I have a site that uses a large centered background image, which naturally loads a tad slower than the other elements on the page. For the most part this works okay, but there is also a repeat-x background image that covers the background for large monitors. The only problem is that this smaller file loads first and flashes briefly before the large image loads fully. Is there a way to have the large image load first so it is in place before the repeating background image loads? Thanks!
I don't know whether there is a way to accomplish that but you can use either javascript or jquery to change your dom elements show priority.
There's no way using strictly css to absolutely control the order images load.
The browser will try to download the images in the order they're listed in the css file, so putting your large background iage first will help, but the download time is gonna make it a moot point more than likely.
You could load the larger background via javascript once the rest of the DOM has loaded if it's worth going that far.
I figured out the answer to my own question: Instead of repeating the whole pattern of the upper body, I used only the pattern portion that is where the main content is. This loads quickly and looks natural behind the content while the large image loads. Thanks Aaron for the reply.
Related
I've designed and coded an interactive SVG that I've had to implement as HTML in WordPress because it only acts as a useless static image if it's entered as an SVG in an image block.
So far, that means that it's not responsive and loads at full size on a phone. I want people to see it in full, straight away, not zoom out to see it.
Is there another way to make it work without being an HTML dump? And even as code, how would I reduce it to fit screen sizes? Bearing in mind that my brain may implode if you suggest coding breakpoints or something like that.
I'm using a Blocksy child theme with no page builder.
The code itself works fine so there seems no point in me pasting a shortened version of the code. The page is here, if that helps.
Www.orderaround.co.uk
Right, I've fixed it myself. All I needed to do was remove the width and height specifications from the beginning of the svg code. It now fits to whatever container it's being displayed in.
Why do images on the web load line by line? Why not from top left pixel to bottom right pixel? Is it about browser or css defaults? Is it possible to change that to show pixels at the moment they are loaded or after whole image is loaded?
It has to do with the order they appear in the html document. The positioning in the page, doesn't matter in the loading priority.
You can with Javascript or JQuery, like this:
$("#img").hide();
$('#img').load(function(){
$('#img').show();
});
Basically it shows the image only if the whole image is loaded.
You are talking about how exactly the image itself is loaded/rendered? It's a mix of:
implementation detail in each browser
how the image is formatted (which format, gif/jpeg/png
Can you control it using CSS? No, not really. You might do some effects using CSS animations/transitions, but not pixel by pixel. Not in an efficient manner at least.
It depends on image format, some can load line by line, some are "progressive" and can load in "chunks" (firs a blurry, pixelated image is visible, then it loads some more data and becomes less blurry, and so on), some have to load in full before they can be displayed.
Is there a way, without javascript, to load a small image for a background before the real image is downloaded? Without javascript because I know how to do it with it.
I can't test if the following CSS3 would work because it works too quick:
body {
background-image:url('hugefile.jpg'), url('tinypreload.jpg');
}
If the tinypreload.jpg is only, say 20k, and the hugefile.jpg is 300k -- would this accomplish the task? I assume that both downloads would start at the same time instead of being consecutive.
Update
Timing the results using Firefox's profiling revealed that it's not practical / not worth it to load a smaller background first. Main reason is the connection time. For tiny pictures it's the same time to connect as it is to download the content. For images where this becomes worth it -- the file size is not recommended for mobile.
If you still want to achieve this effect - combine all your "necessary" images into 1 file and display them as cropped background with correct offset. Load your high-res images through javascript, and update the content afterward.
You could exploit css load order and overrides to achieve this result.
Try loading the small image from your main css file and then put a <style></style> tag at the bottom of the html page. The inline style will override the main style but will load last because of it's position in the code.
The difference would be milliseconds though, so it may be too quick. It's also hacky and would result in invalid, but working code. Worth a shot though.
If you're trying to fix a mobile problem then have a look at this article on context specific images as that might be a more effective way to go.
This article on CSS3 multiple backgrounds may also help, as you may be able to exploit the stacking order to achieve the result you're after
It would be useful to know what problem you are trying to solve beyond load order, as it's hard to give advice on this one.
As I said in my comment you can use the 'net' tab in firebug for firefox (called timeline in chrome) to see the actual load order on your page - you can even filter it (on firefox) for CSS only or images only - this will enable you to test.
I have a colourful background image that is 2000px x 1500px and because of the details I am saving it as a jpeg that renders at 1.1 MB. I am using the CSS background property to render the image. So being relatively new to web dev and working with a client/designer that's not open to a change of design at this point in the process, what should I do to help this image load blazingly fast. I don't know if it makes a difference but the site is using Joomla 1.5.9. This is something I've always wanted to understand but have had trouble uncovering solutions for... I hope someone can help!!
Thanks everyone!
There's no way to make images magically load faster. Sometimes, though, splitting an image in smaller images allows for surprising size gains; so if it's not out of question for your CSS layout (it typically is, though), you could try this.
Another possibility for you would be to use progressive JPEG images. They are encoded in such a way that enables browsers to display a progressively more precise image as it loads. This means that at first, the image appears blurry (or incomplete) but with full-dimensions, then it progressively gets sharper and better. It's well-suited for images meant to load slowly (or at least, images acknowledged to load slowly).
The best thing that you can do is try to shrink the file size to as small as possible. Let this be using some type of optimizer, smush.it for example. If you created the background image try saving it as progressive first, it loads a lower res version first then finishes loading. But the best thing is to try to shrink the size of the image width and height by finding a repeating pattern and cropping just that portion out and using it. Most about.me images are no larger than 100kb in size that are above 1200px wide.
you could immediatley call the image in the head by using
<script>
(new Image()).src = "IMAGE PATH";
</script>
and make sure you compress the image as much as you can with different programs, or if you have photoshop cs5 you can save it for a web device to strip out all of the extra junk, you can try yahoo's smush.it
http://www.smushit.com/ysmush.it/
or you could delay the loading of the site entirely for a few seconds, until you can be sure that the image is loading, you could try something like hiding all of the elements and fading them in upon a setTimeout something like
*CSS
body{
opacity:0;
}
*jQuery
setTimeout(function(){$('body').animate({opacity:'1'},300)},5000);
although that may not be all that practical.
Would loading the background image after the rest of the page has loaded work for you? At least this way visitors will be able to use the rest of your site until the 1.1MB has loaded.
Something along the lines of setting the style attribute of the <body> to be background: url(image.jpg) within an onload function?
Delivering the image over a CDN will likely speed things up; the better ones are usually optimized to deliver the proper TCP packet size/MTU to the wide variety of clients out there and have generally done a lot of work in the details of delivering things quickly. Slow connections like cellphones will still hate you for it, but getting things like packet size right can make the most of the bandwidth that is available.
at the website I'm working on euroworker.no, I have a ton of CSS rollovers, that only load when rolled over, is there a way to force load these onLoad so that they don't flash when rolled over the first time? It makes the site look broken. I could use a <body onLoad...> but am not sure how to implement it.
Thanks.
Sure, just use image sprites. In short, this means you put both states of an image (default and hover) in one image file. Upon hover, you then shift the background-position of the element in question.