Certainly, but comparing X-as-almost-never-practiced[1] to Y is pretty disingenuous unless you're going to very clearly state up front that that is what you're

Certainly, but comparing X-as-almost-never-practiced[1] to Y is pretty disingenuous unless you're going to very clearly state up front that that is what you're doing. Of course, the hackiness of X-as-practiced is a valid point of qualitative comparison and should indeed be brought up. [1] Ok, I'm exaggerating a little. It's not quite "never", but most large sites where image loading time is an issue are using some form of workaround, be it spriting, multiple domains, or something else.