Background image pops up first

[sewingzfun]

I am using Cherry Zen v1.3.9h

When moving from location to another on my website, the background image flashes first and then the page displays. Is there a way to stop this?

Thank you,
Lynn
machineembroideryandmore.com/zencart

[rstevenson]

Wow! I've never seen a site load so slowly, and that of course is why you're seeing the background graphic while the rest of the page is drawn over it. What kind of a server is it running on?

Rob

[sewingzfun]

Hi, Rob.

I've never had anyone complain of it being slow (????). I'm using Lynox. Let me know if you try to log in again and it's slow. Anyone else out there, let me know, too.

Also, I'd really like to figure out how to keep the background from flashing open. It is a quick flash, but very annoying.

Thanks.
Lynn

[sewingzfun]

Whoops! Server is GoDaddy.

[sewingzfun]

I never did get an answer to this problem and really would like to get it resolved. I have replaced the hearts background with a neutral fabric background so it is not so prominent now - but, would like to change the background back to hearts.

The problem is this: When a customer clicks moves from one page to another, the background displays first for a second and then the page displays. There has to be a way to stop this and I do not see other websites doing this. PLEASE can someone help.

Thank you.
Lynn
MachineEmbroideryAndMore.com

[rstevenson]

Hi Lynn,

Good news: it's loading faster now. Must have just been a coincidence when it loaded so slowly last time I visited.

Bad news: you have Microsoft Word style code in your text in pages like the Privacy page. That's not part of the BG flicker issue but should be fixed.

Q: How big - in dimensions as well as file size - is the background image file? (The current one as well as the preferred one.)

I just tried a BG image on my retail site using an image 150 px by 150 px and 58 KB on disk, and saw no noticable flicker after the initial load. (That is much bigger than I'd usually use for a BG image.)

Rob

[sewingzfun]

Hi, Rob.

Thanks for getting back with me - and I will go in and fix the Word code.

The current background is 96 x 96 pixels
The background I would like to use is 83 x 120 pixels

I'm thinking there must be something I did in the coding - like "repeat" or something. I really don't have a clue. I'm trying to remember where it is at. If I can find it, I can provide what I have and see if there is anything you notice.

Lynn

[sewingzfun]

Rob,

I forgot to ask you why I should not use Microsoft Word style code. I had somebody else show me how to convert it to Note Pad and copy it. It is a lot easier than trying to write all the HTML code. Just curious as to why. I will definitely change it if need be.

Thanks again,
Lynn

[rstevenson]

Hi Lynn,

I'm thinking there must be something I did in the coding - like "repeat" or something. I really don't have a clue. I'm trying to remember where it is at.

Repeat is used in the place in the stylesheet where you define the bg image. I copied exactly that code but used my own image when I tested, and I didn't get the problem, so I don't think that's it. The odd thing is that on first load of my test bg I did see the flicker, but then any page I went to after that I saw no flicker because, of course, the browser cached the image for reuse. It's almost as if your site is not allowing the bg image to be cached by the browser.

I forgot to ask you why I should not use Microsoft Word style code. I had somebody else show me how to convert it to Note Pad and copy it. It is a lot easier than trying to write all the HTML code.

If you had done a "Save As..." in Word to a plain text file, there would be no extra Word style codes there. Just copying the Word doc into Note Pad doesn't get rid of it. The main problem is that the code/style system Word uses is vastly more complex than regular HTML code, mainly so that the file can be reopened in Word. It has almost nothing to do with the web. So you've got a lot of extraneous text in there that is doing no good and may be doing harm. All you need for the sort of text you have is maybe an H2, a few H3s, and then some P tags for the paragraphs. And you don't even need to do that manually. Just copy the raw text into admin/Tools/define pages editor -- which uses either the HTMLarea editor (built-in, I think) or the FCKeditor mod (my preference). You can then select your text and code basic HTML by just clicking. Then any needed styles come from your stylesheet. It's easier to do it than to read about doing it.

Rob

[sewingzfun]

Thank you for the explanation.

Rats! It sounds like we still don't really know why the bg is doing what it is doing. I'll research the cache - - -

I appreciate you taking a look and trying.

Lynn