Properly Size and Compress Images

[jeromehardaway]

Description: Our analysis indicates that the Vets Who Code web app could benefit from a significant performance boost by optimizing its image assets. We've identified potential savings of up to 2,517 KiB from resizing, compressing, and converting images to more efficient formats. Given our current tech stack, which includes Next.js for the frontend and Cloudinary for image management, we can automate much of this process to enhance load times, improve bandwidth usage, and elevate the overall user experience on our web application.

Action Items:

1. Audit Current Images: Utilize the Cloudinary Dashboard to audit all images hosted and used within the web application. Identify images that are oversized or not optimized for web use.

2. Automate Compression and Resizing: Implement Cloudinary's built-in capabilities for automatic image optimization. This includes setting up automatic compression and ensuring that images are served in the most appropriate dimensions and resolutions based on the user's device and viewport.

3. Enable Next-gen Formats: Configure Cloudinary to automatically serve images in next-generation formats like WebP when supported by the browser. This should be done in conjunction with Next.js's <Image> component to ensure optimal format selection and delivery.

4. Integrate with Next.js: Leverage the Next.js Image component for further optimizations, ensuring lazy loading of images and integration with Cloudinary's optimization features. Ensure all static and dynamic images in the web app are served using this component.

5. Performance Monitoring: After implementing the optimizations, set up performance monitoring using Lighthouse or a similar tool to track improvements in loading times and overall web performance. Use this data to adjust strategies as needed.

6. Documentation: Update the project's documentation to reflect the changes made to the image handling process, including guidelines for future image uploads to ensure they are automatically optimized.

Expected Outcome: By completing these action items, we anticipate a noticeable improvement in the web app's performance metrics, such as reduced load times and lower data consumption, leading to a better user experience and potentially higher SEO rankings.

Priority: High

Estimation: 5 days