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Questions about Brizy's image handling

Sanjay Panikkar

Hi,

I'm a new Brizy user. I have some questions about Brizy's handling of images based on your help centre article: https://support.brizy.io/hc/en-us/articles/360031704031-How-does-Brizy-handle-images-

1) If I understand correctly, Brizy generates its own responsive image sets independent of WordPress built-in image generation. This means that I only need to upload the base desktop images, correct?

2) If that's the case, then can I safely disable WordPress built-in thumbnail and srcset generation?

3) Does Brizy's generated images work with WordPress built-in lazy loading?

4) Your help centre article mentions caching for images but I don't find this referenced in any other article. Does Brizy come with built-in caching? Is it only for images or other content also?

5) I don't see any option for optimising images via ShortPixel in the admin area as mentioned in your article. Where can I find it?

6) Is Brizy compatible with media offloading plugins like WP Offload Media?

 

Thanks & regards,

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Comments

13 comments

Date Votes
  • Permanently deleted user

    Hello,

    Thank you for getting in touch with us.

    We are sorry; this article about images is not up to date. Some of the details in the document do not apply anymore. We have recently published a revised article in Brizy Facebook Community. Here is a copy of it.

    We have revamped the way we handle images

    In the area of image handling, we have been receiving these feedback.
    1. "Images uploaded to Brizy builder look blurry on the website. We do not find the exact same image resolution as the image we have uploaded"
    2. "Why can't we use an image optimization plugin of our choice?"
     
    To address these concerns, we have introduced a new way of handling images with both Brizy WP with and Brizy Cloud in the latest updates. This revamp provides a solution to the blurry images issue and opens up a wider range of image optimization possibilities for Brizy WP. With the latest updates
    1. You can now use an image optimization plugin of your choice to optimize images you upload through Brizy WP.
    2. You can now show images with the same resolution as the original image with Brizy WP and with the Cloud

    CHOOSE YOUR IMAGE SIZE

    Whenever you upload an image to WordPress Image gallery, 4 image sizes are created automatically for you
    1. Thumbnail size (150 x 150 pixels)
    2. Medium size (maximum 300 x 300 pixels)
    3. Large size (maximum 1024 x 1024 pixels)
    4. Full size (the original size of the uploaded image)
     
    When you add an image to WordPress using Brizy builder, 6 sizes of the image are created: 2 for desktop view, 2 for tablet view and 2 for mobile view. One for each normal and retina displays. When a user accesses that page, the image that is most suited to his device is loaded, thus optimizing the experience and load speed on the page. The resized images are always smaller and of lower resolution compared to the original image.
    While Brizy WP and Cloud continue to resize images for different devices for better performance, you now have a choice not to resize images and retain its original resolution and size if you want to. In the image element, you can make this choice. (See the first attached image)
     
    With Brizy 2.3.19 onwards, you will have multiple image size options to choose from. These options can be categorized into two basic options
    1. Resize for performance: If you want your images to be resized for performance for different devices, choose the “Custom” option. This option is selected by default for all images.
    2. Do not resize for performance: If you would like to retain the original resolution and size of your images on your website, choose “Original”. You can also choose other available image sizes WordPress permits. When you choose either original or any other size, your image will not be resized for different devices.

    With Brizy Cloud you get two image size options to choose from. (see the second attached image)
    1. Custom: If you want your images to be resized for performance for different devices, choose “Custom” option
    2. Original: If you would like to retain the original resolution and size of your images on your website, choose “Original”

    USE AN IMAGE OPTIMIZATION PLUGIN

    With previous versions of Brizy WP, the images that you upload using the editor used to be saved in a separate folder from the image folder that WordPress uses. This made the images inaccessible to Image Optimization plugins and the users could only use the Shortpixel Optimization natively integrated with Brizy.
     
    With Brizy 2.3.19 onwards, images are no longer saved in a Brizy specific folder, but in the folder WordPress saves it's media files. This opens up the possibility to use any Image Optimization plugin of your choice to optimize images you upload through Brizy WP. Start using an Image Optimization plugin of your choice along with Brizy 2.3.19 and above. Images with the Original and other size attributes will be optimized by the Image Optimization plugin. Images with Custom size will not be optimized by the plugin.
     
    The native integration with Shortpixel will not be available from Brizy 2.3.19 onwards.
     

    CAN I UPLOAD IMAGES OF ANY SIZE?

    If you upload big size images to WordPress or Brizy Cloud your image will get scaled down. The default threshold value for WordPress images is 2560px. If you upload an image with higher width/height than 2560 pixels, the image will get resized to 2560 pixel width/height. However, you can modify the threshold values or disable scaling down of images with WordPress.
     
    Brizy Cloud allows you to upload images up to 2000px width/height. If you upload an image with higher width/height, images get scaled down.

