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Q: Under the bonnet of PhotoProof - Handling of Retina images?

I would like to understand how PhotoProof handles the retina images under its bonnet.

I’ve already read the great article in the Apollo13 blog written by Daniel, but it doesn’t answer all question. As a conclusion his recommendation was resolutions bigger than 1920px make no sense. Well, but what’s then with Macbook Pros or iMacs, which are able to display 2880px and more?

At this point there is always mainly one plugin mentioned called "Retina 2x“. Based on my current understanding of how things work under the bonnet, that doesn’t add any value, as PhotoProof already automatically sends the full size image responsive, e.g. where the visitor display is able to display this. Or does it make sense to install such plugin anyway, as it enhances the PhotoProof handling, e.g. as it sends 2880px resolution just to large retina Macs, while FullHD folks will get a 1920px and all others what is set in WordPress stock image settings?

It’s not that there is a problem. I just would like to understand what is done under the bonnet (e.g. who get’s what resolution) and if there is a need or value to use "Retina 2x" plugin (e.g. by making site faster by more specific provision of the right resolution to the right device). :-)

Thanks very much in advance for some background on this.

Comments

  • AirAir
    Posts: 10,970
    Hey :-)

    Some images are controlled by WordPress, so the theme does not do anything with them. In such a case, WordPress delivers all source files available, and the browser decides which one to use.

    In case of images, that are scaled by our script(like in Albums/Work list, or single Album in bricks mode) we deliver around 1.5x sizes of the image that is required for specific settings. So it results in using "one size fits all", which may be not the best solution, but it was implemented before WordPress introduced its "Responsive images" mechanism, and it is also important for our settings that are available for Albums/Works.

    In the case of Sliders and Scrollers images are used in full size.

    "Retina 2x" plugin used to give some result in the past, but currently I don't see a use for it.

    With kind regards.
  • edited November 2019 Posts: 89
    Thanks for your explanation.

    So have I understood it correctly, that the sliders and scrollers use whatever I upload the image with (e.g. 1920 or 2880 px or even larger), while the album bricks mode uses for a normal desktop 1024px (largest resolution set in default WordPress settings) images and scales that up to by 1.5x, so to 1.536px, while for a smartphone it uses one of the smaller resolution versions and scales that up by 1.5x?

    Post edited by MLG76 on
  • AirAir
    Posts: 10,970
    Hey :-)
    MLG76 said: that the sliders and scrollers use whatever I upload the image with (e.g. 1920 or 2880 px or even larger)
    Correct. Many photographers wanted to have full control here and didn't accept any compression, so we have left original sizes here without any combinations :smile:

    MLG76 said: while the album bricks mode uses for a normal desktop 1024px (largest resolution set in default WordPress settings) images and scales that up to by 1.5x, so to 1.536px, while for a smartphone it uses one of the smaller resolution versions and scales that up by 1.5x
    Not really. Images here are scaled from the orignal uploaded image and their size depends on settings set for bricks album/ albums list / works list. Settings that are taken into account are:
    - Bricks columns
    - Max width of bricks content
    - Brick margin
    - Brick proportion

    With kind regards.
  • Posts: 89
    OKay. I understand. Great. This answers my questions reg. this topic.

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