do browsers download hidden images?
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- ukit
It's surprisingly hard to find the answer to this question. From what I can tell though the answer is yes, if it is a hidden image tag, but no if it is a CSS background image of a hidden element. I'm only able to test on Firefox on the Mac, so other browsers might handle it differently. Anyone else have any insights on this?
- bigtrickagain0
interesting - i had assumed yes in all cases, but you make me doubt myself.
- dMullins0
You can certainly force the download with JavaScript. Not sure if it innately does or not, as I'm with bigtrick.
- ukit0
Well, try loading a page and testing. You actually get inconsistent results with the Yahoo page speed plugin (which shows everything being downloaded) and the Firefox plugin which show the CSS images are not downloaded. I'd lean towards believing the Firefox one though for obvious reasons.
- ukit0
It's interesting if you have a rollover nav with a background image, Firefox seems to only load that image when you actually roll over the nav.
Makes a strong argument to use background images as much as possible.
- bigtrickagain0
ahhhhhh you're right! now that i think about it... browsers not precaching rollovers has been a pain in my side for years.
- ukit0
Anyone able to test this on IE?