display HTML page after loading complete

Question

Is there a way to force the browser to display a page only after all of the page's contents are completely loaded (such as images, scripts, css, etc)?

Answer 1

The easiest thing to do is putting a div with the following CSS in the body:

#hideAll
 {
   position: fixed;
   left: 0px; 
   right: 0px; 
   top: 0px; 
   bottom: 0px; 
   background-color: white;
   z-index: 99; /* Higher than anything else in the document */

 }

(Note that position: fixed won't work in IE6 - I know of no sure-fire way of doing this in that browser)

Add the DIV like so (directly after the opening body tag):

<div style="display: none" id="hideAll">&nbsp;</div>

show the DIV directly after :

 <script type="text/javascript">
   document.getElementById("hideAll").style.display = "block";
 </script> 

and hide it onload:

 window.onload = function() 
  { document.getElementById("hideAll").style.display = "none"; }

or using jQuery

 $(window).load(function() {  document.getElementById("hideAll").style.display = "none"; });

this approach has the advantage that it will also work for clients who have JavaScript turned off. It shouldn't cause any flickering or other side-effects, but not having tested it, I can't entirely guarantee it for every browser out there.

Answer 2

put an overlay on the page

#loading-mask {
    background-color: white;
    height: 100%;
    left: 0;
    position: fixed;
    top: 0;
    width: 100%;
    z-index: 9999;
}

and then delete that element in a window.onload handler or, hide it

window.onload=function() {
    document.getElementById('loading-mask').style.display='none';
}

Of course you should use your javascript library (jquery,prototype..) specific onload handler if you are using a library.

Answer 3

Hide the body initially, and then show it with jQuery after it has loaded.

body {
    display: none;
}

$(function () {
    $('body').show();
}); // end ready

Also, it would be best to have $('body').show(); as the last line in your last and main .js file.

Answer 4

you can also go for this.... this will only show the HTML section once javascript has loaded.

<!-- Adds the hidden style and removes it when javascript has loaded -->
<style type="text/css">
    .hideAll  {
        visibility:hidden;
     }
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(window).load(function () {
        $("#tabs").removeClass("hideAll");
    });
</script>

<div id="tabs" class="hideAll">
   ##Content##
</div>