Problem with preloading page in hidden div

[CJSnet]

Hi all, hope someone is able to help!...

We have created this page:
http://www.superhighstreet.com/George-Street-Richmond/splash

The purpose of it is:
* To catch visitors' e-mail addresses
* To 'secretly' preload the large page that follows when you click the big
button

1) Is there any way to stop the mouse cursor in IE and other browsers
having a geriatric fit during the loading of the big page in the hidden
div/iframe? This makes it unsightly and difficult for users to click inside
the form field.

2) Although we have added
<script>document.join.q.focus();</script>
under the form, and added name=join to the form tag, the cursor still does
not jump into the form field automatically. Yet this works fine at our
other page www.superhighstreet.com/home where it is used.

Thanks in advance for any tips. If you don't have an answer please don't
feel a need to reply

 

[CJSnet]

Ok well I'm kind of getting somewhere. I have now added some
style="cursor:text" code to try to make the cursor behave, but it doesn't
take effect until after the hidden preload div has finished its stuff.

I have also got the <script>document.join.YMLP1.focus();</script> working,
but even though the cursor goes into the box, you can't type until the
preload div finishes

Any other ideas on a better way to preload the next page that will make this
one fully functional during that process?

--
Thanks,
CJSnet

Try Google Quik-e-search™ at www.Superhighstreet.com/home
....Finds anything or they buy it for you!

[remove 'teeth' to e-mail me]

 

[Steve Easton]

Since this has gone unanswered for over 24 hours, and since I don't have an answer that
"meets your needs." here goes....

After checking the MSDN library, I really don't think there's an answer for you question.
Reason being, you simply can't force focus to an element in a page until it's completely
loaded from the server.

<imho>
That said, why do you feel it's necessary to download a "hidden" page and make the visitor
wait while it downloads??
The name of the game is to make the initial page open as quickly as possible.
Then "if" the visitor is inclined to click the link to the next page, they will be more
apt to be "patient" while the page loads.

Also, fwiw, I seldom if ever, click a link that I can't see in the status bar because it's
"hidden" by some "not so clever" JavaScript
Why do you want to draw attention to a space 20 by 500 pixels at the bottom left hand of
the page after you gone to so much effort to grab their attention in the big window just
above the task bar.
Create the page to grab the visitors attention, not to prove how clever you are and how
much eye candy you can stuff into one page.

</imho>

And obtw, there are three script errors on the page.
Set your browser to show friendly errors and you will see three error dialogs open as the
page loads.

And also, your doctype is incorrect and forces the browser into quirks mode.


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[CJSnet]

Thanks for the feedback.

<imho>
That said, why do you feel it's necessary to download a "hidden" page and
make the visitor wait while it downloads??

I think you may have misunderstood. It is purely a way to preload and cache
the following BIG page which is about 2MB download. By starting it loading
then, it makes it quicker to appear when they click the button to go to it.

The name of the game is to make the initial page open as quickly as
possible.
Then "if" the visitor is inclined to click the link to the next page, they
will be more apt to be "patient" while the page loads.

Exactly. What we need is a quiet, undetectable 'preload' method to preload
the next page in its entirity (not just its images as there are dozens of
them).

Also, fwiw, I seldom if ever, click a link that I can't see in the status
bar because it's "hidden" by some "not so clever" JavaScript

What link are you referring to? None of them do that.

Why do you want to draw attention to a space 20 by 500 pixels at the
bottom left hand of the page after you gone to so much effort to grab
their attention in the big window just above the task bar.

We didn't say we wanted to draw attention to any space. Where are you
seeing this 20x500 item? All we have is a hidden div which does not show on
any browser we test it on.

Create the page to grab the visitors attention, not to prove how clever
you are and how much eye candy you can stuff into one page.
?

</imho>

And also, your doctype is incorrect and forces the browser into quirks
mode.

Thanks. What is quirks mode? It seems to appear fine in all browsers. And
what should the doctype be IYO.
--
Thanks,
CJSnet

Try Google Quik-e-search™ at www.Superhighstreet.com/home
....Finds anything or they buy it for you!

