Here’s a breakdown of the provided HTML code, which focuses on displaying images:
Overall Structure
The code consists of three <figure> elements, each containing an <img> tag. This is a standard way to structure images in HTML, providing a container that can also hold a caption (not present in this snippet). ProPublica is using WordPress, as evidenced by the “wp-block-image” class.
Key Attributes and Features
* class="wp-block-image size-propublica-position-large": This class identifies these elements as images managed by the WordPress block editor. The “size-propublica-position-large” class likely applies specific styling for larger image displays.
* loading="lazy": this attribute tells the browser to only load the images when they are near the viewport (visible part of the page). This improves initial page load performance.
* decoding="async": this attribute instructs the browser to decode the images asynchronously, preventing image decoding from blocking the main thread and improving performance.
* height and width: These attributes specify the dimensions of the image in pixels.
* data-id: A unique identifier assigned by WordPress to each image.
* src: the primary URL of the image to be displayed.
* alt="": The alternative text for the image. It’s important for accessibility (screen readers) and SEO. Currently, all images have empty alt attributes, which is not ideal – they should contain descriptive text.
* class="wp-image-...": A unique class name assigned by WordPress to each image.
* srcset: This is very important! It provides a list of different image sizes. the browser will choose the most appropriate size based on the user’s screen size and resolution. This improves performance and responsiveness.
* The srcset attribute lists multiple urls, each followed by its width (e.g., https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_0376-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=261,300 261w).
* sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px": This attribute helps the browser determine the appropriate image size from the srcset. It tells the browser:
* auto: Let the browser decide in the absence of other conditions.
* (max-width: 1149px) 100vw: If the viewport width is 1149px or less, make the image take up 100% of the viewport width.
* 1149px: Otherwise (if the viewport is wider than 1149px), render the image at a width of 1149px.
Image URLs and Naming
All the image URLs point to resources on www.propublica.org. The filenames follow a pattern:
* IMG_0374-5.06.09-PM-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg
* IMG_0376-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg
* IMG_0380-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg
The numbers (0374, 0376, 0380) likely represent image sequence numbers. The rest of the filename seems to indicate the date and time the image was created or processed (‘5.06.09’ could be May 6, 2009), along with image processing settings (PDcrop, resolution, color profile, quality). maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000 indicates the maximum dimensions of the original image.
What This Code Does
This HTML is designed to responsively display images. It provides multiple image sizes,allowing the browser to choose the optimal one for the user’s device,which optimizes performance and visual quality. the loading="lazy" and `
