Page load distortion

[Randy]

Using Frontpage 2003..
Hi, when my website loads, it looks like everything
is "jumping" into place, which looks unprofessional to me.
Like my tables start out small then widen up, and things
sort of "fall" into place. It just looks like it does not
load in a smooth fashion. Could anyone tell me if they
notice the same problem, and what the cause or causes
would be? Site is here: www.trackrecordz.com

Thanks in advance..

 

[E. T. Culling]

Don't know the answer but I've noticed that that happens with many other
sites as well. See www.creativepro.com
Eleanor

 

[Murray]

This often happens when images are linked without dimensions. The page
cannot completely render until the dimensions are determined....

Here's just one example from your page -


<img name='awmMenuPathImg-trmenu' id='awmMenuPathImg-trmenu'
src='awmmenupath.gif' alt=''>

 

[Andrew Murray]

that's just the way the page loads, how your browser is interpreting the HTML
code line by line.

 

[Andrew Murray]

I would also say it is maybe because the browser sees, say a <table> tag, and so
makes a blank table, then further down it sees a <tr> and <td> tag and then an
<img> tag and it is just fine tuning and adjusting the layout as different
elements like text, forms, images etc etc are loaded.

As long as it ends up when fully loaded like how you wanted it (or as near as a
browser can do so, anyway) why worry how it loads?

 

[Murray]

If the table is not complex (that means it doesn't contain a miasma of col-
and rowspans[1}), and if the images all have dimensions, then the page will
load very nicely (assuming it's properly sized). It's table complexity and
un-dimensioned images that cause such incremental loading.

[1] There is a way to specify how many columns a table should have using the
'cols' attribute, e.g.,

<table cols="4" width=....

and this will assist the browser in rendering a more complex table
structure, making things work faster. However, there is still no substitute
for good code, and simple tables.