[remove 'teeth' to e-mail me]

--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[Steve Easton]

In line.
Please take my comments as constructive criticism, as that's my intention.

Thanks for the feedback.


I think you may have misunderstood. It is purely a way to preload and cache the
following BIG page which is about 2MB download. By starting it loading then, it makes
it quicker to appear when they click the button to go to it.

I understand what you're trying to do with that.
I would simply make a note on the opening page that the next page will take "some time" to
load.
Additionally, why have a visitor download 2 mb of data when they may never click the link
for the next page.
You've just wasted 2 mb of bandwidth.
Also, ( just an opinion ) when I see a page open that wants my email address entered, my
first inclination is to close the page and go elsewhere.

Exactly. What we need is a quiet, undetectable 'preload' method to preload the next
page in its entirity (not just its images as there are dozens of them).

I checked the browser cache and you're right, there is a ton of content loaded when the
first page loads.

What link are you referring to? None of them do that.

You display the time and date in the status bar. It hides the links when you hover a
link.
Also it's London time, nice to know but why??

We didn't say we wanted to draw attention to any space. Where are you seeing this
20x500 item? All we have is a hidden div which does not show on any browser we test it
on.

London time and date in the status bar as mentioned above
Ok, the recommended time to have a page load is 15 seconds or less, or you lose the
visitors interest.
It does load this quick on a high speed connection, but 40% of the world is still on dial
up.

Thanks. What is quirks mode? It seems to appear fine in all browsers. And what should
the doctype be IYO.

Quirks mode is when there's no doctype present in the page to tell the browser what W3C
standards the page is edited to.
It forces the browser into a default mode, and your content may or may not display as you
intended it to in other browsers.
All browsers comply with doctypes.

As for the correct doctype, that's one you're going to have to figure out.
These are the DOCTYPES for HTML4.01

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">

Paste one of these at the very top of your HTML document


And here's how to make sure it's in all the new pages that you create:
http://www.spiderwebwoman.com/tutorials/doctypesolution.asp



--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

Thanks,
CJSnet

Try Google Quik-e-searchT at www.Superhighstreet.com/home
...Finds anything or they buy it for you!

[remove 'teeth' to e-mail me]

 

[CJSnet]

Thanks for the feedback. Will take it all on-board.

Was it clear to you that the e-mail address request was an optional step and
you could continue without entering it? If so, why would you want to close
the page? If not, how could we make this clearer.

Just a note but it's London time because the street is a London street. The
idea is to give the visitor a sense that they are 'there', e.g. if they live
in Japan but want to shop in Oxford Street (coming soon). They can see the
weather conditions, hear the sounds, and see the time. Just a suggested
feature we also liked.

What we'd like based on your feedback is when they enter the big page, to
have some sort of 'floating flash progress bar' which will tell them how
close the page is to loading.

Are you or anyone able to point us in the right direction of a nice swf
device like this? It needs to sit near the bottom of the page over the
streetscape, so that it doesn't obscure the street introduction which they
can be reading whilst the page loads (on dial-up). We're quite happy with
the broadband load speed.

Also, do you know any better way to do the preloading of a large page --
maybe some sort of onload command? We can only find a way to do that for
images, not for an .htm file?
--
Thanks,
CJSnet

Try Google Quik-e-search™ at www.Superhighstreet.com/home
....Finds anything or they buy it for you!

[remove 'teeth' to e-mail me]

In line.
Please take my comments as constructive criticism, as that's my intention.

Thanks for the feedback.


I think you may have misunderstood. It is purely a way to preload and
cache the following BIG page which is about 2MB download. By starting it
loading then, it makes it quicker to appear when they click the button to
go to it.

I understand what you're trying to do with that.
I would simply make a note on the opening page that the next page will
take "some time" to load.
Additionally, why have a visitor download 2 mb of data when they may never
click the link for the next page.
You've just wasted 2 mb of bandwidth.
Also, ( just an opinion ) when I see a page open that wants my email
address entered, my first inclination is to close the page and go
elsewhere.

