Layzr.js

A modern lazy loading library for images.

Demo Page

Getting Started

Follow these steps:

Install
Setup Images
Instantiate
Review Options
Review Events
Review API
Review Example Code
- Examples progress like a coffee addiction: small -> medium -> large

Install

Layzr was developed with a modern JavaScript workflow in mind. To use it, it’s recommended you have a build system in place that can transpile ES6, and bundle modules. For a minimal boilerplate that fulfills those requirements, check out outset.

Install Layzr, and add it to your package.json dependencies.

$ npm install layzr.js --save

Then import it into the file where you’ll use it.

import Layzr from 'layzr.js'

Setup Images

Layzr intelligently chooses the best image source available based on an image’s data attributes and browser feature detection.

In browsers that support srcset, if available, it will be used to determine the source.
In browsers that don’t, the normal or retina source will be chosen based on the devicePixelRatio and availability.

Note that all attribute names are configurable via the options passed to Layzr. To indicate potential sources, add the following attributes to your images:

Name	Required	Optional
`data-normal`	✓
`data-retina`		✓
`data-srcset`		✓

data-normal

Put the normal resolution source in the data-normal attribute.

<img data-normal="normal.jpg">

Note that Layzr selects elements using this attribute. Elements without it won’t be tracked, and will never load.

data-retina

Add the retina/high resolution source in the data-retina attribute.

<img data-normal="normal.jpg" data-retina="retina.jpg">

data-srcset

Add the source set in the data-srcset attribute. For information on the proper syntax, read the official specification.

<img data-normal="normal.jpg" data-retina="retina.jpg" data-srcset="small.jpg 320w, medium.jpg 768w, large.jpg 1024w">

Instantiate

Create an instance, optionally passing in your options.

Be sure to assign your Layzr instance to a variable. Using your instance, you can:

start and stop the event listeners
add and remove event handlers
accommodate dynamically added elements

// using the default options

const instance = Layzr()

// using custom options

const instance = Layzr({
  // ...
})

Options are explained in the following section.

Options

Default options are shown below, and an explanation of each follows:

const instance = Layzr({
  normal: 'data-normal',
  retina: 'data-retina',
  srcset: 'data-srcset',
  threshold: 0
})

normal

Customize the attribute the normal resolution source is taken from.

const instance = Layzr({
  normal: 'data-normal'
})

retina

Customize the attribute the retina/high resolution source is taken from.

const instance = Layzr({
  retina: 'data-retina'
})

srcset

Customize the attribute the source set is taken from.

const instance = Layzr({
  srcset: 'data-srcset'
})

threshold

Adjust when images load, relative to the viewport. Positive values make images load sooner, negative values make images load later.

Threshold is a percentage of the viewport height, identical to the CSS vh unit.

const instance = Layzr({
  threshold: 0
})

Events

Layzr instances are extended with Knot.js, a browser-based event emitter. Use the event emitter syntax to add and remove handlers. Review the emitter syntax here.

Layzr emits the following events:

src:before
src:after

src:before

This event is emitted immediately before an image source is set. The image node is passed to the event handler.

instance.on('src:before', (element) => {
  // 'this' is your Layzr instance
  // 'element' is the image node
  // ...
})

Load event handlers should be attached using this event. See the example, and note the caveats associated with image load events before proceeding.

src:after

This event is emitted immediately after an image source is set. The image node is passed to the event handler.

instance.on('src:after', (element) => {
  // 'this' is your Layzr instance
  // 'element' is the image node
  // ...
})

Note that the image is not necessarily done loading when this event fires.

API

All API methods are chainable, including those from the emitter.

.handlers(flag)

Add or remove the scroll and resize event handlers.

instance
  .handlers(true)       // 'true' adds them
  .handlers(false)      // 'false' removes them

.check()

Manually check if elements are in the viewport.

This method is called while the window is scrolled or resized.

instance.check()

.update()

Update the elements Layzr is checking.

instance.update()

Dynamically added elements should be handled using this method. See the example.

Browser Support

Layzr depends on the following browser APIs:

It supports the following natively:

Chrome 24+
Firefox 23+
Safari 6.1+
Opera 15+
Edge 12+
IE 10+
iOS Safari 7.1+
Android Browser 4.4+

To support older browsers, consider including polyfills/shims for the APIs listed above. There are no plans to include any in the library, in the interest of file size.

Colophon

Site Design: Chris Allen
Stock Photos: Unsplash