Chrome Adds Built-in ‘LazyLoad’ for Images and Cross-origin Frames

Google Chrome will soon add built-in lazy load features. The plan is to bring native lazy loading for images and cross-origin frames to Chrome. There are two flags for this feature available in the latest Canary channel version of Chrome and Chrome OS.

According to Wikipedia,”Lazy loading is a design pattern commonly used in computer programming to defer initialization of an object until the point at which it is needed.”

In simple words, it lazy loading delays loading of certain elements (most of the time images) until users scroll and reach that part of the page. This helps load the content above the fold fast.

Lazy Load Flags

There are two flags available for me in the latest Canary build:

Lazy Load for Images 

Name: Enable lazy image loading

Description: Defers the loading of images until the page is scrolled down near them. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android

URL: chrome://flags/#enable-lazy-image-loading

Lazy load for cross-origin scripts

Name: Enable lazy frame loading

Description: Defers the loading of certain cross-origin frames until the page is scrolled down near them. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android

URL: chrome://flags/#enable-lazy-frame-loading

Things are pretty clear from these flag descriptions. With built-in lazy loading, Chrome will get better at loading pages fast.

Now that Chrome has added lazy load as a native feature, we will soon see other browser makers following suit. In coming months, we lazy load might become a built-in feature that’s shipped with every browser. Web developers can save some time lazy loading for their websites, I suppose.

What do you think?