Does a element with display:none set in css still get downloaded by the browser?

Question

Will the browser still download the image?

<img src="/myimage.jpg" style="display:none;" />

Answer 1

Yes. The rendering of the image has nothing to do with the downloading of the image.

Edit:
Try using Chrome or Firefox to perform a timing-test of a page's resources. Notice that all images get downloaded. Even ones whose display style is set to none.

Answer 2

Yes.

However, as a sidenote, some browsers won't download images with width and height attributes of 0. Can't find the source now, and just tested Firefox and Safari and they do download it. Must be IE, can anyone test for me? Thanks.

When in doubt, sniff the line, or use a browser specific tool (Firebug for Firefox, Web Inspector for Webkit, etc)

Answer 3

Yes, at least according to the Net console in Firebug.

As stated by thethimble, CSS is the presentation layer and affects rendering, not the actual processing of the page.

It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for some browsers, especially mobile, to potentially not download this in an attempt to optimize performance.