Simple Responsive Images With CSS Background Images

This article features just one of the many, suboptimal solutions for responsive images.With all the talk of new HTML5 standards such as the srcset attribute and <picture> element, as well as server-side techniques such as Responsive Web Design + Server Side Components (RESS), you'd be forgiven for concluding that simple, static websites can’t support responsive images today. That conclusion might be premature, however. In fact, there’s an easy, straightforward way to deliver responsive images that’s supported by all of today’s Web browsers: CSS background images.

However, the approach has some limitations, and it doesn’t work in all cases. But if your requirements aren’t complicated, and if you’re willing to make an extra effort to ensure your images are accessible, CSS background images may be all you need.