ebay page is too big, help please...

[Shans Custom]

Hello,
I have an ebay page that is about 200k, it has no layers, only 3 main tables
(one is 100% neccessary, photos) with bunches of nice graphics. I'd like for
a 56k user to be able to come in , make one click and all images but the one
important photo table turn into text alts. I know verrrry little about java,
and am only an intermediate HTML user. Here's a link to my main site, it's
basically the same thing as my ebay
pages..[url]http://www.shansaquariumcaves.bravehost.com[/url]

Thank you buddy!

[ForrestLyman]

the first thing i would look into would be optimizing your images. fireworks
it an awesome tool to do this with. if you don't have a copy you can download
a trial. you can optimize the images directly from dreamweaver (the clamp
after edit on the properties panel).

a lot of times you can cut a small image 50% without being real noticable!
if you need any help feel free to [email]forrest@digitalusmedia.net[/email]

[Shans Custom]

Good day,
I did optimize my images in Photoshop to the max. What I really want to do
now is make them dissapear and be replaced withe the alt text, with one click,
so as soon as a 56k or less browser enters the page, there's the clickable
option to hide the images, preventing them from even loading.

[kirkdickinson]

Shan,

The images will load if they are in the page. You can't prevent that.

You can provide small thumbnails and link them to larger photos that aren't on
the page.

There are many javascript things that a lot of ebay users use. Most of those
that I have seen are specialized packages of ebay sales software. Probably
expensive unless you are selling large amounts of producst on ebay.

Kirk

[Shans Custom]

Ok.
I have a question still;
I have my heavy images (other than the neccessary picture display) at the
bottom half of the page. Am I correct in thinking that pages load starting
from the very top and work their way down?
if so, I think I'll be alright.
Thanks for the input,
PC

[Lionstone]

> Am I correct in thinking that pages load starting

> from the very top and work their way down?

Well, the HTML and the images are retrieved separately. If your img tags
have dimensions, then the whole page will draw sans images, then the images
will fill in as they're downloaded. The images themselves may be downloaded
in any order; you can't count on top down, alphabetical, or anything else,
especially if parallel requests are involved.