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Dithering can still be a striking aesthetic choice. Low Tech Magazine is my go-to example: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/
by kibwen 2y ago
Dithering can still be a striking aesthetic choice. Low Tech Magazine is my go-to example: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/
From their About page:
"Thus, instead of using full-colour high-resolution images, we chose to convert all images to black and white, with four levels of grey in-between. These black-and-white images are then coloured according to the pertaining content category via the browser’s native image manipulation capacities. Compressed through this dithering plugin, images featured in the articles add much less load to the content: compared to the old website, the images are roughly ten times less resource-intensive."
- flobosg 2y agoSee also the video game Return of the Obra Dinn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn) as well as the developer log entry about dithering (https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg1363742#msg1363742 https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg136374...).
- magicalhippo 2y agoWas about to mention this game. Found it through HN and loved it. The dithering is used very well in the game and fits very well with the overall gameplay. An interesting aspect about the game is how it required making the dithering stable to changing viewpoints, not something typical dithering algorithms care about.
- Rygian 2y ago> compared to the old website, the images are roughly ten times less resource-intensive. Does that account for the repeated post processing done by every client?
- blacksmith_tb 2y agoMy sense is they're trying to reduce request size/processing/reading from disk for their solar-powered server, more than reduce the whole world's energy use.
- thih9 2y agoTheir core goal is, paraphrasing, helping design a sustainable society[1]. Reducing the whole world's energy use is aligned with that - more than reducing load on a single server. That being said, I doubt the post processing adds much in this case. [1]: "Low-tech Magazine questions the belief in technological progress and highlights the potential of past knowledge and technologies when it comes to designing a sustainable society" - https://www.patreon.com/lowtechmagazine/about https://www.patreon.com/lowtechmagazine/about
- makapuf 2y agoDecoding a black and white compressed image using a two color palette is essentially free. You have to paint a bit to a color, might as well choose #ff00ff instead of #111111 for "black"
- calebm 2y agoLichtenstein would agree.
- xattt 2y agoDithered content stands out because it’s an outlier in a world of smooth gradients. We’d be clamouring for the opposite if everything was dithered.
- omoikane 2y agoUnfortunately, if the browser window were not at the right size, some of those dithered images will be scaled with visible moiré patterns. If they wanted a dithered look that works at different resolutions, it might have been better to serve grayscale images and filter them on the client side.
- mjcohen 2y agoThanks. Low Tech Magazine is fascinating.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]