I’m doing the web development for a new project and working with a couple of designers for the graphics. They are insisting on using a massive 2000px x 1300px background image for the site. I have tried to explain the disadvantages with having a large background image and with mobile devices being used more and more i think the whole idea of using it is rediculous. Am i correct with this viewpoint… the filesize is 190kb, or am i just stuck in the past with a dial up modem mentality?
Thanks!
I’d say you were spot on and it’s your designers who are out of touch. The W3C mobile OK checker recommends the total page weight should be under 20kb, for best mobile performance. While that might be going too far for most practical purposes, you’re right that a move towards lighter-weight pages makes sense with the growing use of mobile devices.
Yeah you are right. Large background image will break in many mobile phones.
You are right. But you are also forgetting media queries. A different BG image ( or better yet none at all) can be used for small screen devices. This case is even easy, since the issue is bg and size. Design around having NO IMAGE. Then bring in with @media queries for large screen ( since mobiles DONT have large screens OR dont support @media they will never d/l the image… problem solved) add conditional staments for IE. This, regrettably, leaves out older versions of FF , Safari and Opera from about 3-4 that do not support media query ( but this can be remedied w/ .js)
If for some reason… and I feel your pain here as I have MANY clients like this… client wants the 2000 X 1300 to actually DISPLAY in a 480 X 320 window… then what you have there is a failure on their part to understand math. Or as my old AD used to say: “Client wants all his groceries in want bag but doesn’t want the bag to be heavy.” 
Good luck.