Well, the reason that headers are used to return "metadata" (it's not metadata, but whatever.. ;) ) is:
a) for HEAD requests, you have no other choice
b) for GET requests, you have to return the image data as the body, so you have no other choice
Of course, the above is in reference to the API node, not the registry node, which of course does not use headers and in fact returns all the image properties and base attributes in JSON...
Or are you specifically referring to not using headers for the custom properties?
Well, the reason that headers are used to return "metadata" (it's not metadata, but whatever.. ;) ) is:
a) for HEAD requests, you have no other choice
b) for GET requests, you have to return the image data as the body, so you have no other choice
Of course, the above is in reference to the API node, not the registry node, which of course does not use headers and in fact returns all the image properties and base attributes in JSON...
Or are you specifically referring to not using headers for the custom properties?