Preloading Images
I have been looking into the preload images javascript function and I dont see the benefit of doing that if the browser already caches the images anyway. I see it alot and was wondering if it was worth doing?
Your thoughts?
I have been looking into the preload images javascript function and I dont see the benefit of doing that if the browser already caches the images anyway. I see it alot and was wondering if it was worth doing?
Your thoughts?
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 06:12 — 19th July 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Depends on the purpose of the image.
Preloading images is useful for when you need an image to show up instantly -- like a rollover/button image. If you don't preload such an image, chances are the user will find the rollover action lags.
True, once cached, preload won't be necessary, but there are the first-time visitors, and users who keep tight caches, to bear in mind.
There's no point preloading most other images that you'd usually find on a page.
Gunner posted this at 06:36 — 19th July 2003.
They have: 5 posts
Joined: Jul 2003
Cool, Thanks for the reply
I do have some rollover images and I have seen what you are talking about. So do I preload both images on the rollover or just one of them?
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Abhishek Reddy posted this at 06:49 — 19th July 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Since the initial image will load naturally with the page, no need to preload it. Only preload the "hover" image.
Busy posted this at 08:17 — 19th July 2003.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
I used preloads on an old site of mine, I needed it as the contents on the second page was over 200kb, but thing was I wasn't able to control which page people came from, if they went directly to the second page the preloads were useless and they had to wait until it all loaded.
JeevesBond posted this at 16:05 — 19th July 2003.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
I think pre-loaders are only really used for rollovers, if a user went to busy's site and only wanted to look at the first page they're going to get pretty miffed if the second loads automatically...Especially if they're on a 56k connection and have another download going.
In general pre-load what you KNOW is going to be needed, but is not going to be downloaded "naturally"
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taff posted this at 18:31 — 19th July 2003.
They have: 956 posts
Joined: Jun 2001
Preloaders can also be used for graphic-intensive situations such as photo galleries, the logic being that one big initial "loading, please wait" is preferable to the sluggishness of waiting for each image to load as they are called upon.
Yes, the browser stores an image in its cache but it has to be loaded once to do so - that's the whole logic behing preloading.
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