Load page order???

[gibry21]

Is it possible to define the order in which things load on a dreamweaver page??
Like in flash you can do a preloader so that user doesnt have to wait for things to load.
I have a background image on every page, which I have made as small as possible so that it loads quicky, however I dont want anything else to be displayed on the page untill this loads otherwise it just looks badly made!!!

Can this be done, or is there any tricks or tips to give the impression of a splash or load screen.

(i am aware that the way that html works is by location the image from source when it is needed and therefor I presume you dont or cant load every page at the beginning)

Hope this makes a little sense.

Suggestions please.

here is the link to the site so that u can see what I mean about the load order (on a fast connection u might not even notice it, but see how the content loads first then the background image after it loads.)

[simplistik]

Where's the link? But I'm pretty sure the answer is no... not unless you want to add some clunky glorified javascript to your page... and even then I don't think it can be done.

[gibry21]

http://www.natatransport.co.uk

Right. Any tips on a cheat to make it look better, just dont like the way the text and links appear way before the background template has loaded.....

just think it looks a bit tacky ......

[simplistik]

Yes. Take your gradient make it a 1px sliver and repeat-x that will make it small enough to load w/ the text. Then your other graphics just slice up and place on top in proper positions.

[gibry21]

The gradient was created in photshop....not sure what u mean by make it 1px and repeat it??

As for the other graphics....what u mean slice them up? They are already individual images and are saved as small as they can be with out loosing to much quality.

The whole site is in tables (i know...i know, but I'm no confident I can achieve the same with css yet< I cant even possition things where I want them with css and cant even put images under text and in the background!! .lol) any, because its in tables....all I have to do is edit the background image, if i can that to load quicker i'll be happy.

cheers

[thats all folks]

Your background image is to large. I think and could be wrong what simp is saying is that your image needs to broken down into pieces and not one large image. Also careful with using PNG's I believe you need some code so PNG's will display correctly in older browsers.

Cheers

[simplistik]

well what i'm saying is all you need is...

and use that as your background image and then you clan slice up everything else up somethign like:

[thats all folks]

Simp, Great example and thats what I was getting at, but you executed it much better!!

[gibry21]

Guys....

Thats a good little trick, the idea of just using one pixel. My only problems are as follows,

I wouldnt know how repeat the pixels so they filled the entire background of the cell in the table.

Secondly, to be honest I'm a little scraed when it comes to possitioning, I guess I could try and make the cells exactly as the how i would lsice it up but I know for a fact that I wouldnt work and i'd end up with things all over the place and spaces and things out of line!!! lol.
And if I dont use tables then I have no clue about position things so they stay in one place and stay relative to each other,....basically i useles...but I;m trying!!! :-) (remeber my html isnt that great, i jus use dreamweaver, getting there slowly but surely.

Any tips again helpful....I'm gonna try an est of what u said, see how I get on, can u let me know how to repeat the 1 px background in the cell.

Cheers guys.

[gibry21]

Just an after though...I'm pretty handy with photoshop, is there a good tool for easy slicing of images, any tip so that sizes etc work out the samein photoshop and dreamweaver.

Cheers

[simplistik]

the dimensions you have in photoshop work in dreamweaver.

as for positioning what i showed you wont work w/ JUST tables you have to get your hands dirty use divs w/ css and position them. i don't think any of us here have time to "teach" you on the basics of how to position in css, but if you look around there's plenty of documentation on how to get started

[gibry21]

Yeah thanks for all your help guys, you've helped more than enough....like you say time to stop being lazy and get my hands dirty. I just struggle with how to call things, for example if I had an image with a cell in a table, how to i call it in css...or do i just put it in <img> tags and give it and <id> then no matter where it is css will find it...i'll suss it out!!

Cheers guys.

[simplistik]

Here's how CSS works...

css is referenced by 3 things. 4 things if you consider states such as :hover, :active, :visited, :link

id, class, and tag
id is denoted by # and must be unique
e.g.
#1

#name {}

class is denoted by . and can be repeatative
e.g.
#2

.plate {}
.secondaryclass {}

tag is just the same as in html w/o the brackets
e.g.
#3

textarea {}

in your html you'll call either id and/or class
examples: '#number' references what attributes would affect it from above

1. <div id="name"></div> - #1
2. <div class="plate"></div> - #2
3. <div id="name" class="plate"></div> - #1 + #2
4. <div id="name" class="plate secondaryclass"></div> - #1 x #2 x2
5. <textarea></textarea> - #3
6. <textarea id="name"></textarea> - #3 + #1
7. <textarea id="name" class="plate"></textarea> - #3 + #1 + #2

then in your css you'd define the attributes you want applied to the id, class or tag. you can look these attributes up here:
http://www.w3schools.com/css/

and example of this would be...
css:

#name { font-size: 20px; }
.plate { color: #0066ff; }
textarea { width: 300px; height: 40px; }

[gibry21]

Thanks slip...I know ur a busy man and thats a great insight, i'll take it from here....
Hopefully wont bother you untill my next live project and in the mean time I'll work on some examples.

Cheers.