Exactly. What we need is a quiet, undetectable 'preload' method to
preload the next page in its entirity (not just its images as there are
dozens of them).

I checked the browser cache and you're right, there is a ton of content
loaded when the first page loads.

What link are you referring to? None of them do that.

You display the time and date in the status bar. It hides the links when
you hover a link.
Also it's London time, nice to know but why??

We didn't say we wanted to draw attention to any space. Where are you
seeing this 20x500 item? All we have is a hidden div which does not show
on any browser we test it on.

London time and date in the status bar as mentioned above
Ok, the recommended time to have a page load is 15 seconds or less, or you
lose the visitors interest.
It does load this quick on a high speed connection, but 40% of the world
is still on dial up.

Thanks. What is quirks mode? It seems to appear fine in all browsers.
And what should the doctype be IYO.

Quirks mode is when there's no doctype present in the page to tell the
browser what W3C standards the page is edited to.
It forces the browser into a default mode, and your content may or may not
display as you intended it to in other browsers.
All browsers comply with doctypes.

As for the correct doctype, that's one you're going to have to figure out.
These are the DOCTYPES for HTML4.01

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">

Paste one of these at the very top of your HTML document


And here's how to make sure it's in all the new pages that you create:
http://www.spiderwebwoman.com/tutorials/doctypesolution.asp



--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

Thanks,
CJSnet

Try Google Quik-e-searchT at www.Superhighstreet.com/home
...Finds anything or they buy it for you!

[remove 'teeth' to e-mail me]

--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm


Hi all, hope someone is able to help!...

We have created this page:
http://www.superhighstreet.com/George-Street-Richmond/splash

The purpose of it is:
* To catch visitors' e-mail addresses
* To 'secretly' preload the large page that follows when you click the
big button

1) Is there any way to stop the mouse cursor in IE and other browsers
having a geriatric fit during the loading of the big page in the hidden
div/iframe? This makes it unsightly and difficult for users to click
inside the form field.

2) Although we have added
<script>document.join.q.focus();</script>
under the form, and added name=join to the form tag, the cursor still
does not jump into the form field automatically. Yet this works fine
at our other page www.superhighstreet.com/home where it is used.

Thanks in advance for any tips. If you don't have an answer please
don't feel a need to reply

 

[Steve Easton]

In line.

Thanks for the feedback. Will take it all on-board.

Was it clear to you that the e-mail address request was an optional step and you could
continue without entering it? If so, why would you want to close the page? If not, how
could we make this clearer.

I see the "Optional Step" nnow, i must have missed it before.
You might make the words "Optional step" a different color11

Just a note but it's London time because the street is a London street. The idea is to
give the visitor a sense that they are 'there', e.g. if they live in Japan but want to
shop in Oxford Street (coming soon). They can see the weather conditions, hear the
sounds, and see the time. Just a suggested feature we also liked.

OK, that makes sense, but you could place it somewhere on the page instead of in the
status bar??

What we'd like based on your feedback is when they enter the big page, to have some sort
of 'floating flash progress bar' which will tell them how close the page is to loading.

Are you or anyone able to point us in the right direction of a nice swf device like
this? It needs to sit near the bottom of the page over the streetscape, so that it
doesn't obscure the street introduction which they can be reading whilst the page loads
(on dial-up). We're quite happy with the broadband load speed.

Unfortunately I can't, but hopefully someone will read this who can.

Also, do you know any better way to do the preloading of a large page -- maybe some
sort of onload command? We can only find a way to do that for images, not for an .htm
file?
--

Can't help on that one either. As for preloading images, the page has to be opening in
the browser for the "preload" to work.

Preloading a hidden html page while another is loaded?? Interesting.

However there's been a lot of talk about AJAX which I believe has this capability.
No guarantees though.

What you're doing / trying to do is quite interesting, so please don't let me discourage
you in any way.

;-)

--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm