Retina Images

[Chris M]

Quick question. With the addition of WEBP, is there still a need for the Retina Images option?

[Acorn]

Quick question. With the addition of WEBP, is there still a need for the Retina Images option?

Chris, there is if the user's browser can't cope with WebP.
Smartphone browsers come to mind and, of course, people are still using IE11 or worse: https://caniuse.com/?search=webp.

I had suspected HiSlide wouldn't handle them but it does.

Acorn

[Chris M]

Looking at the scale you linked to, it's IE on its lonesome. I might have a better look at the possibility of shaving weight and a few seconds of upload time.

[Acorn]

Looking at the scale you linked to, it's IE on its lonesome. I might have a better look at the possibility of shaving weight and a few seconds of upload time.

Chris, you're missing the point of the WebP inclusion.
Yes, the Retina and WebP files are uploaded to your server but when a WebP-aware browser accesses your page, it only fetches the WebPs and not the others. The same applies in reverse.
So, the important part is your viewers get the best experience possible, it is only your rendering time and publish times are greater.
I develop with WebP off and publish with WebP on.

Acorn

[Chris M]

Oh, I understand how the browsers work. I just uploaded a site with 52 pages (pretty large for me) and was staring at the files as they ticked over...lots of @2x.
Hopping into FileZilla, and we now have 4 images for each image. As an example:
5920.png
5920.webp
5920@2x.png
5920@2x.webp

The site in question wouldn't be viewed in any seriousness by someone who still uses IE. For the sake of a tick box, why not drastically reduce the image files?
To be fair, I wouldn't open the project file and upload just for this; but if I have to do an edit (99% chance I will) then I probably will, just to see if there's a noticeable difference in upload time.

[Chris M]

Curiosity won (and a lack of anything interesting on TV).

I exported locally:
With Retina 50.2MB and 1,313 files
Without Retina 23.8MB and 757 files

[Acorn]

Curiosity won (and a lack of anything interesting on TV).

I exported locally:
With Retina 50.2MB and 1,313 files
Without Retina 23.8MB and 757 files

If you open your index file and go to the Developer's Console > Network > Ctrl+F5, you should see what is actually accessed to render the page.
Do for with & without Retina and also with WebP.
It is these times that affect users and sway Google.

Acorn