    Please see this screenshots and this one.

    Best regards, Nelea.

     

     

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  • Sanjay Panikkar

    Thanks for the detailed information. All of the changes make sense, but this information should have been easy to find on your official website instead of some third-party social media.

    I'm convinced Brizy is a good product for my purpose—the builder is fast, the UI is clean and the learning curve is almost nothing. However, as a new user, it is confusing to come across articles that reference features which have been changed or removed. Even basic information such as a list of elements and controls available in the builder are missing from your website. Due to the lack of clear documentation, you may be losing customers who want to try out Brizy.

    Anyway, back on topic:

    After some testing using the current version of Brizy Pro, I found images generated by WordPress were consistently of lower quality than the ones created by Brizy, even when images were similar in dimension. Based on the information you provided, I'll stick to the "Custom" or "Original" options for managing images—I have disabled all WordPress built-in image generation, scaling and threshold values to avoid creating many useless versions of uploaded images.

    Regarding question #4, I did not find any cache files generated by Brizy on my server, so I assume the built-in caching that was referenced in the article has also been removed. Hopefully, this means I can use my own caching solutions without running into any issues.

    Please clarify question #6.

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  • Permanently deleted user

    Hi,

    Next week all documentation will be renewed on the Brizy website, the old article will be deleted and the new one will be published.  Regarding the 6 questions,  at the moment Brizy is not compatible with media offloading plugins like WP Offload Media.

    Best regards, Nelea.

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  • Joseph Karout

    Hi Nelea,

    Thank you for the detailed excerpt on the image compression update. I have a few questions to ask.

    All my images are set to Custom. This means Brizy WP and Cloud will continue to resize images for different devices for better performance.

    I am using Shortpixel at the moment to compress images. You say "Images with the Original and other size attributes will be optimized by the Image Optimization plugin. Images with Custom size will not be optimized by the plugin."

    1. Does this mean if I use Shortpixel or any other image compression plugin to compress my images, my images will NOT be compressed/optimized with the Custom size attribute?

      If the answer is yes, then what is the point of having Brizy resize my images with the Custom attribute for better performance if Brizy does not allow me to take advantage of compression?
    2. With the Custom size attribute, will I need to use Shortpixel Adaptive images: https://shortpixel.com/knowledge-base/article/132-how-shortpixel-adaptive-images-work

    3. With the Custom size attribute, Brizy will create one for retina displays. Does this means I dont need to use this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-retina-2x/ to create images for retina displays?


      Lastly, Shortpixel has an option to optimize images created for Retina displays. However, in order to take advantage of it I need to install a plugin like the one above to generate Retina-specific images (ending with the suffix @2x).
    4. My last question is with my images using the Custom size does Brizy add the suffix @2x when they create the image for Retina displays, thus I dont need the wp retina 2x plugin in order for me to compress them using Shortpixel?

    Thank you very much!

     

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  • Joseph Karout

    Sorry I have some other follow up questions:

    1. If all my images are set with Custom size, how do I change all hundreds of my images to another size like Original without having to do it individually?

    2. If I use Shortpixel to compress my images and then convert them to Webp, what would happen if all my images have the Custom size attribute?

    3. If I cannot compress my images with the Custom size, what would be the best option for automatic image resizing for all devices and image compression?
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  • Joseph Karout

    One more other question.

    If I compress my images and convert them to Webp prior to upload, what happens after I upload them and the size is set to Custom not original?

    Will Brizy serve these compressed Webp images correctly even though the size is Custom?

    Thanks!

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  • KC George
    • Edited

    Hi Joseph,

    You have broadly two options when uploading images through Brizy. 

    1. A Plugin is responsible to optimize your images: If you want to handle image optimization and resizing yourself with the help of a plugin, you choose the 'Original' size option in the Image element and your images would be available for the plugin to optimize. In this case, even if you upload a 3 MB image, the plugin will compress it and optimize it for you. 
    2. Image optimization is a combined responsibility of you and Brizy. If you select the 'Custom' size option in the Image element, you must upload a reasonably sized image to Brizy. (200-350 KB for a full screen image) and Brizy makes the images even smaller for tablets and mobiles. We expect you to compress your images before uploading using this option. You could use a service like https://tinypng.com/ to compress your images.  

    Coming to your questions

    Does this mean if I use Shortpixel or any other image compression plugin to compress my images, my images will NOT be compressed/optimized with the Custom size attribute?

    If the answer is yes, then what is the point of having Brizy resize my images with the Custom attribute for better performance if Brizy does not allow me to take advantage of compression?

    Yes; images uploaded through Brizy are not available to the plugin if you select the 'Custom' option. Hence you must compress your images before uploading.  

