Reply To: Difference between preloading images and lazy loading images

[Shikkediel]

Preloading can have a few reasons, probably mostly for esthetic purposes like not wanting to see any “build up” of the content (with a slideshow for example) or instant visibility when switching cursors. I haven’t seen any cases where one would preload a small image to be a placeholder of a larger file until that is also fully downloaded.

These days most emphasis is put on showing any content as quickly as possible (a trend I don’t follow myself, I like to show a loading spinner until the page is ready and preload everything necessary).

You could use lazy loading to save the visitor bandwidth. I can’t see how it would deliver the content more quickly though.