Show Spinning wheel image till the full page loads

Question

I am using the below code:

In Layout page inside body tag:

<div id="loading">
    <img src="/images/user_profile/ajax-loading.gif" alt="Loading.." />
</div>

In the start page:

<script type="text/javascript">
      $(document).ready(function(){
      $(window).load(function(){
      $('#loading').fadeOut();
      });
      });
</script>

css:

div.loading{

   height: 100px;
   width: 100px;
   position: fixed;
   z-index: 1000;
   left: 50%;
   top: 50%;
   margin: -25px 0 0 -25px;
   display:block;
}

The problem is that the spinning image is not coming immediately, it is taking sometime due to which blank page comes and the image is displayed just before the page loads.

I want a solution in which the image should be displayed immediately and till the full page get loaded.

Answer 1

Though there are many ways to preload images ( with CSS / Javascript etc ), the one that has worked for me reliably for small images such as that is including the image inline via

<img src="data:image/gif;base64,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" alt="Loading..." />

( Note: the above is a real loading spinner from AjaxLoad )

It might not be the most readable, but it is definently loaded with the document. Assuming it's simple ( less than ~2Kb ) it should not impact your performance at all.

Answer 2

You should make sure that you don't have a massive blocking javascript in your head. Move all your javascript to the bottom of the page. Also set the async attribute on the scripts if your code is properly written for that, otherwise set the defer attribute.

When this is done you make sure that your loading screen is the first element in your body, this ensures that the resources will be fetched early on. If you have many css loads, fonts etc before your loading animation, that is what is causing the delay in downloading the image, since the browsers outbound connections are saturated by other downloads. So try and keep your number of downloads to a minimum, or them below the important area or fetch them on demand with an asynchronous asset loader.

The best way to avoid other assets blocking the display of your loading animation is to inline all the relevant parts in the html. Inline the css right above the html for the loading screen, and maybe even inline the gif source as a base64 encoded data URI.