    With the Custom size attribute, will I need to use Shortpixel Adaptive images: https://shortpixel.com/knowledge-base/article/132-how-shortpixel-adaptive-images-work

    No; when using 'Custom' size option, image optimization plugin is not relevant.   

    With the Custom size attribute, Brizy will create one for retina displays. Does this means I don't need to use this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-retina-2x/ to create images for retina displays?

    Yes

    Lastly, Shortpixel has an option to optimize images created for Retina displays. However, in order to take advantage of it I need to install a plugin like the one above to generate Retina-specific images (ending with the suffix @2x).

    Like I have mentioned earlier, when using the 'Custom' option, any image plugin you use it irrelevant. 

    My last question is with my images using the Custom size does Brizy add the suffix @2x when they create the image for Retina displays, thus I dont need the wp retina 2x plugin in order for me to compress them using Shortpixel?

    You are right; you do not need the retina 2x plugin.

    If all my images are set with Custom size, how do I change all hundreds of my images to another size like Original without having to do it individually?

    'Custom' or 'Original' options are set for each image one at a time. There is no option to set either option for all images. 

    If I use Shortpixel to compress my images and then convert them to Webp, what would happen if all my images have the Custom size attribute?

    This scenario does not exist because when using the Custom option, plugins are irrelevant to the images. 

    If I cannot compress my images with the Custom size, what would be the best option for automatic image resizing for all devices and image compression?

    If you select the 'Original' size for all images, then a plugin can optimize your images

     

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  • Joseph Karout

    Thank you KC very much for answering all these questions.

    Brizy MUST have a bulk option to change image sizes. I have hundreds and thousands of photos. I cannot change each one one-by-one to a different size.

    Your developers didnt think about this before they decided to launch this update? This is really ridiculous. Now all my images are uncompressed with the Custom size and I am left with absolutely no option to compress them efficiently. 

    Brizy needs to rollout this feature request fast. I am sure a lot of other customers are displeased. This is not a normal and effective way to handle image compression. 

    Why doesnt Brizy handle all the resizing and retina displays but allow for us to use a plugin to compress those images even with a Custom size attribute? It is either one or the other. It dont make any sense.

    Secondly, how about this question:

    If I compress my images and convert them to Webp prior to upload, what happens after I upload them and the size is set to Custom not original?

    Will Brizy serve these compressed Webp images correctly even though the size is Custom?

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  • KC George

    Hi Joseph,

    I agree that changing the image options for hundreds of images is not easy. We expect our users to decide either of the two approaches before starting a project; this way you would not have a need to change the image size option for hundreds of images later. 

    If you upload a Webp image using the Custom option, it will be displayed well. Have a look at https://brizy.support/webp/ for an example.

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  • Joseph Karout

    Can you please pass this feedback to your team? It is way too late for me to decide which size option would be the most practical. Plus as your business grows your needs change. We as Brizy users should always have the flexibility of switching between the sizes smoothly also on a bulk level.

    I am forced to use the Custom size attribute and cannot take advantage of any image optimization plugins such as Shortpixel, which is a total loss for me.

    I am sure hundreds of other Brizy users fall into this same pitfall. Brizy needs to do a better job documenting this excerpt on their website, making a huge announcement on FB group, and updating it's subscribers via email. 

    To reemphasize, we need a bulk option available KC plain and simple. Simply stating... "We expect our users to decide either of the two approaches before starting a project"... does not suffice and sorry to say, a lackluster solution. You are basically saying it's your loss; tough luck Joe if you already upload many photos. You should have planned accordingly.

    How can I if I never got the important headsup from Brizy until now?

    Regarding Webp, does Brizy have a fallback in case the browser doesnt support it? Will it fallback to png/jpg? If yes, how if I only uploaded a compressed webp image without it's png/jpg counterpart?

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  • Joseph Karout

    Also, if I upload a webp image with the Custom size, what happens if the browser cannot support it (depending on the version)? Shortpixel places a snippet of code in the htaccess file to use a fallback png/img counterpart if this event happens.

    Does Brizy also do this? Will I need to upload a png/img counterpart first to take advantage of the fallback? If Brizy just serves the webp image without a fallback option for outdated browsers, then it's useless. 

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  • KC George
    • Edited

    Hi Joseph,

    Yes; I will pass on your request for a feature to set image options centrally. 

    We have so far not come across a scenario where webp files were not supported by a browser. We have not yet tested this scenario; hence not sure how the image will be handled. Brizy does not do anything specific about it.

    Is support for a fallback image even required since most browsers support webp already? Please have a look at this page https://caniuse.com/webp  If a visitor uses an outdated browser, this could be a problem. 

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  • Joseph Karout

    Thank you KC. I guess you have a point. At this stage, even if someone is using an outdated browser, they wont be able to surf the Internet. They will be forced to update otherwise their browser wont function.

    Good point!

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