[thelist] Preload images

Michael Galvin mpgalvin at eircom.net
Tue Feb 5 15:25:01 CST 2002


I'm using a JS function to preload certain images (rollovers, mainly) on my
page.  AFAIK, it's working correctly - I have no real way of proving it.
However, I've noticed that even when I preload, IE looks to be still
attempting to load the image from the server, the progress bar appears
briefly.  The strange thing is that it happens every time, even after I
brought up the rollover image once, move away (so it defaults back) and then
go over it again -- the progress bar appears again.  The rollover images are
small, ~2k, so I would expect the loading time to be quite quick.

Would I be right in assuming that my preloading isn't actually working if
this is the case?  What would be the reason for the repeated loading after
the rollover has been loaded once?  Is this normal?  We have an ISDN in
work, so I'm a little concerned that on a dialup, the user will be sitting
there for a few seconds (or more) while the rollover image is loaded.

JS:

function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0
 var d=document;
 if(d.images){
  if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array();
  var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments;
  for(i=0; i<a.length; i++) if (a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){
   d.MM_p[j]=new Image;
   d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];
  }
 }
}

which is then run Body onLoad MM_preloadImages('name',....).  I inherited
the code from the previous developer -- I've never bothered with rollovers
before, didn't see the point in them.  :D

Michael




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