> Every time a similar question is posed on HN, someone says "If the assets aren't needed, don't serve them in the first place", but this is i) unrealistic, and ii) ignores the fact that while the typical HN user may like sparsely designed, text-orientated pages with few images, this is not at all true of users in different demographics. And in those demos, it's often not acceptable to degrade the experience of users on fast connections to accommodate users on slow connections.
This is prejudice. People use Craigslist, for example. If the thing is useful, people will use it. If there's a product being sold, and if it's useful to the potential clientele, they'll buy it. Without regard to the UI.
In the past ten years while my connection speed increased, the speed at which I can browse decreased. As my bandwidth increased, all the major websites madly inflated.
> So -- if I write a web page, and I want to include a large asset, but I want to indicate to user agents on slow/capped connections that they don't _need_ to download it, what approach should I take?
> People use Craigslist, for example. If the thing is useful, people will use it. If there's a product being sold, and if it's useful to the potential clientele, they'll buy it. Without regard to the UI.
Craigslist achieved critical mass in the 90s, so it's not a good example. Many useful products disappear because they can't attract enough users to become sustainable. A nice UI can affect users' credibility judgments and increase the chance that they'll stick around or buy things.
This is prejudice. People use Craigslist, for example. If the thing is useful, people will use it. If there's a product being sold, and if it's useful to the potential clientele, they'll buy it. Without regard to the UI.
In the past ten years while my connection speed increased, the speed at which I can browse decreased. As my bandwidth increased, all the major websites madly inflated.
> So -- if I write a web page, and I want to include a large asset, but I want to indicate to user agents on slow/capped connections that they don't _need_ to download it, what approach should I take?
Put a link to it with (optionally) a thumbnail.