How to implement image lazy loading (Lazy Load) in the home page Banner list to optimize performance?

As an experienced website operation expert, I know that website performance is crucial for user experience and search engine ranking.AnQiCMS (AnQiCMS) provides a solid foundation for website operators with its high efficiency, lightweight nature, and SEO-friendly features.However, even the most efficient systems cannot do without fine-tuned operational strategies to continuously optimize.Today, let's discuss an essential aspect of website performance optimization - how to implement image lazy loading (Lazy Load) in the home page Banner list.

Home page banner, as the 'face' of the website, usually carries the brand image and core promotion information, often composed of high-resolution, large-sized images.These images consume a lot of bandwidth and computing resources when the page loads, directly affecting the page loading speed when the user visits for the first time.And image lazy loading is the effective solution to this pain point.

Understanding Image Lazy Loading: Why Is It Crucial?

In simple terms, lazy loading of images is an optimization strategy, its core idea is "load on demand".This means that, when the page is initially loaded, it does not immediately load all the images, but only loads the images in the visible area of the user's current screen (i.e., the first screen).When the user scrolls down the page and the image enters the visible area, the corresponding image resource will start to load.

This mechanism brings obvious benefits. First, it can significantly reduce the initial page loading time, as the browser needs to handle fewer resources, thus enhancing user experience.Imagine a website that can display content within a few seconds, compared to a website that requires a long wait, which one is more likely to retain visitors?Secondly, lazy loading can save bandwidth, reduce server load, and especially for mobile device users, it can also save their data consumption.Finally, in terms of SEO, faster page loading speed is one of the important ranking factors for search engines (especially Google), which helps to improve the visibility of the website.For a system like AnQi CMS that focuses on SEO optimization, lazy loading of images is undoubtedly a cherry on top.

Home Page Banner: Ideal Use Cases for Lazy Loading

Home banner area, especially those using carousel or multi-image display lists, usually contain multiple images.These images are often large in size and not small in file volume. Loading them all at once would undoubtedly place a heavy burden on the website's performance.Even if some banners may not be immediately visible to users during their first visit, their loading still consumes valuable resources.Therefore, implementing lazy loading for the home page banner list is an excellent entry point for improving website performance.

Implementing Home Page Banner Image Lazy Loading in Anqi CMS

The Anqi CMS template system is flexible and easy to customize, we can achieve lazy loading of images by simple modifications at the template level. We will mainly utilize the native support of modern browsers.loading="lazy"Property, or combinedata-srcProperty with a small amount of JavaScript code to achieve the purpose

1. Locate and modify the template file

First, you need to log in to the Anqi CMS backend, find your current theme template file. The homepage Banner list is usually located under the theme root directory.index/index.htmlfile, or aincludeEnter the local template file on the home page, for examplepartial/header.htmlorpartial/banner.html.

Open the directory under your themeconfig.jsonFile, confirm.template_typeField, which will help you understand the organization mode of the template (adaptive, code adaptation, PC + mobile independent). Based ondesign-director.mdThe description, you can find the corresponding template file path.

In these files, you will find the usage{% bannerList banners %}The tag to loop output Banner image block. A typical output Banner template code may look like this:

{% bannerList banners %}
    {% for item in banners %}
    <a href="{{item.Link}}" target="_blank">
        <img src="{{item.Logo}}" alt="{{item.Alt}}" />
        <h5>{{item.Title}}</h5>
    </a>
    {% endfor %}
{% endbannerList %}

Our goal is to