LazyLoad is a script we see more and more often within sites these days that are optimizing their speed and optimization. In general it is a function that makes your images load when they are within the viewpoint of a device (when they are visible on the screen) this is done in order to optimize the loading speed of that webpage.
This script is usually made using javaScript which supports srcset and works best with JPEG images. There are two main types of LazyLoad - the one working with the native javascript functions and the jQuery one, both work similarly but the native one supports progressive JPEG and the jQuery doesn't and more slight differences.
When it comes to content management systems like WordPress the large amount of images can make a site quite slow, due to the fact that each image there is an HTTP request and having fewer of those can help with the speed which having too many can slow down the site.
LazyLoading is the perfect solution for this issue as it makes the HTTP requests less as it loads only the images that are visible on the screen of the browsing device. For this purpose we prepared a list of plugins that can help you enable LazyLoad on your WordPress website.
Lazy Load by WP Rocket
WP Rocket is one of the best caching plugins for WordPress and they also have a free plugin created to enable Lazy Load. It is a lightweight plugin which works quite well for most types of images and iframes.
Smush Image Compression and Optimization
This plugin is used for optimization and compression of images, but the newest version also has LazyLoad, so you can enable this function with the click of a button and everything will be set automatically for you. It works best with smaller sized images.
a3 Lazy Load
This plugin is more mobile oriented but works best with heavier websites, this plugin is also perfectly compatible with plugins like WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields and all types of CDNs.
Lazy Load for Videos
This is the perfect solution if you would like to enable lazy load for the videos on your site. It is best for YouTube videos but works great with Vimeo as well.
Image optimization service by Optimole
This plugin is using the lazyload function without jQuery and uses different types of optimization per image format.
Conclusion
All in all no matter what you choose Lazy Load is a good way to optimize your site especially if you do have a media-heavy site.
And if you do have any doubts or questions on how best to implement this on your site - let us know as we are always happy to help!
