for zooming on very large screens, but who needs to zoom there anyway…

Anyways, to each their own. Just don’t rant on about WP’s srcset implementation as if it was the holy grail of all things and the theme world and Enfold would crumble without it. Because nothing could be farther from the truth. All solutions to this problem (including mine) are a mediation and compromise at best.

All have a great day. And my compliments to the Enfold team for dealing with these issues in a sensible manner.

Rob