Lazy Loading is a process in which we can improve the user experience on a website by delaying the loading of relatively larger files such as images and videos without affecting the main content of the webpage. Now, the question that comes to our mind is, ”Why we will need such a feature?”. Let us discuss some of the benefits of Lazy Load plugins.
First, it allows users to be connected with the content quickly. Second, it maintains a perfect balance between improving the user experience and optimizing content delivery. Third, it reduces the chances that the user will leave the page, as more content is constantly fed to the user. And last, but not the least, it decreases resource costs. All these features collectively make Lazy Loading awesome.
Not to mention, jQuery is one of the most widely used library for web development. Therefore, we will now look into the best 12 Lazy Load plugins available on jQuery.
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jQuery Lazy
This is one of the best and reliable plugin you can find. It supports images in <img /> tags for html and background-image in CSS. Lazy can be easily installed from CDN or self-hosted files or through package managers.
Lazy Load
This plugin does not allow the loading of the images that are out of the viewport. Moreover, it uses the Intersection Observer API to observe when the image enters the viewport. Thus, it is able to provide a sleek experience to the end users.
BttrLazyLoading
It is the best jQuery lazy loading plugin if you want more flexibility in terms the size of image to be loaded. Furthermore, it allows you to have four different versions of image for four different screen sizes. It is a blessing if you want to make webpages that is optimized for data saving.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
JqueryAsynchImageLoader
Often abbreviated as JAIL, this lazy loader has a unique feature. It allows the image to be loaded when an event is triggered or after a specific delay. The events can be any UI event such a click, a mouseover or a scroll.
Get it on GitHub
Unveil Lazy Load Plugin
This plugin has an exclusive support for the devices having retina display. Thus, it allows the end user to enjoy viewing the webpage specially optimized for retina displays without disturbing the user experience.
Lazy Load Images
It is another unique plugin that uses the data-bgimage attribute of the HTML tags to load the background of the UI elements. Consequently, the UI loading speed also improves so much. This plugin can rescue you from the great pain of optimizing the UI.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
jQuery Lazyload Any
This is another simple and extremely easy to use lazy load plugin. It can load any UI element using lazy loading technique. You can have a look on how it performs here.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
jQuery Smartify Image Loads
This is also a jQuery Lazyload inspired plugin which covers even more UI elements than the original one. Apart from image loading, it also calls AJAX and can modify CSS classes on demand. It is already tested on latest versions of many popular web browsers like, Opera, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Firefox.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
Recliner
Recliner is an extremely lightweight plugin for lazy loading iframes, images and dynamic AJAX content. Being such lightweight, it is best suited for media intensive mobile sites. Moreover, it is mobile and printer friendly and can override event callbacks for custom behavior.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
lazyLoader
It is just another lazyload plugin for your responsive website. It also minimizes the number of requests sent to the server. Consequently, reducing the lag on the webpage.
Get it on GitHub | Download
jquery.lazyScript
As the name suggests, this plugin allows the lazy loading of javascript code. It allows us to provide a callback to execute for each element appearing in the web browser’s viewport.
Get it on GitHub | Demo
Stalactite
This is a transparent jQuery plugin. Transparent because, it lazily unpacks the contents of an element in front of the user one by one. This provides a very unique user experience.
These were the top 12 jQuery Lazy Load plugins that can help you to provide a great user experience on your webpages. You can select the one that is most suitable for your website.