🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm not entirely correct.

The loading of images varies on both the browser and the server.

      HTTP/1.1 spec, 8.1.4 <http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec8.html#sec8.1.4>
      Clients that use persistent connections SHOULD limit the number of simultaneous
      connections that they maintain to a given server. A single-user client
      SHOULD NOT maintain more than 2 connections with any server or proxy.




If you follow this concept, loading 3 different 900 KB+ images from a single server should result with the third image not starting to load until either of the first two images completely loads. But this seems to be a theoretical spec. The HTTP/1.1 server I just tested does not seem to follow this.

On a test I just ran with IE, FF, Safari, Chrome, and Opera, only Safari had a random loading of images with this layered DIV technique. The other browsers appear to start to load all the images at the same time (the smallest stand-in images fully load first as they arrive more quickly).

You can test this for yourself on your own server and browsers with 3 different sets of an exaggerated small file of 2 KB and a large file of 900 KB. Unless the browser is extraordinary, the small files will load first.

YSlow, a Firefox add-on, is very helpful in picking apart page load issues.

      Make the real image as small as you can and let it go at that.




At about 40 KB for the image in question, I would agree. This should not be a problem for the average DSL/cable user. Dial up users should already be tolerant of image loading times and would not be any more adversely affected.