{"id":21677,"date":"2018-02-12T19:18:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T19:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/improving_instagram_web_new_features_for_a_better_user_experience"},"modified":"2025-09-21T04:44:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T11:44:57","slug":"improving_instagram_web_new_features_for_a_better_user_experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudinary.com\/blog\/improving_instagram_web_new_features_for_a_better_user_experience","title":{"rendered":"Improving Instagram Web With Progressive Image Loading"},"content":{"rendered":"

My work demands that I stay away from my phone and mobile notifications in order to be as productive as possible each day. It\u2019s not unusual to find me at my desk for a total 12 hours a day (I work remotely), with four hours going to browsing the internet.<\/p>\n

As I sniff around<\/em>, Instagram Web<\/a> is open constantly, with a visit rate of 2.4 percent of my daily hours. I don\u2019t think this is just me, because in the U.S. alone, 17 percent of Instagram traffic comes from desktops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As an engineer, I have a tendency to try to improve a tool (productivity or fun) I use everyday. For me, it is Instagram. So, I assembled a list of possible Instagram Web<\/strong> improvements I can work on, built a simple Instagram clone, then improved on those points. In this article, I\u2019ll talk more about what I\u2019ve done, and you might even see more room for improvements.<\/p>\n

Needed Changes<\/h2>\n

Maybe the Instagram team thought of the points I\u2019m about to discuss, and had their reasons for not making these types of changes. Or, maybe it never occurred to them to do these things. Who knows? Here\u2019s list the features I wish I had every time I access Instagram from my computer (NOT<\/strong> my phone):<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Scroll to Play<\/strong>: I keep asking myself why this is not a feature on the web, yet it is on mobile. After a long session using scrolling infinitely on Instagram mobile, I forget that you have to click a video on Instagram Web before it plays. Most time, I just wait thinking my network has slowed down again until I snap back. What exact reason is Instagram Web refusing to play videos? Who knows?<\/p>\n

  2. \n

    Hover to Mute and Unmute<\/strong>: Yeah, I can afford a hover you know? I am on a desktop, not a mobile phone. A hover event is my well-earned right for buying a large computer. Why not utilize it, Instagram Web? Oh yes, I can click to play and pause \u2014 I know that. But what if I want the videos to play without a sound? Hover could do that well.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Progressive Image Loading<\/strong>: We all know that images are optimized and the web app probably uses resolution switching<\/a> to serve the best image resolution for a browser view port. I live in Africa where slow<\/strong> 3G is a norm, so instead of slashing that grey background at users on a poor network, maybe you can borrow some ideas from Medium and load the images progressively.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How I Intend to Make Improvements<\/h2>\n

    Of course I don\u2019t have a lot of time, so I can\u2019t imagine building some of these features from scratch. Oh, unless you\u2019re paying me\u2026then we can talk. What I intend to do is use a third-party service – Cloudinary – that solves most of these problems. Cloudinary is an end-to-end, cloud-based media management solution. It offers media (images and videos) storage, transformation<\/a> and delivery.<\/p>\n

    Here is a list of where Cloudinary could help improve the app:<\/p>\n