Are "Hidden" images still downloaded when a page is rendered

[dougwattzeban]

I have asked this question on the X Theme / Pro Theme Users group on Facebook, but would really appreciate knowing the authoritative answer.

The background to the question is an interest in page load speed, and therefore needing to know what files are actually downloaded by a browser.

Basically, the question is whether background images used in the BACKGROUND LOWER LAYER of a bar in the Pro Header builder will be downloaded if that bar is “hidden” in the CUSTOMIZE tab of the same bar.

Similarly, in the content builder, when an image is placed in a section that is “hidden” at some breakpoints, is that image always downloaded when the page is rendered?

My testing (using webpagetest.org) would seem to indicate that in the first case mentioned above the image doesn’t appear to be downloaded, but in the second case it is.

Are you able to throw any light on what actually happens?

Regards,

Doug

[basanta]

Hi There,

Thanks for writing in!

Background images are served from CSS code. Means it has no physical presence on the page. It doesn’t matter if the section is hidden or not.

If you are using the image as the content image by embedding it in the page or section, it will be there even the section is hidden for breakpoints.

Hope this is clear!

Thanks

[dougwattzeban]

Many thanks, Basanta.

This makes perfect sense and is helpful to know. This will help me a lot in getting the best from X / Pro.

Doug

[Prasant]

You are most welcome.