alright, so the way i’ve decided to structure my site, i have an intro page and several different content pages. each of these pages is essentially an external .swf that is loaded into its own unique html document (ie. “info.html” “contact.html” , etc.) i decided to do it this way to easily preserve browser functionality for the visitor (so they could use the standard back/forward buttons to navigate to different sections).
anyway. as explained, each of the html section pages loads an embedded swf. what i’m trying to figure out is if there’s any way that i can somehow preload those .swfs in their entirety, prior to the browser actually jumping to the target page. none of the embedded .swfs are excessively large (all just about 500kb) but each of them does make use of some animation as a transitional device. what i’ve noticed is that there’s some slow down in the animation for each new section when it is clicked *the first time, *but not thereafter. i’d like for the site visuals to remain fluid in terms of transitioning from section to section. my own machine doesn’t seem to slow down at all, but i’m assuming that’s cause i already have the things cached from having viewed them previously, and/or it being the result of added RAM or a better online connection speed (i honestly wouldn’t know). but i do know that i’ve asked friends to view the site from their own machines, and they tell me it is indeed a bit sluggish.
basically i’d like to know whether there is a method of preloading multiple .swfs externally (in the background if you will) so that they’re stored in the cache before a visitor has even accessed them. that way when they do navigate to a section, the content is ready to go.
i’ve read some threads about preloading external .swfs and they appear relevant in some respects, but i wondered if there would be anything else that i should consider/be wary of, or that might make sense in this context (ie. in view of the structure i described above). ideally i would want all the sections (IOTW the embedded .swfs) to preload right at the intro (albeit imperceptibly), so they’d just all be set once the user actually clicked the link to any of the pages.
i’m not as well-versed in actionscript as i would like to be, so at this point i don’t know if my approach is intrinsically flawed. i’m coming at this from somewhat of a novice perspective, so if i’ve neglected to include pertinent details, please inquire.
-victor