Adaptive images are not just about the issue of scaling images. It is about dealing with other issues, and variables to be kept in mind when delivering the best user experience. Variables such as the following:
Screen resolution
Bandwidth
Browser width window
The problem of trying to determine the best image to be sent to the browser may be independent of each variable. And that is the problem. For instance, knowing only the value of the screen resolution does not mean the user has a good bandwidth to receive a high-definition picture.
So, based on these facts, how will we make a picture in our web application that needs to be displayed with good quality on a bunch of devices, without causing a huge waste of bandwidth?
When we are dealing with bitmap images (non-vectorized images such as SVG), the ideal solution seems simple: to serve an image of a different size for each group of resolutions, where each of these images would be suitable for certain types of devices.
Usually...