Lazy Loading of Images in Rails

I recently came across a lot of lazy loading javascript plugins, but finally came to know about Layzr plugin simple, lightweight and works like charm.

But the problem is the usage. So what we use in rails:

  <%= image_tag "my_image.jpg" %>

which generates an HTML code like this:

  <img src="my_image.jpg"/>

Now layzr javascript plugin is expecting something like this:

  <img data-normal="my_image.jpg"/>

and later on, it gets converted into using javascript:

  <img scr="my_image.jpg"/>

So what I want is a default image which will be loaded when page load happens and while scrolling default image should be replaced by a real image. So I can do it something like:

  <%= image_tag "default_image.jpg", "data-normal" => "my_real_image.jpg" %>

or while using the paperclip as a gem makes it like:

  <%= image_tag "default_image.jpg", "data-normal" => image.photo.url(:medium) %>

The above code is ugly. I don’t want to screw up my whole image_tag, so wrote a simple ruby gem to write a clean code, which takes a default image from configuration files and do the magic behind the screen. ie:

  <%= image_tag "my_real_image.jpg", lazy: true %>

This gets converted into:

  <img src="default_image.jpg" data-normal="my_image.jpg"/>

How to use it:

All you need to do is:

Step 1:

Add it in your Gemfile

  gem 'layzr-rails'

Step 2:

Create a configuration file and put it in your initializers config/initializers/layzr.rb

  Layzr::Rails.configure do |config|
    config.placeholder = "/assets/some-default-image.png"
  end

Step 3:

Download layzr.js and include in application js and place this code:

  $(document).ready(function() {
     const instance = Layzr()
  });

Step 4:

Images you want to make lazy load:

  <%= image_tag "kittenz.png", alt: "OMG a cat!", lazy: true %>

That’s all :)

that makes my code clean and efficient. You can use see the source code here having guidelines how to use it and some more options from the gem.