Hello,
How can I preload a few images of a page javascript?
Should I use CSS to do this? Is it even possible?
That is a question. Initially in Netscape 3.x they introduced
scriptable .src property for images so developers could achieve roll-
over effects for graphics menu elements. To avoid load delays for the
first mouseover they also introduced Image constructor. The purpose of
this constructor was that by making
var imgOver = new Image;
imgOver.src = 'some/url';
script issued load request for the new image so it would be pre-
cashed. As DOM 0 supported by all - even the most lousy - modern
browsers the answer would be "Yes, it is easy, use Image objects on
page load". But as much as I remember, this feature exposed browsers
to numerous cache misuse, like
var bogusImg = new Image;
bogusImg.src = 'some/10Mb-100Mb/image';
and as I remember some precaution limitation had been made up to stop
caching images completely on imgObject.src="url" assignments.
What browsers still do such caching and if any left at all is a good
question to check.
P.S. Maybe that would also explain the origin of FAQ 4.31
http://www.jibbering.com/faq/#FAQ4_31 that puzzled me all the time -
because no Web developers in any sanity would ever use server-side CGI
image generators for menu buttons nor would patch content header for
still images. I looked through the clj archives and the time this FAQ
was proposed overall matches to the period of "cache attacks" as my
weaked memory tells me
So possibly we have in this FAQ a dog
barking to an all wrong tree.