Optimized media loading using the Web Workers API

In 2020, developers continued to grapple with the challenge of efficiently loading media in web applications, a longstanding issue that affects app performance and user experience. The article explores three approaches for building a collage of 1,000 images, focusing on overcoming the pitfalls of blocking the main thread and poor performance. The naive approach of adding images directly to the DOM is criticized for freezing the browser, whereas using promises to load images asynchronously improves user experience but still freezes when handling large batches. The solution lies in utilizing the Web Workers API, which leverages multi-threading to prevent browser freezing by offloading the image-fetching process from the main thread. This approach combines the benefits of promises while maintaining a smooth and responsive user experience, effectively optimizing media loading and demonstrating the potential of web workers to resolve complex web development challenges.