[downwitchyobadself]

Hi folks,

Long version (skip if bored by it):

I'm working on a web site (www.tuningfork.org if you wanna check out its beta) which includes a photo gallery with some pretty high-res images--around 6-700KB--because the client needs print-quality images, for newspapers...

Anyway, because I'm using the OpenWindow() procedure to pop up the photo gallery window (follow the link and you'll see what I mean), which means there's no status bar, and at least in IE 5.5 SP2, I get no hourglass, either. Which means users are sitting there for between 10 seconds and 5 minutes (depending on modem speed) with no indication that an image is loading.

Short version:

Is there a way in HTML or Java to do the equivalent of the Flash "Loading..." message, until the image appears? I don't need anything fancy, just something to say "hold on, it's coming."

Thanks very much.

dw

[Rockn]

Well, I would like to look at it, but all of the image links are broken. Why not just do a thumnail view of the images or a low res version they can look at prior to downloading the high res version. BTW, I don't think a web browser will view tif images....has to be gif or jpg format.

[downwitchyobadself]

Huh, strange, I don't get any broken links at all. And I just cleared my temp files to double-check. They all show up, they just show up slowly.

What browser you using, out of curiosity?

As far as thumbnails, they're available in various other places on the site (or, erm, will be soon ) but I was just curious if there was a way to do this.

You can view TIF files directly, i.e. at their address, with a QuickTime plug-in, but mine are all embedded in HTML pages that validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional, so I wouldn't think that was the problem...

[Snake~eyes]

it loads immediately for me

[Rockn]

My browser is IE6....comes up as a dead link every time. Might be a browser compatibility issue.

[downwitchyobadself]

Originally posted by Snake~eyes:
it loads immediately for me

Right, but are you on a fast connection? It's not the page that loads slowly, of course (think that was clear...), it's the image, and if I'm spending 5 or 10 seconds waiting on a 1GB cable connection, what's the poor 56K person thinking?

Oh, and Rockn, I'd say IE 6 is always a compatibility issue.

[Rockn]

LOL...well it doesn't load in IE 5.5 either. You should always give an alternative viewing platform for those 56k'ers out there. Or a choice of a low bandwidth version of the pages at the home page

[downwitchyobadself]

It certainly loads in my 5.5, I've checked up several times. I'll try Netscape tomorrow at work to see. (Not gonna try IE 6 though!)

The rest of the site is low-bandwith, it's just those photos, and the coding question, though somewhat esoteric, still intrigues me...

[Snake~eyes]

it is workign fine on my IE 6

I doubt its a compatibilty problem.

anyways

there are people on 56k, sure, but thats their choice, they're going to have to live with it. So it takes a bit to load, tough luck.

Just put some text above the site saying this page may take a bit to load for 56kers.

If you are really distatisfied make low resolution thumbnails that will load fast with links to the real pics.


-Snake

[Rockn]

Someone take a dump in your corflakes this morning? Not everyone can afford or lives in an area where broadband is available. Aren't you fortunate!

Anyway DWYBS....it won't load from home either on IE5.5. Was reading somewhere about one of the MS security updates hosing the ability to view tiff images online. I always thought you needed a plugin like the AOL art plugin to view tiffs.

Also, when you get to around image 9 the formattiing on the pop up page gets kinda weird also.

[Snake~eyes]

Its one picture a page so the 56kers will have to live with it.

There are other pages that have more loading time with them.
Like I said there are still some people on 56k and they're SOL.

Get someone to test it on 56k, I bet the loading time isnt too bad.

Also, Rockn, do you have quicktime because for quicktime there is a plugin that allows you to view TIFs.

[RandyG]

OFF2000: Linked Picture Cannot Be Viewed in a Browser (Q226621)

I cannot see the images, even after waiting 10 mins. No activity in my Bytes received count. I am using IE6. I am also using 64k ISDN (the fastest connection available in my area, unless I want to pay a contractor to lay a few miles of cable, and then pay the phone company over €2000 per year to have a 256k leased line). I tried pasting the link to the tif (http://mapage.noos.fr/downwitch/tf/tf/vtp1red.tif) in another window, and it went through the download process, but still wouldn't display the image (only 35kb I think). That's not too large, but still took over 30 secs to finish.

Down, seeing as how you are in France, and only 1 in 8 Internet users have broadband, and tif is not a initially supported file type for IE, wouldn't it be more prudent to make smaller images in a different file type? It seems like shooting yourself in the foot to have this many potential conflicts.

Of course, if your clients ( the owners of the site) are like Snake~eyes, then they probably don't care who can view the art!

Gartner Group: Broadband too dear in Europe

Gartner Group: Broadband too dear in Europe
Feb 05 2002: Only 10 percent of households in France, Germany, and the UK will have broadband access by 2005 unless prices fall, according to Gartner.

At present, fewer than 10 percent of households in these countries think broadband is good value for money.

There are half a million broadband households in France, which is equal to 2 percent of all households, and 8 percent of households with Internet access.

Broadband penetration is higher in Germany, where 1 million households have broadband. This is equal to 3 percent of all households and 9 percent of households with Internet access.

Only 200,000 households in the UK have broadband. That is 1 percent of all households and 2 percent of households with Internet access.

In contrast to these three European countries, broadband penetration in the US is much higher. Twenty-two percent of Internet households, or 13 percent of all households, currently have broadband.

For broadband use to rise in Europe, Gartner says prices need to fall, more attractive content needs to be made available, and providers have to offer ‘try before you buy’ schemes.

I did find an interesting article Cannot Open a Tagged Information File Format (TIFF) File in Internet Explorer (Q319829) to allow me to view tif files in IE, but it still didn't work.

Good Luck.


OH, BTW, in answer to your question about alternate text to display, you can just insert text underneath the graphics tag, and set the tag to be transparant, or at least I think you can.

If not, a small note below the image to "S'il vous plez, arrete un moment . . ."

[Rockn]

Nope....never have, nor never will install QuickTime....no need to. It was originally written for Mac and every time I have ever tried to install it it has hosed up Windoze in one way or another.

BTW DWYBS....is that a site promoting mimes? Another link for the web site.....LOL

[downwitchyobadself]

Okay, guys, thanks for all the feedback.

I've done some research on my own, and let me put this question to rest once and for all: TIF (aka TIFF) images can only be viewed through browsers with plug-ins. If you're seeing the images on the site, that's why.

Apparently there's no way to view really high-end images through a browser. I would've had to use a top-quality photo scanner before saving the images down to jpegs, the "least lossy" of the web formats available, and that ain't gonna happen.

So I'm gonna redo the images as best I can, and that will be that.

Thanks for the help. Oh, and Randy, I didn't understand what you meant about a transparent image. If it's transparent, isn't it always transparent? I mean, wouldn't you still see "loading..." or whatever text underneath even once it had loaded? In any case, I have no idea how one goes about making things transparent, so that's about as far as I'll go with that idea.

long live the mimes.

[RandyG]

Hiya Down,

Take a look at http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/img.html which has some good hints, some of which are:

So You Want A Transparent Image, Huh?

So, You Want Text Over Images, Huh?

So, You Want To Pre-Load, Huh?

I was talking about something like what the first link offers, but didn't quite grasp what was involved. I do not think that would work with the high quality images you are referring to, and they would, of necessity, have to be saved as gif89a images.