Try this extension.

• Image Block https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/image-block/

Thanks for the suggestion. I tend to avoid plug-ins/ add-ons / extensions, as they add unwanted complexity to my life, and I worry about whether they open a security back door. How secure is ImageBlock?

Shouldn't Firefox be building this into the settings, in recognition that we don't all have fast broadband? And shouldn't pages be reducing use of unnecessary graphics? (For example, I'm thinking of magazines and blogs with enormous images in every article.)

It would be nice if it were built in, but we are just the support volunteers. We can inform you about features and workarounds, but we're not setting the agenda for product development or writing the code.

So on the theme of workarounds, here's another extension to consider. It's considerably more complex, but it's part of the Recommended program, which offers the highest available assurances about security and privacy:

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
• Recommended Extensions program

As described on the following page, you can turn on blocking of "large" media elements and set your own threshold for the size of images to load automatically, which can be zero:

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Per-site-switches#no-large-media-elements

As you can see in the attached screenshot showing the Network Monitor tab, none of the images is retrieved automatically. They can be retrieved on demand by clicking a placeholder, or by using the uBlock Origin toolbar button.

As for the ad blocking functions, you can adjust to your taste.

Thanks. I think the blocking of "large" media elements (within the browser itself) is closer to what I need.

But a note to Mozilla (if anyone there reads these posts), as well as web designers in general: - Many of your users don't have strong tech knowledge (and should not be required to get it). I'm somewhere in the middle. - Many of your users can not get fast internet, or can not afford it. You should be aiming to have pages work well and load quickly on a connection of 6 MBPS. - We should not have to deal with unnecessarily bloated pages with gigantic drawings which add nothing to the information. We are not six years old, and do not need a picture book mentality. - Browsers should include simple settings to block / toggle images.

None of this is rocket science.

There are some other avenues for advocating feature changes, but I think you are fighting the trend toward handheld devices with simplified UIs directed toward touch interaction, so it's definitely a heavy lift.

• Mozilla Discourse: https://discourse.mozilla.org/
  If none of the categories seem to fit, try https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/firefox-development
• Reddit (monitored by Mozilla): https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/
• Twitter (Mozilla official): https://twitter.com/firefox