form preloader, animated gif or flash animation

[drooh]

Ok, so Im building an upload form with several inputs for image upload. I've got a hidden animated gif and when submit is clicked the visibility is toggled and the animated gif shows while the uploads begin. In testing this works great with chrome & firefox but with IE the gif animation freezes. The other solution I have come up with uses a small flash animation that is toggled to show. The flash solution seems to work in all major browsers (and you cant upload from iOs anyway which makes flash somewhat acceptable in this case).

Just curious if anyone has tried anything similar and what might be a solution using an animated gif with IE.

Thanks!

[lucy24]

Leave it out. Also the flash animation.

There. Someone had to say it. Now someone else can come up with the grownup answer, keeping in mind that browser preferences include the option for disabling animated gifs-- or cycling only once-- and we won't even talk about flash.

[drooh]

I would think it would be nice for the user to know something is happening when they click submit and the upload progress begins, and the form sits there for 20-30 sec...

Also, the average user wont have anything disabled, someone who knows how to do that will probably know that uploads take some time and will be patient.

The idea here is that you give the user some kind of notice that the form is working and not just frozen causing them to hit the back button or click elsewhere.