[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #48299: When "big_images" are automatically scaled, communicate with a UI message

[WordPress Trac]

#48299: When "big_images" are automatically scaled, communicate with a UI message
-------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  webtrainingwheels  |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement        |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal             |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Media              |     Version:
 Severity:  normal             |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                     |     Focuses:  ui, ui-copy
-------------------------------+------------------------------

Comment (by webtrainingwheels):

 Thanks for your response!

 > what are the reasons you think folks shouldn't be uploading large
 images?

 Isn't this whole feature predicated on the fact that's it's bad to upload
 large images? ;)

 But here are some additional reasons. I'm sure the list isn't exhaustive!
 1. The big image threshold is still really large - 2560px. In many cases
 users are uploading massive images which will ultimately only be used in a
 small space.
 So in some cases that 2560px image is going to be loaded at its full size
 onto the page and the browser will be forced to scale it to its necessary
 size which could be significantly smaller. This is really inefficient for
 performance.

 2. Even if you are also using an image optimization plugin, optimizing a
 5000px, 3MB image is still going to leave you with a big image, probably
 bigger than needed, compared to if you just uploaded the 500px image you
 ultimately need.

 3. It's a waste of digital space which users could be paying for. Some
 hosts have storage restrictions and overly large images fill it up for no
 good reason

 4. Environmentally-speaking, the carbon footprint of uploading and
 processing huge images is more than for small ones.

 5. Users could be purchasing stock images at full size, which they're
 paying unnecessarily for.

 Indeed some of these are not "WordPressy" reasons but they would improve
 users' lives if we could educate them a little about it.

 Just for context, the above scenarios are based on actual use cases that I
 see multiple times per day in the support queue of my day job (support for
 a caching plugin). These are real issues that many users currently have no
 clue about and I believe WordPress can make a huge impact with a tiny UI
 communication on this :)

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/48299#comment:2>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform