Show HN: Imgix.js, a JavaScript library for responsive imaging (opens in new tab)

I can't speak specifically about this responsive image feature, but as for imgix's core business, I have mixed feelings.

It's pretty trivial to write on-the-fly image processing using an existing graphics library. And given that the image can be cached and served from disk and a CDN, it can scale incredibly well.

Having said that, the features that they support is impressive, the API is intuitive, the speed is great, and you can stick your own CDN infront of it (or use theirs, which is actually Fastly, I believe). The founder, Chris, is wicked smart...this is really more than just a wrapper around GM.

There are at least couple open source projects that handle dynamic image generation on the backend quite nicely. It seems photon is dead, but I found it works quite well and is easy to extend. Thumbor seems quite active although I've never used it myself.

https://github.com/thumbor/thumbor

https://github.com/1000Memories/photon-core

There is nothing stopping you from setting the src tag. But you are just adding another request. Our base service works perfectly with src set and picturefill. This library is for cases where a different result is desired.

It is possible to easily target thr picture element using imgix's URL API directly. However, with picture you are limited to a set of image sizes and predefined dprs. This library allows the containing element to recieve an image at any size necessary with any DPR multiplier (up to 5, I believe) with the added bonus of conditional image manipulation overrides. In the example, we are baking in textual image information. Other edits like image quality and sharpening or midtone adjustments could be conditionally set as the image crops larger or smaller.

What is your definition of imaging? Our use of imaging is in reference to imaging in technology. "The production of graphic images from digitally generated data." Our service processes images on our servers and produces new image data with each request when necessary (if not cached already.) The Javascript library is just a way to interface with our infrastructure and generate these requests.

I'm not sure what "yeti" image you are referring to. All images were purchased royalty free images from iStockPhoto.