[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 mikeschroder):

 Replying to [comment:2 webtrainingwheels]:
 > Thanks for your response!

 Sure; thank you!

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

 I think it's predicated on that WordPress wasn't doing a good job handling
 large images that users upload, and WordPress should handle them better!

 > 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.

 Indeed, part of the point of this feature is to make it so the yet larger
 originals aren't served.

 Apologies if you're already aware -- just want to make sure it's clear --
 WordPress automatically generates smaller sizes, and includes all of them
 in `srcset` automatically. The browser then chooses the best size from
 those for the user's device and situation.

 In this release, a couple of extra "intermediate sizes" are also added to
 WordPress, giving browsers more choice to reduce the chances of a large
 image getting loaded when it shouldn't be. If you've been seeing cases
 where the browser isn't choosing appropriate ones, I'd love to hear more
 details so we can either fix things on the WordPress side, or chat with
 browser teams about it!

 > 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.

 I'd love to know a little more about this! I'm wondering where the ideal
 place for this sort of user hinting would be, since the recommended size
 will be different depending on the specifics of where an image is going.

 In this specific case, 500 is between the default `medium` and `large`
 sizes, so it's indeed possible the `large` 1024 one would be loaded
 instead. Do you think we need another size between those two, or that is
 likely to be taken care of by a user's theme?

 > 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

 This is an interesting one. In the past, storage was a big problem, but
 what I'm hearing from most folks nowadays is that storage and filecounts
 aren't being used as much, and aren't common host concerns either. What
 hosts is this usually an issue with?


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

 As far as WordPress in concerned, the processing time should be focused
 only in the initial upload, then the image(s) cached for later use. I
 imagine more CPU cycles are used for decoding larger images by end-user
 devices, but I don't have any data about how much more power is used per
 MP. If you have any information about that, I'd love to know!

 I think this is a great argument for finding the right balance of image
 sizes, and making sure that the proper images get generated and sent to
 users. It's a tough problem :(


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

 I agree, there's a certain threshold for which folks don't need to
 purchase images of higher quality. Where that is is hard to define because
 it'll be different depending on where the image is used, and devices keep
 raising their resolution/DPI.

 Is this a common issue? Do you have any ideas on how to find/recommend the
 best resolution for users to purchase?

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

 I definitely think education is great! I also think that any amount
 WordPress can be changed so that users don't need to learn about the
 details (and have it "just work" for them) is even better! Balance here is
 sometimes hard to find -- thank you for the details!

 > 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 :)

 That's great, and I really appreciate the information and conversation --
 thanks!

 To loop back to your initial recommendation of a link to an informational
 page in the error -- I'll bring this ticket up in the media channel
 (#core-media) in Slack for visibility and to get some more opinions on it!

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/48299#comment:3>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform